Yesterday was one of those days that make everything worth while.  During a walk through of our drug and alcohol rehab facility, a young gal came up and asked if I was the owner?  I replied that I was one of several people involved and what could I help her with?  She smiled one of the largest smiles I have seen in quite some time, and said, thank you for saving my life! 

I thanked her and reminded her that she saved her own life.  She made the decision to come to a program, and she decided to work very hard at it.  We provided a role in giving her a safe place and some good structure to work with, however she saved her own life.  The most gratifying part was her smile.  I hazard a guess that while she was using drugs and alcohol she hadn't smiled like that in a long long time.  I can imagine the joy in her family when they reunite and they see that wonderful smile again.

In the alcohol and drug rehab field there are a lot of tough days.  Clients want to leave early before they are ready and you have to do eveything in your power to convince them to stay a few more days. Some clients come to rehab to avoid going to jail, but really don't want to be there, and they let everyone know it.  However, smiles like the one I saw yesterday make it all worth while.  When someone saves their own life, it is truly a great day. 

The food at a drug and alcohol rehab center will affect the success of the stay.  Firstly most clients when they arrive are suffering from some of the effects of poor nutrition.  During periods of severe drug and alcohol abuse, eating 3 quality meals a day is not high on the list of priorities. Quality food will help rebuild bodies and help to provide the energy to fully participate in a rehab program.

One interesting piece of information involves blood sugar levels and craving.  Sugar helps slow down or decrease the severity of some of the cravings during withdrawl.  The problem with cookies and other sweet things is they cause the blood sugar levels to spike up quickly.  While this helps initially the blood sugar levels fall just as rapidly.  This rapid decline acually makes the cravings worse. 

Eating fresh fruit during this phase is a much better solution.  It levels out the increase in blood sugar, and provides much better nutrition at the same time.  Plus fresh fruit just tastes better.

At a drug and alcohol rehab center there is a lot scheduled ativities.  The reason for this is real simple.  Drug and alcohol addiction is very isolating.  By the time a client arrives at a rehab their social circle is very small.  It has shrunk almost to the point where it is just that person and their drug of choice.  The sleep pattern is totally reversed and not much is accomplished except seeking their drug, using it, and covering the damage as much as possible.

This means part of the job of the staff in the rehab is to get people up and socializing again.  It may be neccessary to get people out of their rooms at the rehab during certain hours of the day.  Having to sign in for breakfast might also be part of the routine.  Spending all of your time listening to an i pod does nothing to work towards sobriety.  So you may have to give up your music for a while.

Again this may lead to a feeling by the clients that the staff are too intrusive and there are too many rules.  The answer to this is the same as with many other concerns. If drug and alcohol addiction could be changed without some of these intrusive actions the clients would have changed their behavior before they arrived at a drug and alcohol rehab center. 

When a client enters a drug and alcohol rehab program the want change……Now.  This can lead to a interesting and sometimes difficult balancing act.  This is what I mean.  In oreder to change you have to motivate yourself.  Part of that motivation is to look at the current state of affairs.  In the case of coming to an alcohol and drug rehab center this is most likely not a pretty site.  When closely examining their life the pain to change can be and usually is intense.

This has to be balanced against the reality the results take time and practice.  Decisions take an instant.  Evidence of change is not.  If you place unrealistic time frames for change you will greatly increase the stress you are already feeling.  Uncontroled stress is the number one cause of relapse.  So by constantly looking at the past and expecting things to be different too quickly, you will ensure a relapse and failure.  When first starting a drug and alcohol rehab program at any center you must first only focus on the input side of the equation.  Have some faith.  Trust yourself a little and trust the rehab program.  Concentrate your efforts at attending all the sessions at the rehab center.  Practise the exercises as often as you can.

 By focusing on your efforts you will better by able to balance between the pain of the past the the expectation of change.  Destiny is changed by a single great decision.  It's just highly likely that the new destiny will not show up tomorrow morning.

At a drug and alcohol rehab program, the one of the most difficult tasks to achieve, is to realize the big picture about all the rules. The rules are not about any individual client or circumstance.  The rules are present to create a safe enviroment, physically mentally and removed from the temptation of drug and alcohol use. Unfortunately rules are like fishing nets, they may catch fish that you really don't want. 

For example, rules about not forming intimate realtionships during a drug and alcohol rehab program.  Quite often there are rules in place about male and female clients hugging each other, holding hands and other gestures of affection.  Is it possible to hug someone and it not be an intimate gesture?  Of course it is.  But it is impossible for the staff of a rehab center to tell the difference in many cases.  So in order to make the rehab a safer place we give up any form of hugging. 

Same with being behind closed doors.  It is very possible for people to be in a room discussing and supporting eachother? Yes, but it is also possible that they are being intimate with each other.  So we must give up one behavior to make the place safe from the other.  Parcels from home are another example.  Drugs can be smuggled into a center in shampoo bottles, shaving creme, and a myriad of other products.  In order for everyone to be safe is it not too much to ask giving up your favorite shampoo for a few months in favor of the one available at the drug and alcohol rehab center?

The rules in a rehab are only there to make things safe.  If someone didn't need a safe enviroment to change, they would have already done so at home before going to rehab.

In a drug and alcohol rehab program the pace of change hopefully is quite rapid. Many times however in rehab and in life in general the pace of change is much more moderate.  This can lead to a feeling of helplessness.  The reason being if change is gradual, sometimes we don't notice it.  So while you are sincerely making an effort to produce a different result, you don't notice the reward. 

The other factor is while using a drug or alcohol memories are often distorted and confused.  It is easy to forget how difficult or bad something truly was. This leads to the point of the value of careful evaluation and re-evaluation.  If you clearly and with a structured manner evaluate your position today, and the do the same process weekly and monthly it becomes far clearer the changes that have take place.  What we can measure we can change.  The value of doing some of the basic mood and depression indexes, regularly in a drug and alcohol rehab program is clear.

Even the simple act of writing your self a letter every 2 weeks while in rehab.  When you leave the rehab center, start opening the letters every 2 weeks starting with the oldest.  This will greatly aid in the odds of staying clean.  It will remind of where you truly started and how far you have come.  You will want to stay on this path of personal growth you have chosen.  Good evaluation in drug rehab will insure you will stay out of another drug rehab.

In a drug and alcohol rehab program many topics are discussed and learned. An interesting topic that frequently comes up is a feeling of not being in control of one's own life.  Feeling like a puppet to the winds of life.  A feeling of have no power.  If we are going to pursue something in a program, we must first define it clearly and then decide if it is a worthy goal. 

What is power?  I think power in your life has several facets.  Having power in your life means you have the ability to make quality decicions about your life, and the talents and resources to cause those decisions to become reality.  Having true power or control in your life does not happen overnight.  Even in the best drug and alcohol rehab program in the world you will only make a start towards power in your life.  It cannot be fully attained in 90 days.

Power means not only the tools but the core belief that you can use them wisely.  Many many times in life the greatest skill that may be aquired is the talent of not using your power.  Just because you can do something, does not mean should do it.  Some of the most truly powerful people I have met are the kindest most respectful persons you will ever meet.  Being trusted by many people is a sign of power.  If you are trusted, people will tell you their innermost fears and worries.  It is the never using or revealing this information to another soul that real power come from.  Power is derived from caution and restraint.  Power is much more gentle force then the sound of the word might suggest  Think about devloping some real power while you are in a drug or alcohol rehab center.

It seems all the celebrities going to a drug and alcohol rehab center are really in the news lately.  Lot's of very famous young people are ending up in trouble seeking help.  There is always some desciption of a really plush looking place where they are spending their time.  I'm not knocking these facilities.  They look wonderful and the clients has good things to say when they leave.  The problem is on some level these rehabs give the impression is cost upwards of $30,000.00 per month for someone to go into treatment. 

While any visibility of the drug and alcohol problem is good news, it might falsely give the impression that the only way to sobriety is through a very large second mortgage.  There are drug rehab centers that offer excellent treatment at a fraction of that cost.  There are programs at the $6000.00 per month level. 

There are also a lot of state funded or non-profit centers at a very low cost.  They may not have all the bells and whistles, but they are certainly better than continuing to use.  Another way to save money is to detox close to home through your medical carrier.  By doing a detox before you go to rehab you will be able to go to a facility that won't require nurses and doctors on staff.  This will save you several thousand dollars alone.

You don't have to be rich and famous to get into trouble with drugs and alcohol, but if you listen to the news lately, it sure helps if you want treatment.

In a drug and alcohol rehab program often times a client wishes the could just be free.  By this I mean they want to go somewhere else and start everything fresh and new.  Most people at one time or another wish they could start over, and be free again.  From as sobriety point of veiw this might not be a bad idea.  Leaving behind the drug using part of your social circle is a very good thing.

However there are some concerns with the "start over" dream.  The number one problem with it is that most often people are running away raather than starting over.  They are not dealing with the issues in themselves that they need to address.  You can never really start fresh if you bring your old habits and judgements with you.

If you remain the same person, you will ultimately attract the same group of people and problems in the new location.  At first it will seem exciting, but once you realize you have just changed the faces and names, but the same life will show up again.  This will truly lead to a feeling of hopelessness and depression.

There is nothing wrong with a new start.  It can be an amazing life-changing gift.  The point is, if you don't change a good portion of your old judgements and rules, it really is a big waste of time and effort.

If you do the hard work necessary to produce a new you, a rather great thing happens.  You get a new start, even if you don't change addresses.   You can change the direction of your future, your relationships and the impact you will make in the world.  In a drug and alcohol rehab center you have the chance at developing some real freedom in your life.  Choose a new address in your head, then choose a new address in your life.

In trying to learn as much as possible for drug and alcohol treatment centers, I get to travel a lot.  In doing so I get to meet a lot of interesting people who cross paths with me along the way.  I had a wonderful chat with someone who asked me for some information.  She was concerned that we were trying to stop people from any behaviors which may be deemed bad.

 Her comments were along the lines of by the time we were done there would be nothing left to enjoy in the world.  Her thinking that is you did something a lot and enjoyed it a lot, and didn't want to stop, it must be an addiction. 

While this might be a definition for something that might turn into an addiction, it is not one yet.  For something to be an addcition, there has to be a couple things present.  One is that to support the behavior, the person is willing to break personal boundaries they would have never considering crossing before.  This are things like stealing, prostitution, or dealing.  Leaving your kids unsupervised is another.

The other point is that the behavior continues even when it is no longer enjoyable on any level for the person involved.  The drug no longer gives much of a high and they still consume more and more amounts.

The last is in addiction the person continues even after severe negative events related to the behavior.  They don't stop after losing jobs, broken relationships, or even arrest and jail.  All of us have some vices in our lives.  But simply loving you coffee in the morning does not qualify as an addiction.