In drug and alcohol rehab there are many difficult questions. Many times there is no perfect answer to these questions. One of these situations is when a client comes to rehab and decides to leave the program early before any real progress has been made. What should be the correct policy on this? If the client leaves the facility, and changes their mind should they be allowed to be re-admitted immediately?

Some might say yes to this. However is it the best course for success? If people feel it is ok to leave and use “one more time” they might be much more tempted to relapse. If they are informed that if they leave, they will not be readmitted and their fees are not refunded, they might be much more inclined to stick it out another day. Also clients leaving and returning might induce others to “take a break” which again would lead to more risk to more clients.

There is no perfect answer to this problem, like most things in life. The solution remains in clients deciding and choosing their treatment. The chances of them leaving a program they freely picked are less likely.

Working in a drug rehab center is a wonderfully rewarding occupation. Seeing people transform and change their lives is an amazing privilege. It is also one of the most intense and demanding positions in the workforce. It often involves shiftwork and lots of confrontation. This can be draining and lead to burnout in even the most dedicatied of individuals. Often the pay is not that high as many facilities are operating on a non-profit basis.

This means the people in the rehab field need to insure they, themselves are following a program of rest and renewal so them may be at their best to help clients. The need to have adequate time away from the situation to arrive fresh and full of energy. Often in the first week a client is at a rehab, there are many discussions and situations that require a lot of out of the box thinking to keep a client on bound. It would be nice to have a forum or blog about this subject where co-workers could share ideas on treatment as well as ways to rejuvinate themselves. This field cannot afford to lose any more talented and experienced people to job stress and burnout. Responsibility lies in making sure everyone takes care of themselves first, so the may be able to serve our clients to the best of our ability when the need arises.

In drug rehab one of the most important skills to acquire is the ability to control stress in your life. By good planning and having good structure in your life you can minimize the amount of stress you face daily. You cannot however remove stress totally. It is wise then to have some techniques to reduce the effect of stress on your body and your mind.

Meditation is an excellent way to do this. I have come across another great little book to help with this skill. It is brief and easy to follow. The title of this little gem is Instant Relaxation. It is written by Debra Lederer and Micheal Hall. The publisher is Crown House and it was published in 1999. It has some real quality information about breathing and posture. These are keys to effective meditation. If you want to reduce stress in your life, and therefore reduce the chance of relapse, give this book a whirl.

Straight non-biased information about addiction and drug rehab. We are all looking for it. We all need more of it. Yet it is not easy to come by. Too many times it is oversimplified into moral right or wrong issues. Often the negitive “scare tactics” are employed in the hopes of using fear to keep people from using drugs. Bending the truth, now matter how good the intentions never helps in the long term though.

A fantastic source of information about drugs is the book, Buzzed. It really does a wonderful job of presenting information without moral commentary, or agenda. It is also well written and very easy to understand. It is an essential read for anybody in the addictions field. Parents would find it full of information about drugs, that is required to help raise kids in the world we live today.

I think all teenagers in junior and senior high would benefit from reading it. Quality information will always help people to make quality decisions. I can’t praise this book enough. Again it is Buzzed. It is written by Kuhn, Swartzwelder, and Wilson. It is published by Norton and company (2003). Check it out.