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Beyond Scared Straight: Not Scared at All

by | May 29, 2014 | Addiction Articles, Sobriety For Women

As I sit here at my house watching Beyond Scared Straight, a few questions come to mind. I’m watching parents beg their kids to get their lives together. I’m watching parents plead for their children not to waste their lives committing crimes and doing drugs. I’m watching parents going on and on about their kids’ potential and how much they can get out of life, if they’d only change.

Were They Even Scared At All?

scaring young women into sobriety

Original photo by Adam Jones, Ph.D.

Watching these emotional families visit their kids in jail, I see the pain in their eyes. I see these families hoping, with all their strength, that their loved one will be…scared straight.

At the end of the show, there’s an update on the kids. I eagerly wait for these updates to see the success stories. I sit there, puffing on my electronic cigarette, watching the screen intently. Guess what? These poor kids are still doing the same thing! They’re still making the same mistakes, hurting the same people, telling the same lies, and making the same empty promises. This is the definition of insanity! Since the show, some kids have gone to jail, some have died, some have gone missing. There are a few success stories, but these are few and far between.

 Watch the story of a young women who’s turned her life around

My Personal Experience

As a recovered addict, I started thinking about these scare tactics. Do they work? Can we scare our kids, our family members, our coworkers, or our friends away from a life of drugs?

I remember being an adolescent and a participant in the D.A.R.E Program. D.A.R.E stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It’s used to educate today’s youth about the danger of drugs and gang membership. At the time, I thought I’d never smoke pot, let alone become a daily user of opiates and crack! Some people in my class used the D.A.R.E program as a shopping guide for which drugs they should try out first. Some kids even thought the “dangers” didn’t sound much like dangers at all, in fact, they sounded like a good time. Even when armed with facts about the dangers of drug use, and the potential harsh consequences, I wasn’t detoured from using illicit substances.

Why is accountability so important in our lives?

Availability of the Product

In a time when there’s a heroin epidemic raging in the Northeast and legal drugs (kratom, bath-salts, etc.) being sold in convenience stores everywhere, it’s no wonder many young people are developing drug problems!

With delicious sounding alcoholic beverages like Smirnoff Mango, passion fruit shots, and whipped cream flavored vodka, how can we expect our kids to “just say no?” These drinks are basically advertised as candy. Not to mention, the half naked models enjoying and glorifying these poisons!

With more and more treatment centers all over the country, and more adolescent facilities than ever before, what’s the solution? How do we, as a society, combat the drug epidemic in this country? Do we continue to try to “scare our children straight,” or do we try to educate them?

Drugs Are Bad, We Know

Everyone and their mother knows that drugs are bad. We get it. Don’t do drugs. But what if I have a problem? How do I even know if I have a problem? What should parents do if their kids are using drugs? That’s the conversation we need to be having.

I’d have gotten help a lot sooner if I knew there was help available! If I’d known that twenty year olds can get sober, you bet you a*s that I’d have gotten sober! Now, after being sober several years, I know that anyone can get better. I walk into a young peoples’ twelve-step meeting and more than half the room has over a year of sobriety. Remember, that’s sobriety from ALL drugs and alcohol.

Why is Delray Beach Florida is a great place for young women to recover?

Finding Help Doesn’t Have To Be Scary

There are a ton of resources available for individuals suffering from addiction. There are women’s only treatment centers, male treatment centers, adolescent treatment centers, and a variety of other facilities available for anyone in need of help.

We need to spend more time educating parents and teens! We need to let them know that not only are drugs bad, but what resources are available if they do end up with an addiction. We need to explain there is a solution and how to find it!

Top Three Reasons Women Should Go To a Women’s Only Rehab

by | Mar 18, 2014 | Addiction Articles, Sobriety For Women

Written By: Fiona Stockard

Why Go To An All Women’s Treatment Center?

women's treatment program

Laura suffers from heroin addiction and an eating disorder. She goes to a traditional treatment center and is placed in a male therapist’s caseload. Not only does her therapist have no experience with treating eating disorders, but he’s a guy! He also has thirty people in his caseload, including males. What happens?

If you guessed that Laura opens up a tiny bit, and only a tiny bit, you’d be right!

See, Laura talks about some basic topics. She talks about things like triggers and her insomnia. Because her therapist has no experience with eating disorders, she can get away with acting out. Her quickly dwindling weight goes unnoticed. Also, because of the men in her caseload, Laura never feels comfortable opening up about the trauma, guilt, and shame from her past. She does her thirty days, gets out, and relapses within a week.

This scenario happens everyday in treatment centers across the country. There’s a huge need for women’s addiction treatment.

There are like a thousand reasons why it’s beneficial for women to go to an all women’s treatment center. If we talked about all of them, we’d be here until next Wednesday. Let’s look at the top three.

The Top Three Reasons To Go To a All Women’s Treatment Center

1) Gender Specific Treatment
Addiction is a vicious disease that affects individuals differently, especially women. Women have a difficult time finding a treatment center that’s designed specifically for them, with gender unique therapists and groups. Women’s issues, like co-dependency, eating disorders, domestic violence, abortions, and trauma often get swept under the rug at traditional rehabs. I know I didn’t feel comfortable talking about my history of guilt and shame with guys in the room!

Drug Rehabs that have a comprehensive clinical program specifically tailored to women, it’s easy for the women to feel comfortable and work on our core and underlying issues.

2) Comfortability
There is often a huge discrepancy in what men and women look for while going to treatment. Women often need to feel more comfortable at their treatment center. They need to feel like they’re in a “home away from home.”

Drug Rehabs designed to make a woman as comfortable as possible make the recovery process easier on the woman away from her family and loved ones.

3) Less Distractions
A huge plus for women seeking treatment at an all women’s treatment center is that there are fewer distractions. Often, women tend to act out in early-sobriety. This commonly takes the form of getting into an unhealthy relationship. Getting rid of a common distraction leads to higher success rates!

When looking for an all women’s treatment center, find one that’s individualized and offers specific client-centered services. Recovery from addiction, as well as eating disorders, is difficult! With a strong and caring clinical staff, we promise to provide the structure and support women in recovery need to achieve success!