When you own a drug and alcohol rehab center you obviously get approached by people for advice about drugs.  Yesterday was such an occasion.  It was a father, concerned about his son.   His son has been spending more and more time smoking marijuana.  He fears his son is slipping off the path of advancement and moving towards a much less bright future.

He asked for my recommendations.  I had two for him.  One was to talk to his son in terms of future focus.  Get to his son's dreams for his life.  His wants and his goals.  It may take some time.  Intially his son will resist.  Hw will talk in terms of hanging out and listening to music.  But with persistance kindness and love he will start to talk about what he really wants to do.  When he opens up listen with all your heart.  When you really know what your son wants, simply ask  WITHOUT JUDGEMENT how smoking so much marijuana will get him to his real dreams.  Work with him on some plans to help him with his dreams.  With future focus he will see there is less time drugs.  This will only be effective if you park your judgement at the door.

The dad told me he tried to talk to his son.  He asked him if he wanted to turn out to be one of the "good guys or one of the bad guys"?  While his heart was in the right place the question had a judgement built already into it.  People and kids will not open up and talk unless they feel safe to do so.  Creating safety talks time.  It is worth the effort.  By taking the time now maybe there will be less need of drug rehab centers later.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 12th, 2007 at 1:25 pm and is filed under Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.