Teen addiction treatment centers not only help teens combat their substance abuse disorders and teach them how to live a sober life, but they also provide valuable lessons to family, friends, and the community when it comes to addiction. These centers can help friends and family to become more understanding as their loved one goes through the treatment process.
We will focus on six things we can learn from teen addiction centers to better understand how Ember Recovery can help teens on their sobriety journey.
What Teen Treatment Addiction Centers Can Teach Us to Become More Understanding
Many teens going through addiction treatment often comment that no one understands what they’re going through or how difficult the process can be. But, by receiving treatment, family, friends, and everyone in the community can discover that a bit of understanding can go a long way toward sober living.
1. Show Compassion
It can be difficult to initially show compassion to someone in recovery because some people are under the false assumption that drug or alcohol addiction is a choice. They don’t understand how addiction affects the brain. When a person develops an addiction, the brain starts to change. The drug of choice brings an intense surge of dopamine to the brain that the brain begins to associate with the addictive substance [1]. This causes the brain to want more to maintain that pleasurable feeling [1].
Drug treatment centers are compassionate towards this fact and can teach family and friends to do the same. They can explain how addiction works and that although their teen may have tried to quit in the past, the intense urge to abuse drugs was too strong to overcome.
2. Make Mental Health a Priority
Drug treatment centers not only treat addiction but also mental health challenges that can come along with it. Dual diagnosis treatment is often recommended for patients who are dealing with a mental health illness and an addiction at the same time. It is necessary to treat both conditions simultaneously to have the best chance at recovery. When mental health is put on the back burner, those issues are never resolved and can resurface, leading to relapse. By making mental health a priority, everyone can gain a better understanding of some of the underlying factors of addiction.
3. Learn to Communicate Better Through Teen Addiction Treatment Centers
It’s important to communicate better as a family to become more understanding. Family therapy is often a big part of many treatment programs and can help in this way. By learning to listen and communicate better, family and friends can better understand what their loved one is going through as part of the process. Communication also allows a teen’s support system to understand their challenges better and help them remain sober.
4. Prevent Arguments
Any overly aggressive behavior will backfire as your teen goes through the recovery process. Negative or challenging emotions or discussions can cause relapse. Treatment centers help to teach calm conflict resolution to prevent arguments and foster understanding.
5. Understanding Triggers
Treatment centers help teens realize their triggers. Some family and friends may be unaware of who or what causes their teen to want to use drugs or alcohol. They can help their teen avoid these people and situations by better understanding what leads to this behavior. Furthermore, they can help them develop coping skills if faced with tempting situations. Many times, it may be impossible to avoid these triggers, which is why it’s equally as vital for teens to learn coping skills to help them get through. Teen treatment centers teach everyone to understand and recognize triggers and the skills they need to overcome difficult situations.
6. Boost Confidence
Teens dealing with substance use disorders are often used to hearing everything they’ve done is wrong. This may be one of the reasons why they turned to drugs and alcohol in the first place. At teen addiction treatment centers, teens get the confidence boost they need to understand that everything is not their fault. They are praised when they’ve done something right, boosting their confidence. As teens know they have what it takes to stop using drugs and alcohol, they can learn how to become sober.
Family and friends can learn how to boost their teen’s confidence from teen treatment centers. They can gain the tools to praise their teen when warranted as they become more compassionate and understanding of the treatment and recovery process.
Are You Looking for Teen Addiction Treatment Centers? Contact Ember Recovery
Ember Recovery is here when you need a teen addiction treatment center in Iowa. We offer comprehensive treatment programs that are tailored to each teen to help them battle their specific substance abuse disorder. We offer residential programs that surround teens with the support they need 24/7 as they fight their drug and alcohol addictions. Call us today to learn how to get your teen on the path to sobriety.
Sources:
[1] https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-an-addicted-brain-works
Andrea Dickerson is a Licensed Therapist and Certified Substance Use Counselor who has worked in behavioral health since 1997. Currently, Andrea is the Director of Behavioral Health, overseeing the Ember residential treatment programs and YSS outpatient counseling clinics throughout Central and North Central Iowa. She became a Motivational Interviewing (MI) trainer in 2006 and provides MI trainings throughout Iowa.
Andrea specializes in working with adolescents and their families and enjoys seeing the family relationships grow through therapy. Andrea is also a CARF International Surveyor, going around North America ensuring behavioral health organizations are meeting required standards.
In her free time, Andrea enjoys cheering on the Iowa Hawkeyes and Chicago Cubs, as well as being an active member of Soroptimist International of the Americas (SIA), a global organization that provides women and girls with access to the education and training they need to achieve economic empowerment. She has been a member of the SI of Des Moines club since 2012 and has been actively involved at the regional level, currently serving as Co-Governor of the Peaks to Plains Region.
Through her involvement in SIA, Andrea has been actively involved in the Dream Programs, coordinating annual Dream It, Be It: Career Support for Girls projects, which give girls the tools they need to achieve their education and career goals, empowering them to break cycles of poverty, violence, and abuse.