CBB 8/6/2017
When asked what programs “work”, my response is that any of them work, if one actually works the program. Readiness and commitment are vital…..
After missing a couple of days with students due to a cold this week I went to Titus 2 yesterday for an impromptu class on Boundaries. Our topics? Resilience. Values. Ethics systems. It was a good discussion.
Afterward, I had a very vivid dream last night in which I was having to deal with many of the same types of issues with two new women who had come to Titus 2 after completing another program and whose former leaders were trying to get them to come back there and leave Titus 2. We just made our case and let them make their choice. They stayed. It was an interesting dream in light of a phone call I had this week from the parent of a person seeking recovery. The parent wanted to know the “good programs” to seek out for her adult child, a young man, since we are for women only. As I told this mother, any program will work if the individual seeking help is ready, committed, and applies himself to it. The problem that is often observed is that, in the acute pain of the moment, the individual says (s)he is ready. But as soon as the acute pain of the moment is over and there is a measure of stability restored, the individual thinks (s)he no longer needs help, is strong enough on her own, and can do it without help now that (s)he’s “clean,” especially if this is a first-time recovery effort. Getting clean is not the hard part. The hard part is doing the work to discover and address the reasons one was susceptible to abusing substances in the first place and identifying and changing poor patterns of behavior that lead to destruction again and again.