Rehab

I haven't mentioned much about rehab. I believe in rehab. I'll give a rundown of what we have tried.

As a minor child 15 years old we had our son in counseling with a psychologist. He was the one first to introduce us to the fact our son smoked weed. He would meet with our son for 30 minutes a week, us 15 minutes and all of us for about 5-10 minutes. Truthfully, between our son and me the psychologist didn't stand a chance. Our son was very manipulative and mom says I am very controlling. On reflection, I was very controlling during our sessions. When it was our time all together, our son was manipulating and I was controlling, the psychologist was overwhelmed.

When he was 16, almost 17 we had him in a local hospital outpatient program. This was something mom and dad wanted, he didn't. After about 1 month of treatment we ask for a meeting and update from the program. Weekly our son had been showing us drug tests, counselor reports etc. When we ask for a meeting the center responded they had only seen him 2 times. We had been dropping him at he door, he went in, waited someplace and came out on time either 2 or 4 hours later to meet us waiting. The counselors met with all of us, I gave them the drug tests and reports he had given us. The manager of the department looked at them and told us they were not from the hospital. Our son admitted he created them on the computer. The manager admitted these forgeries were very good. In fact she admitted they had dealt with a lot of addicts but had never came across one this talented. She wanted the documents to use in a training class, we let her have them.

Our biggest disappointment is that here in our area the availability of in-house treatment for juveniles is very limited.

Valley Hope was our next effort in rehab. I'll tell you about our experiences but up front Valley Hope was actually the best thing we found and helped our son and us the most.

We took our son to Valley Hope Atchison after the fentenayl/beef jerky incident. Upon check-in he was put into medical detox. After 4 days he was out of detox and had more freedom and could use the pay phones. That day he called one of his "friends" and they brought him oxycotin. He swallowed the pills in the parking lot of the facility. The next day his counselor called and told me he was being expelled from the program.

I didn't know what to do so the counselor arranged for him to be transferred to the Norton Ks facility, 350 miles away but I had to have him there by 10pm that night. In addition, Valley Hope recommended that his mother or I spend as many days at the Norton Facility as possible in a patient environment. I spent 4 days there going through the treatment program. That was some of the best 4 days for me to understand everything that I have had. I took part in everything as if I was an addict. 

After 30 days our son was released. Advice from the counselors was to get him into an Oxford House. We didn't, we brought him home. He relapsed about 1 month later.

About 6 months later he was back in Valley Hope, Atchison. This time he had a 2 week stay, the counselors got him into an Oxford House in Topeka this time. In the Oxford House environment he was able to remain clean for 6 months. He moved home in Feb 08. He was clean for about 1 month at home and relapsed.

Relapse and recovery is not failure it is a process of addiction. If you know someone that needs help Valley Hope is a group of people to contact. 

I believe for our son to live he cannot come home. This house, its memories, and triggers could eventually lead to his death.