rn (POC) it is important to change the way that you have been talking to them in the past. Below are some of my favorite phrases to use when addressing someone with addiction.
Continue readingWhen an Addict Says, “I’ll think about it”
Thinking about recovery is about as effective as thinking about going to the gym. it does nothing to help the person actually recover.
Continue readingThe Functional Alcoholic
If you consider yourself a functional alcoholic, are you really functioning at your highest level? Or have you lowered the bar of what’s acceptable to cater to your addiction?
Continue readingChoosing Recovery and Making That One Difficult Decision
etting sober is a choice you make for self-improvement. Just like any program of self-improvement, it requires a daily commitment to change.
Continue readingROI on Addiction Recovery
When putting a dollar value on recovery, consider how much money you would pay to change everything in your life. How much would you pay to keep your children? How much would you pay to keep your job? How much would you pay on your child’s behalf to totally change their life? How much would you pay to have four more hours in a day?
Continue readingThe Myth of Hitting Rock Bottom
Our goal with an intervention is to help someone see the consequences of their substance use, to shine a light on something that they are missing. We want to help them choose recovery at a point before rock bottom.
Continue readingBattling Addiction and Mental Health Issues
To determine how to help someone, it is necessary to hear the stories of the people around them. To find the right facility for a person in need, we need to know whether the issue is an addiction or a mental health problem or both.
Continue readingCase Study: The Underemployed (Beth)
To this day, Beth calls me to invite me to join her on one of her 100+ days of skiing a year.
Continue readingWith Addiction, Short Term Success Doesn’t Guarantee Long Term Recovery
Recovery takes time. A successful plan often involves attending treatment, months of therapy, and a lifetime commitment to change.
Continue readingPlan B: Interventions that Don’t End in Treatment
Often, Plan B will only last a few days. Usually after a few more episodes of using, the loved one will reach out and ask for help. A Plan B intervention can also lead to change – it just might take a bit more time.
Continue readingThe Deep Valley Between Use and Recovery
Addiction drives people into their basements; they may spend a lot of time down there. When they do come upstairs and look around, they observe what has changed: while their yard is still a mess, their neighbors have cleaned up and moved on with their lives.
Continue readingChoosing A Treatment Center: 10 Questions to Ask
It’s so crucial for the recovery process for the individual to find the right treatment center. There can be a vast difference in quality—and price: thirty days of treatment can range from $7,500 to $120,000—and finding the right facility takes research. When you’re doing research on a facility, be sure to ask these questions.
Continue readingThree Days Before Treatment
In the days following the intervention, the family should expect that the individual will drink or use even more than they were before—sort of a “last hurrah.” This can be very difficult to watch.
Continue readingConsidering Treatment: Common Last Minute Questions
A few common roadblocks come up with almost everyone heading to or considering treatment – always asked after the decision has been made to go to treatment and always used as road blocks to not go to treatment.
Continue readingTrauma from The Closet: The Formative Years
To cope, I developed a false persona. It wasn’t intentional, it wasn’t fully conscious, but for ten years I lived a painful, false existence. Every morning when I woke up, I woke up in extreme fear of being found out for who I really was. So I quickly put on a mask and lived as my false self.
Continue readingInpatient Treatment: Common Concerns
I can’t go to rehab because…
I work with many people struggling from addiction. Some people need to kick start their recovery and going the in-patient treatment route is often the best option. However, it often comes with common concerns. In-patient treatment or rehabilitation offers a month away to detoxify in a safe environment.
While a 30-day program is often the recommended choice, it is also a very difficult decision to make. Jumping out of life for 30 days is not easy, but the benefits of a strong foundation for recovery that can change behavior for a lifetime is often worth the trade off.
“I don’t have time to go to rehab, I have to work”
Time away is a very real concern. Entering an inpatient rehabilitation program is essentially pausing a month (or more) of one’s life. One might be resistant to the idea of having to be away from work or their families, however addiction takes steals time from families and from work.
People often lose several hours in a day, if not entire days, when under the influence. Once in recovery people find that they have much more time to dedicate to passions, family, and work. Taking 30 days away might give someone 5 extra hours a day – for the rest of his or her lives.
“I can’t afford to go to rehab”
Treatment is expensive. There are many rehabilitation centers that are cash based or not covered by one’s insurance. However, there are many good programs that are covered by insurance.
In order for a treatment plan to be successful it must be affordable, and luckily there are several low cost or in-network facilities. A good first step when considering an inpatient program is to determine what one’s insurance benefits are, and contact a local rehab program that is covered.
It’s important to note that, in the long run, addiction costs more than treatment does. It is common to see people spending hundreds of dollars a day to keep up with their addiction. By multiplying the direct costs of one’s addiction by the number of days in a year can help put the expense of treatment into perspective. The costs aren’t just financial. One may miss opportunities at work, destroy relationships with loved ones, or experience legal troubles due to their addiction.
The Four Horsemen of Addiction: Shame, Fear, Pride, Embarrassment
When someone first considers treatment one might feel ashamed or embarrassed. Admitting one has a substance use problem, and seeking help from others can make one feel exposed. However, recovery is never done alone.
It is important to meet other people who have also decided to seek help for addiction. Addiction is isolating, and rehab allows for new connections to be made between people in recovery. These connections are important because a support system is formed from them, which reduces the chances of someone relapsing.
The idea of in-patient care can seem daunting, however in some cases it is the best option for someone’s journey towards recovery. When talking to someone about rehab try to discuss why they are resistant to the idea of a more intensive program, and gently remind them that no matter what reason they come up with to avoid rehab addiction will always be the more difficult choice in the long run.
About Adam Banks
Adam Banks is a certified interventionist and the owner of Adam Banks Recovery. After receiving an MBA from the University of Chicago, Adam built a company acquired by United Health Care. His discipline and attention to detail comes from his former career as an airline pilot, holding an ATP, the FAA’s highest license.
Today, Adam is dedicated to helping others achieve long-term sobriety. His work has guided executives, pilots, and physicians on paths to recovery. Adam brings families together through a loving and inclusive approach. Adam has authored four books on addiction. His recent work, Navigating Recovery Ground School: 12 Lessons to Help Families Navigate Recovery, educates families on the entire intervention process. He also offers a free video course for families considering an intervention for a loved one.
Adam is available for alcohol and drug intervention services in New York, Long Island, the Hamptons as well as nationally and internationally.
The Sinclair Method For Safer Alcohol Consumption
The Sinclair Method utilizes a medication, called naltrexone, to help people reduce the amount of alcohol consumed. This medication helps reduce the cravings for alcohol. Unlike complete abstinence, this pharmacological approach is attractive, as it does allow the alcoholic to drink small amounts.
Continue readingMBA Lessons in Recovery: Using the 12 Steps to Build Social Capital
There are 3 steps in AA that directly relate to rebuilding social capital that we broke during our addiction, steps 8,9,10. By working these steps, we rebuild the relationships that we neglected during addiction.
Continue readingMy Journey Quitting Juul: Relapse, Recovery, and Maintenance (Part 3)
I have to think about my addiction almost daily and remember why I want to quit. If I don’t consciously think about recovery, it would be easy to pick up a JUUL Again. Just like I did when I recovered from alcohol, I keep counting days. I badly want to be free of this addiction.
Continue readingMy Journey Quitting Juul: Action to Relapse (Part 2)
The feeling in your gut that you are going against your value system is known as cognitive dissonance. That feeling indicated that I knew I was doing something bad for me and not living in the best way I knew how.
Continue reading