Deciding to Go to Rehab - How to Make the Leap

It is important to understand that the decision to go to a drug and alcohol rehab is never an easy one to make. Drug and alcohol addiction is something that some people struggle with for years before they decide that getting sober is not something that they can do on their own. It is also important to understand that having a drug addiction is not something that you should be ashamed of. In fact, making the decision to seek out drug and alcohol rehabilitation for your drug or alcohol addiction is quite courageous. It says a lot about your inner strength that you are able to say "I cannot handle this by myself. I need help."

Drug Treatment Centers know that you are probably frightened of what will happen after you pick up the phone to set up your rehabilitation program. The staff of addiction and health experts at centers for drug and alcohol treatment know that, especially in the beginning, many people struggling with drug and/or alcohol addiction are afraid of what they will encounter at drug rehab. It is because the staff is so compassionate that they will do everything they can to ease the transition from struggling with sobriety in the "outside world" to detoxing and regaining your sobriety in a carefully controlled and supportive environment.

It is all fine and good to know that you will be treated well once you've made the decision to go to drug rehab. The problem arises when you aren't sure if going to drug rehab is the right decision. Here are some of the signs that you should look for that will tell you whether or not you are equipped to deal with your drug addiction yourself:

1. The amount of drugs that you need to get drunk, high or stoned has increased dramatically since you first started using. For example-it used to take only a few drinks to get drunk. Now you're downing entire bottles of hard liquor before feeling even buzzed.

2. You start to have physical withdrawal symptoms when it's been a while since your last "fix". Your hands might shake, you might get cold sweats or heart palpitations, you might feel nauseous, etc.

3. You cannot stop yourself from using after "just a little bit." You might intend to just hang out with friends, but you wake up the next morning not remembering the night before.

4. You find that you don't have time for your other interests because getting wasted is more important and you don't have time to do both.

5. Your level of paranoia has increased to the point where you are sure that each person you pass on the street can tell that you have a drug or alcohol problem and you've become very defensive.

6. You are moving up the chain of drugs. While you might have just needed a couple of beers to get wasted when you first started using, now you need pills or other, harder, substances to have the same effect.

7. You have started to take drugs to cure you from the effect of other drugs. Amphetamines in the morning to cure a hangover from the night before. Valium to calm down from too much speed, etc. You cannot let the drugs leave your system naturally.

8. Your family and friends keep trying to get you into a drug or alcohol rehabilitation treatment program.

Overcoming drug addiction and working toward sobriety is difficult, but that is not nearly as difficult as making the first phone call in which you admit that you need help. Asking for help is the strong and sensible thing to do.

And now I invite you to Transformations Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center. You are important. You can change your life. You deserve it. Please call me, Matthew Brindisi, right now at 866-211-5538 and speak to me or one of my staff. Download a free brochure.

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Strategies to Avoid Relapse to Drugs - Strategy One, Control Your Environment

Do you, or does someone close to you keep falling back into using the same addictive drug, only to find that the addiction is even worse than before? This is called drug relapse.

A part of drug addiction is this on again, off again pattern of binging and abstaining, binging and abstaining. It can go on for quite a while and look like the addiction isn't progressing. The truth is the addiction only seems to be staying the same while it is continuing to worsen.

Periods of abstinence can be a blessing or a curse, depending on the outcome.

Getting away from the drug for a while can give an addict a chance to see the problem more clearly and to make choices for the future that seemed impossible while they were getting high everyday. These choices can lead their life into the light again and away from the grip of drug addiction.

On the other hand, taking a short "break" from addictive drugs might carry with it some dangers. With most addictive drugs, the tolerance built up by an addict's body to that substance can subside over time. So on the next relapse, the danger of over-dose is much higher because the former dosage might now be large enough to be deadly.

There are some actions to take that can reduce the possibility of reversion to drugs. Remember, drugs were once a way of life for the addict. Now life must change.

Strategy One:

1. You must surround yourself with drug-free people.

The life that the you led while getting stoned revolved around drug use and drug users. Those are not the circles a drug-free individual travels in.

But spending time with people who are not into drugs and the druggie life will do more than avoid reminders and temptations. There is a new life style to be learned and that can best be done by spending time with drug-free individuals and doing activities that do not involve drugs. Also, people who don't use and have your welfare at heart will support your efforts to stay clean. Often, friends and associates see the signs that an addict's resolve is slipping even before the addict sees it and can step in to help when it really counts.

It even happens that a drug addict gives up on himself more quickly than his friends give up on him. So these people can also be a lifeline in case apathy sets in.

Hanging around the places where the drugs are easily available is not likely to happen if the new "gang" is opposed to illegal drug use. So these people are good for your recovery, even if they do seem a bit "dorky" to begin with.

Before long, you'll start seeing the changes in yourself that your friends saw first. You're on your way to ending addiction and leaving the drug nightmare behind you.

Next in this series, "Filing the Gigantic Hole Left by Drug Abuse"

Tony Bylsma CCDC, is a rehabilitation counselor and drug prevention speaker in Los Angeles

tony@TheRoadOut.org
http://www.TheRoadOut.org

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Second Chance Programs, JSettles2

Comments With Dr. James Haney Presents*Second Chance Programs, with JSettles, founder of a house of rehabilitation for former prison inmates, who have been convicted, served their time, and need a second chance in coming back into society, Part 2 This Video has Enhanced Text (et)*drjhaney Homicide among black males is an alarming problem and is often drug related, according to Dr. Winbush, but the statistics are not clear. There is an "increase in violence in places like Washington, DC, while Los Angeles, for example, has manifested a sharp decrease in the past year in spite of the gang problems. After the 1992 riot a truce was called between two of the worst street gangs in LA history, the Crips and the Bloods. There has been virtually no violence between these two gangs since this truce. Before the truce there were 20 to 30 of them dying in street violence each month. "There is evidence throughout America that black males are becoming more aware of their own responsibility in dealing with their situation. They are beginning to talk to each other. Black churches have a major role to play in this issue as well as other religious groups, such as the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam took Malcolm X out of prison and continues to do the same for others throughout our community," Winbush notes



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Anger and Addiction

You may have justifiable reasons for being mean and acting ugly. I am convinced that somewhere someone really hurt you; they betrayed your confidence. They abused you and left you with a memory of misery and pain. It is by far not my intent to be insensitive, but holding on to the pain of the past can cause more damage to yourself than the individual or individuals who injured you. The things we suffer can either make us better or bitter. Such volumes of pain would easily destroy us if we had not found avenues to cope. We needed a way to avoid pain and simultaneously institute a soothing pleasure. Food, cocaine, alcohol, heroine, sex and a number of unnamed addictions became our answer. We knew we could count on them to calm the beast of anger on the inside. Soon, we forgot why we were angry at all. All we knew was we could "fix" the frustration, loneliness, boredom and disappointment with one act of indulgence. One act of indulgence became two and two became three until we found ourselves caught in an infinite, dizzying helix of pleasure and pain.

How deceived we have become. We cover pain with our anger and we cover anger with addiction. All the while the pain festers beneath. It fuels the fire. In brief moments of clarity or we see what we are doing to ourselves. It is at this time we have the courage to say, "I give up", and not on life but on the charade we played so long. We find the courage to face ourselves and the unsightliness inside us.

The rush of rage can produce a similar high to your common street narcotic. The problem is you manufacture the drug in your head. Your mind and your body may be conditioned to "overheat" any time you feel fearful, threatened or insecure. The cravings for anger will not subside quickly. You may need to enlist a variety of coping mechanisms to get you through the tough times.

You should look for someone to talk to. If you look hard enough there may be people already in your life in whom you can trust. If not find someone who has a listening ear. Pastors, priests, therapists and community group members dedicate their lives and time to listening and helping those in crises.

Educate yourself. Reading books or listening to CD's brings a since of self-awareness. When you become self-aware you become better skilled at managing your emotions and controlling your behavior.

Shannon Munford has a decade of working with troubled youth and families in Los Angeles County. He has been employed with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, The Department of Children and Family Services and The Los Angeles Probation Department.

Mr. Munford has been and continues to be a mentor to youth in Los Angeles and surrounding areas. As the Chief Executive Officer at Daybreak Counseling Service he has teamed with local faith based institutions that donate clothes, furniture and toys to foster and probation youth in Los Angeles. Mr. Munford is a member of the City of Gardena Police Chief Advisory Board.

His passion for the family inspired him to receive his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Master's of Arts Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from California State University Dominguez Hills. He is Anderson and Anderson certified Adult and Adolescent Anger Management Educator. His clients consist of members with the entertainment industry as well as corporate America.

www.daybreakservices.com

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Sober Living Home in Los Angeles, California - Foundation Recovery - Drug & Alcohol Addiction

Sober Living Home in Los Angeles, California - Foundation Recovery - Drug & Alcohol Addiction. Foundation Recovery Sober Living Home in Los Angeles, CA. A safe 12 step environment to assist with drug & alcohol addiction recovery in Southern California



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