Showing Them The Light: Helping Children Rehabilitate Substance Abuses
Even if you raised your children with the utmost care, love and affection, when they grow older, they can be lead astray. Whether they fall in with the wrong crowd and meet some bad influences, or just try and cope with the stress of being a kid growing through puberty, they can turn to drug addiction. Substance abuses among teenagers in the U.S. have reached a number of up to 25 million. However many don’t seek professional help because either they’re too scared to involve authorities and institutions, or they simply don’t know who to and how to reach out. The first line of defense is the parent, and if you suspect your child is taking drugs or you know they are for a fact, here are a few things you should think about doing.
Source – Max Pixel
Level with them
First off, you shouldn’t try and push them away by shaming them in front of their siblings. Shame induces resentment, and that means they’ll want to disobey you purely for the sake of it. Sit them down and talk to them. Ask them why they got involved with drugs, how and when. Often times, they realize they are hurting themselves, and they wish they could take back time, so don’t patronize them or speak to them in a condescending manner.
Keep tabs
Obviously, some kind of action will need to be taken to stop further harm to themselves, so level with them about what’s going to happen next and what you require of them. Utilizing diplomacy is going to be tough, but make sure do to keep tabs on them. Take away their money or stop their allowance with which they might be using to pay for drugs. When they’re out of the house, make phone call checkups, of where they are and who they’re with. Rather than letting them walk or get the bus home, pick them up, so they don’t wander off and get involved in more abuse.
Credit – Ted Murphy
Seek professional help
Most insurance providers have an insurance plan that allows the admission of plan holders to use the services of rehab facilities. Upon getting the go ahead from your insurer, you can book a day to view the facility and what it offers. Some facilities that are in certain health coverage schemes have a 12-step program which has been proven to be very successful in weaning addicts off their substances. Your children will also get to share their inner feelings in individual and group therapy sessions. They can also have private and semi-private rooms, as well as a detoxification process for prolonged users. They won’t be cut off from contacting you, so reassure them that you’re not abandoning them and using the rehab facility as some sort of punishment.
Picturize the future
It helps to inject a bit of positive thinking in your children. Children are still developing their emotional responses, and sometimes when life gets too difficult for them, they fall into a state of escapism. Getting high offers them a way out, but only for a momentary period. A permanent and sustainable state of happiness can only come from living a fulfilling life. Talk with your children of where they would like to be in 5 years, what they wish they could be, do or experience. When they reveal their ambitions, reinforce and encourage them to chase those goals. It could be a career, wanting to travel the world, be a musician and write songs or even just somewhere where they want to go holiday to. Make them believe in themselves by making them believe, that you believe in them.
