Approaches to Treating Addiction: Drug Rehabilitation Centres in Gauteng

On almost a monthly basis, reports are published about police discovering multi-million rand drug labs in Gauteng. Currently, NGO’s, governmental institutions and law enforcement agencies are up against not only well-known street drugs, but also the invention or evolution of new drugs, such as “nyaope”. What this has meant is that professionals in the healthcare and rehabilitation industries have had to remain in tune with what is happening in and around the city, on a grassroots level.

For this reason, many drug rehabilitation centres in Gauteng work closely with other institutions who identify drug users in need of help, as well as law enforcement agencies who have the authority to refer patients to specific treatment programmes. Drug rehabilitation centres in Gauteng that have developed a solid method of treatment take both a personalised and collective approach to recovery. Both are essential components of effective treatment.

The Personal Approach

Many drug abusers who enter recovery, will begin their treatment with a detox programme. A personalised approach is required here, simply because no one drug affects everyone in the same way. While users of the same drug may share similar experiences, the way their body and mind reacts to withdrawal can differ. For this reason, a trained professional and doctor needs to be appointed to each patient to monitor their progress and attend to their needs.

Furthermore, one-on-one counselling is an essential part of treatment. At Crossroads Recovery Centres, a counsellor is assigned to each patient. Counsellors serve as much-needed confidantes – individuals who can be trusted to listen, challenge and guide the recovering addict towards finding a new way to live. This personalised approach is essential – it is important for recovering addicts to feel heard and understood rather than ignored and judged.

The Collective Approach

The personalised approach, when offered in tandem with group therapy has proven highly effective in the treatment of addiction. Group activities, workshops, support groups and group therapy are invaluable to the addict who has just entered recovery. Sometimes, knowing that they are not alone – that there are many others who can relate to their challenges and struggles, can be extremely encouraging. In a group setting, recovering addicts find a sense of belonging and camaraderie. No addict can recover in isolation. During group therapy, recovering addicts often form close bonds with their peers – bonds that last beyond the treatment programme. For many addicts, learning how to build and maintain honest relationships with others, often begins in a therapeutic space where a sense of community and mutual respect is fostered.

If you or a loved one needs advice on how to find recovery, know that help is readily available. Contact us for a free consultation and we’ll support you in your journey.

Stories of Recovery

• The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
  Oliver VG
  Read more
• On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
  Johan B
  Read more
• I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
  Carla S
  Read more
• "Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
  Angelique J
  Read more

Read more

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How to talk to children about addiction and recovery

When we enter into recovery, the way we handle the sudden changes within our family can be difficult to navigate. Many people think that the best way to handle the awkward situation, especially with their children, is to protect them from the truth. This is not necessarily a good idea. The ones close to us are very often more aware of our negative behaviour than we ourselves are. The following is a list of things to keep in mind when discussing addiction and recovery with your children.

Don’t be naïve about what your child may or may not know

As first-hand witnesses to the destruction that can be caused by drug addiction and alcohol addiction , children usually have a much better understanding of the disease of addiction than adults expect them to. Treating them as if they are completely misinformed is a mistake. They usually know much more than they are letting on because they have had to live in that environment. Not underestimating their access to information in the internet age is also a mistake. If kids do not receive correct information and input from authority figures they run the risk of doing their own research and coming to much more dangerous conclusions. Being as honest and open as is age appropriate is the best way forward.

Don’t sugar-coat your addiction

The family of addicts and alcoholics have front row seats to the destruction that this disease can cause. Having witnessed first-hand the damage drugs and alcohol have done to their loved ones often leaves a lasting impression. Being dishonest about the past is undermining the impact it may have had on them. Instead address in a way that is age appropriate what has happened in the past, being honest but not overly graphic. Instead of sharing war stories about using and drinking – talk about the emotional, spiritual and physical impact that addiction has had on you.

In line with this, it is import to remember that addiction runs in families. Children of drug addict or alcoholic parents have a greater genetic disposition to becoming addicted themselves. This is not a guarantee. In sharing your recovery with your children, you perhaps open the door to them being more cautious and aware that this might be a future problem for them. Beyond that, if they are in need of treatment a positive role model of recovery may give them the courage to speak up and seek help.

Explain that help may mean time apart

Time apart is difficult for many families, more so when the children do not fully understand what is happening. When a person comes into a treatment facility, contact with the outside world is limited – this extends to friends and family. Children who are not fully informed about what is happening may feel rejection or fear. Keeping them in the loop at all times is the best way to reassure them. The time spent at rehab, and then later at meetings and fellowship gatherings, is a time of maintenance and care. Assuring children that the time spent without them is being spent constructively helps them gain an understanding that their parent is being responsible. Again, honesty is the best way to communicate this information effectively, keeping in mind the child’s age and understanding.

Let them know that they are not responsible

Children often feel responsible for things that happened around them that they cannot control. For example many children feel responsible for their parents’ divorce, when in reality they have no real impact on the situation. This is something that happens a lot based on a child’s limited framework of the world at large and having a greater sense of control over outside factors. This is not anyone’s fault, it just takes children time to learn and carve out their place in the world.

It needs to be made clear to the child that nothing they did has made their parent a drug addict or alcoholic, and nothing they do can influence a parent’s recovery or relapse process. Good grades and doing chores are not the thing that will make mom stay sober. And in the same breath, behaving badly and being naughty won’t make dad relapse. Children need to be assured that they are autonomous from the behaviour of addiction.

You are not alone

Any person who is an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous will tell you that it is an incredibly liberating experience to be accepted for who you truly are. Being “part of” is a big part of what make the experience so powerful. Feeling that you are not alone, and can challenge your problem head on without fear of judgement is a big part of what makes these groups so successful. There are many support groups that help those in contact with addicts and alcoholics, namely ALA-Teen. ALA-Teen is a part of AL-Anon that focuses on helping the families of those living with alcoholism. Some children may need more specialised care in dealing with the past, a professional therapist or counsellor is always an option, as well as the family support groups at Crossroads Recovery Centre. Whichever route is needed, children should always be made aware that they are allowed to ask for help and they do not need to go through their journey alone.

The best way to teach children is to lead by example. The damage that has been done in the past cannot be undone. If you are an example of honesty and authenticity, a child may still learn from the mistakes of their parents.

Stories of Recovery

• The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
  Oliver VG
  Read more
• On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
  Johan B
  Read more
• I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
  Carla S
  Read more
• "Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
  Angelique J
  Read more

Read more

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The dangers of secret keeping in Addiction

Family secrets in addiction

Families living with addiction, especially drug addiction or alcohol addiction are often families who keep secrets. Sharing your life and home with someone who is struggling with addiction causes severe strain to the entire family. A common defence mechanism is to avoid the problem, this avoidance creates a pattern of secret-keeping that only complicates the problem. The energy it takes to keep addiction a secret and the isolation it promotes affect the family in many ways.Addiction thrives in the darkest corners; places where the only hope that remains is that everyone will stay silent, and the addiction will eventually fade away. We keep our loved one’s secret addiction from friends and other family members.

Secrets keep maintains denial

Addicts hide what they use, how much they use, when they use, how they use, how they get their substance, how much money they’re spending on it and who they’re hurting in the process. Keeping this information hidden can become a full-time job.They will blame those closest to them for their behaviour and avoid responsibility by manipulating the truth.Many have difficulty accepting that their substance use has gotten out of hand and spiralled into a full-blown addiction. Hiding their addiction from others enables them to remain in denial about their use.

Families are afraid of the stigma

Those in active addiction are worried about the prejudice that surrounds addiction and do not want to be treated differently by others.This thinking could extend to the rest of the family, many people still mistakenly believe that it is a weakness, not a disease (if the person really wanted to stop, he or she could do so at once). Family members that don’t want to be stigmatized will keep the addiction a secret to protect their reputation.

Secrets-keeping because of shame

Families also keep addiction a secret due to the fear of exposing their own shame. They believe that if anyone found out, their world would fall apart and their lives would be forever changed. This fear is based on the false belief that they are somehow defective or deficient as a family because this has happened to them. The individual or family develops a mask to hide behind. Shame-based families live with the rule “don’t talk, don’t trust, don’t feel” as a way to deny the shame they feel.

Secrets keep you sick

While loved ones may only see the negatives of revealing the secret, the truth is, bottling up the truth is a defence mechanism. The anxiety, stress and chaos of addiction become such a large part of daily live, they develop a way to function by avoiding exposure of the problem.Keeping secrets doesn’t just make things worse, it keeps you and your loved one sick. The longer you hide their addiction, the longer they will continue to drink or use drugs. Keeping the secret allows the addiction to spiral further and further from the truth – and from help.

Breaking the silence

Addiction is a manipulative and cunning disease that thrives in secrecy. Start by breaking your silence, harness your inner strength and talk about what’s going on. You are not alone. Continuing to bury your loved one’s addiction isn’t healthy for you, for the person using, or for any member of your family. Addiction shouldn’t be your family’s secret.

The family needs help

Crossroads Recovery Centres provide family workshops and support groups, you can learn the best approaches to dealing with an addicted lovedone and how to look after yourself in the relationship. There you can also gain the support from other parents, spouses, siblings, grandparents and friends of addicted loved ones. This support is vital to following through with the changes you need to make, and it can send a powerful message to your loved one.

RESOURCES

http://www.addictioncampuses.com/blog/keeping-secrets-for-your-addicted-loved-one-is-deadly/

Stories of Recovery

• The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
  Oliver VG
  Read more
• On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
  Johan B
  Read more
• I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
  Carla S
  Read more
• "Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
  Angelique J
  Read more

Read more

Approved Medical Aids