Sometimes when dealing drug and alcohol addiction and life in general we can get trapped into the belief that there is only one solution.  The proplem often lies in that solution is either not attainable or would involve to many other external forces out of your control.  No matter what the main thrust of a drug and alcohol rehab program, there will be other effective ways to get sober.  A couple of the most powerful words in the english language are "What Else?" 

Often we simply don't ask this question often enough, and with enough conviction.  What else can I do about this problem?  What else do I need to learn about this problem and/or it's solution?  What else can I learn from the drug and alcohol center I am attending?  If time and money were not a concern, what else could I do to solve this?

If you trap yourself into believing their is only one solution your problem, you have sentenced yourself to a life of pain and frustration.  You have slowed down your progress and handed your power over to other people.  Refuse to believe there is only one best way to do something.  There are more than likely 10 best ways to handle any one problem. 

Black and white, all or none thinking is the error we all make too many times.  I have to quit my job, I have to move to another city, I have to get a divorce, are all examples of this.  You may choose to quit your job, and there are still solutions available to you in staying with your present one.  The moment you add the words "have to" to a solution, you will have most likely only created another problem for yourself, and not solved the old one.  Drug addiction and alcohol abuse is a complex problem.  Drug rehab centers can give you dozens of ways to move past it.  Don't get trapped by the power of one.

There is a book out now that has been on the bestsellers list for quite a while.  It is called The Secret.  While it might not be required reading for every drug and alcohol rehab center, it certainly wouldn't hurt anyone to read it.  The book is concise and short and easy to read.  In my mind the real point of the book is about focus.  Simply stated "The Secret" is to focus only on what you want.  Most of us spend far too much time on what we don't want.  Most of the people who phone us are much more clear about what the don't want in a drug and alcohol rehab center and much less clear what they want in a rehab program.  The same in true about the clients.  Most of them know very clearly what they want to stop, but much less clear on what they want to become.

The secret of drug rehab then becomes to focus on being sober.  Don't focus on stopping using drugs or alcohol.  Focus is on what you want to become in your new sober life, not on the things you have to stop or give up from your past addicted lifestyle.  Ask yourself questions directed to your goals.  What can I do today to improve the skills I need in the future?  What one thing can I do today to improve my ability to handle stress?  What can I do today to be more fit?  The key is to state your questions in the positive of what you want.  It's not really a secret, but try it anyway, it really does work.

Length of stay in a drug and alcohol rehab center comes up a lot.  How long should someone stay?  If they are really focused and get a lot of one on one attention, can you significantly decrease the length of stay required?  Interesting and important questions.  The answer is yes…. some, but it depends on the client and there are some things you just cannot shorten or speed up in a rehab center.

If learning to stay sober is about learning and mastering new skills, more focus and more one to one coaching will help most people to learn them faster.  The problem is you have to more than learn them.  You have to be comfortable enough to use them everyday in many different situations.  This takes experience, and that is something that does take time.  Learning takes time now matter how many people are available to help.

There is another factor which again is hard to speed up.  The time it takes the drugs and alcohol to leave your system, and then your normal brain function to return.  Drug and alcohol abuse affect the nerve transmissions in your brain.  It takes the body time to restore these chemical levels to their original state before you started to use. 

This is the problem with 28 day programs, even really really great ones with outstanding staff and focused clients.  You cannot make the brain heal any faster.  You cannot implant experience in someone's head.  It is also why the research is clear about the longer you stay in a rehab center, the better the odds of success. 

The point of this is to plan to stay in rehab longer than 28 days.  Let your blody heal.  Let your confidence in your new skills grow and happen naturally.  Getting counseling from morning to night, no matter how well intentioned, cannot magically speed up these processes to a very short period.  Do drug and alcohol rehab only once and do it right the first time.

In our lives and especially in a drug and alcohol rehab center one of the most difficult things we all face is to remember what we can control and what we cannot.  It seems so obvious, but we all slip into the trap of concentrating on things we cannot control.  We set up games that we are sure to lose.  In rehab it is easy to do.  One of the common things that will sidetarack us in rehab is expecting the behavior of others to change.  If you have truly worked at the rehab program, you will have changed. 

The problem lies in expecting your family and friends to change and notice the new you.  Maybe they will, in time that is.  Most likely they will continue to treat you the way they have treated you over the few several years.  Because you have found the ability to change you may think you can use the same methods to convince them to change as well.  All the things you have learned will only work on you. 

This will lead to frustration and less interaction which will actually worsen the situation.  Add to this when you are trying to change others, you usually stop working on yourself.  This always leads to slipping back to old behaviors.  It is so vitally important to realize that drug and alcohol rehab is just about changing you.  It is not about righting past wrongs.  It is not about changing the program or re-writing the 12 steps.  It is not about getting other people sober.  It is totally about changing you.  If you change yourself, the world will have to change.  Try just to change the world without changing yoursefl first, and nothing happens.  Just more frustration, and a return to the way it was.

If you are really going to make a change in your life while attending a drug and alcohol rehab program you are really going to have to learn some new skills.  There is only one way to learn something, and that is to try it and then to practice it over and over again.  Believe it or not, that is how you learned to use drugs and alcohol.  It is how you learned to use and not have people find out.

It's funny, but clients were all willing to go through a "clusmy and stupid" phase when it came to using and procuring drugs and alcohol.  It is different though when we ask clients to try something new to help them in their journey to be sober.  It they can't master it quickly or feel uncomfortable during the learning phase, many simply don't want to try.

Take yoga for example.  Even though the research is clear learning yoga will increase your chances of success many will not take the time to learn it.  Yes it feels clumsy.  Yes it is a little uncomfortable at first.  Most worthwhile things in life are.  So please forget about what you look like.  Forget it if you are learning slower than the rest of the group.  Be willing to learn.  Be willing to change.  Then you will gain the most from your stay in a drug and alcohol rehab center.

Drug and alcohol rehab centers are a unique and varied mix of divergent elements.  This is partly do to the situation and partly because of all the people who have some sort of stake in what is going on.  Firstly there are all the clients attending the drug and alcohol rehab program.  Then there are all the people working and supporting the rehab center.  Add into this the families and friends who may be helping to pay to put someone through a rehab program.  In some cases there is even a legal element with drug and alcohol rehab being some part of a legal arrangement as part of sentencing.

This many different people involved in something is bound to lead to some disagreements and divergent needs.  The question arises of how can you satisfy this many people and insure everyone recieves what they need?  In the book, Futurethink, by Edie Weiner and Arnold Brown, they put forward and interesting concept that might help in this situation.  Instead of using compromise and negotiating from a give and take stance they suggest using a format of the common denominator.  In other words what is the common theme between all the above groups of people that everyone has?

In this case I think it is the "common demoninator" for all these people is the client finding his way past addiction.  So for the legal issues it could be approached from, "How can we help the client deal with his drug and alcohol abuse and still insure the law is respected?"

The immediate family could approach their issues from, "How can we help our loved one deal with his/her druag and alcohol abuse, and still know they are safe and recieve updates on what is going on?"

The rehab center staff could ask, "How can we help this client stop his addiction and still insure all the other clients feel safe and respected?"

And of course the client could ask, "How can I deal with moving past my addicition to drugs and alcohol and still respect the rules for safety in the rehab center and also let my family know I'm ok?"

If everyone stays focused on the common ground between them, no one really has to compromise.  Solutions can be found that meet the most basic needs of everyone.  Drug and alcohol rehab centers need to teach problem solving methods everyone can use.  My hat goes off to the authors of Futurethink, as I think this is a great solution everyone can try.

In a drug or alcohol rehab center this might seem like a silly or dangerous question to put forward.  But is it really?  Many times in life a lot of nasty and awful things can happen to people.  Events of life can leave permanent damage and scars on people.  Sometimes people start to use drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of these events.  It is a coping mechanism to keep them sane and able to function.

The problem is this is a loser's game.  The drugs and alcohol do not really numb the pain.  And with every drug use or drink they get less and less effective.  As the drugs and alcohol wear off they add to any depression that is already present.  So they begin to add to to any pain the individual was feeling.

So it is not a case of not that some clients have truly been through some very difficult times in their life.  It is a case of drug and alcohol never really makes a difference to someone who has a lot of pain and trauma in their life.  It just makes a difficult life more difficult.  If you are in a situation where you are using drugs and alcohol to cover that pain of the past, find a good drug rehab center and stop abusing drugs.  When you are sober find the good therapy and support to move past the past pain in your life.  Sobriety will bring solutions. 

I came across another drug and alcohol rehab site with a different view.  Their model looks to be one of education only and a rejection of the disease and counseling format.  They have moved much more to a educational structure with teachers as their front line workers.  A lot of what they said was referenced with the studies easy to find.  It is definately worth looking at as I think in the long run a lot more drug an alcohol rehab programs will be leaning toward the educational model.  For some interesting reading Click Here.

Hey these 3 videos have nothing to do with drug rehab except maybe we all can use a little inspiration, laughter, and courage.  They are short and well worth the look.  Click here to check these out.

There are times in drug and alcohol rehab where everyone sometimes slips into the role of a "religious zealot".  By this I mean you get a little bit over exuberant in promoting what you will think will help people the most in their struggle with addicition.  It is easy to do.  The stakes for clients facing drug and alcohol abuse are very high.  When you see people take their life in a new exciting and useful direction, it is natural to want to help more and more clients.  We all sometime must be careful not to remove choice in this process though.

The reason for this is clear.  When clients have more choice, everyone does better.  Most drug and alcohol rehab promote abstinence.  Many believe the only chance clients have is through abstinence.  There again is a reasonably large group of people who believe that by the time most clients get to a drug rehab center, presenting any sort of harm reduction model, or controlled use program, would be useless or even dangerous.

The data shows this is not necessarily the case though.  The research shows that offering different treatment goals (abstinence vs harm reduction) to clients improves outcomes.  Doing this increases the number of people willing to seek treatment.  It also lowers the numbers of clients leaving programs.  You get these two positive benefits without any increase in relapse rates. 

Choice leads to more clients looking for help, pure and simple.  The purpose of drug and alcohol rehabs is to help people, so offering a choice in a program looks like it will lead to helping more clients.