Intervention: Encouraging Your Child to Get Help for Their Substance Abuse Probelm
August 13th, 2007Parents are often frustrated and confused when they have a a teen who is suffering with a substance abuse problem, but who refuses to get help in a treatment program. As parents, you want to help your teen to overcome their substance abuse problem and help your child to avoid the negative consequences that are a result of substance abuse. However, teens often have little motivation to stop using drugs because of the peer pressure surrounding their drug use, or the self-medication that helps them to ignore their problems. Because teens are not likely to stop their drug abuse on their own, parents often need to take matters into their own hands in order to help their child stop using drugs and to help their children reach recovery and sobriety.
One solutions for parents with children who have a substance abuse problem is to plan an intervention. An intervention can help encourage teens to seek treatment by creating a supportive environment of friends and loved ones that will help your teen to see that drug abuse will only lead to negative consequences.
The steps for an intervention for teen substance abuse include:
• Stop all cover-ups: Family members and parents often make excuses to others to protect their teen from the results of his or her addiction. While you may feel like you are protecting your child, you are really enabling their addiction. It is important to stop covering for your so that he or she experiences the full consequences and must accept responsibility for their self-destructive behavior.
• Time your intervention: The best time to talk to a teen with a substance abuse problem is shortly after a substance related problem has occurred, like a family argument or an accident. Choose a time when he or she is sober, both of you are fairly calm, and you can talk in private.
• Be specific: Tell your teen that you are worried about his or her addiction. Use examples of the ways in which the drinking or drug abuse has caused problems, including the most recent incident.
• State the results: Explain to your child what you will do if he or she doesn’t agree to go for help. Make sure it is clear that these consequences are not a form of punishment, but are to protect yourself from his or her problems. If your child is under 18, as their parent or guardian, you can enroll them in an inpatient or residential treatment program. However, teens who do not enter treatment voluntarily will be resistant to treatment and will often relapse.
• Get help: Gather information in advance about treatment options in your community that will suit the individual needs of your child. If your child is willing to get help, call immediately for an appointment with a treatment counselor. Provide support for your child by accompanying them to their first visit to the treatment program or meeting. Supporting your teen is one of the most important elements in helping them to recovery from their substance abuse problem.
• Call on a friend: If your child still refuses to get help, ask a friend to talk with him or her using the steps described above. A friend who is a recovering addict may be particularly persuasive, but any person who is caring and nonjudgmental may help. If your child has a role model or a family member who they are especially close with, this person might be helpful in convincing your teen to seek treatment. The intervention of more than one person, more than one time, is often necessary to convince an addict to seek help.
• Find strength in numbers: With the help of a health care professional, some families join with other relatives and friends to confront an addict as a group. This approach should only be tried under the supervision of a health care professional who is experienced in facilitating group interventions.
• Get support: It is important to remember that you are not alone. Consider meeting with a local therapist specializing in addiction issues for help. Support groups offered in most communities include Al-Anon, which holds regular meetings for spouses and other family members. Another group is Alateen, which is geared towards children of addicts. These groups help family members understand that they are not responsible for the addict’s substance abuse and that they need to take care of themselves, regardless of whether the addict chooses to get help.
For parents with a child who has a substance abuse problem, it is important to be aware of the signs of teen drug abuse. If you recognize these signs in your teen, get them help. The sooner you get help for your teen, the sooner they can be on the road to recovery. By providing a supportive environment for your teen and by encouraging them to get help for their substance abuse problem, you are helping to set them back on the right path towards a successful and healthy life.