Alcohol and Drug Rehab Counseling
My name is Mr. Pitt. I’ve been a rehab counselor for over 20 years. My specialty is rehabilitation counseling for drug addicts and alcoholics. It is a commonly held misconception that this is the only type of rehab counseling when in fact there are rehab counselors for disabled people, for people with career issues, and with a wide range of medical and behavioral problems.
I am not a trained psychologist or psycho-therapist but I do find the theories and practices of these disciplines are very helpful to me in my professional career. There is often a ‘hidden’ cause for people’s addictions to alcohol and drugs. Being able to make people introvert and examine possible reasons and events that might have triggered the disease of addiction is a most fruitful course of action for rehab counseling.
As with a psychologist my job is to listen. I not only listen; I listen sympathetically. I do not judge. In my one-to-one counseling sessions I encourage my patients to say anything that is on their mind no matter how objectionable it might sound to ‘normal’ people.
I do not hold to the 12 step method used by Alcoholics Anonymous. Although their 12 step methodology has had very good results over the years I feel it is too god-orientated and also encourages too much passivity. AA seems hung up on the notion that all recovering addicts must first acknowledge the existence of some type of Supreme Being, and that they should submit their will to this being. I don’t see how religious ideology is helpful to a recovering addict if that person does not have any religious beliefs to start with. Why complicate the issue to recovering from drug and alcohol dependency by clouding the waters with theological issues? I’m happy if a Catholic comes for my counseling and finds strength in his or her religious beliefs to resist the substances that have caused problems in their life. I’m not willing to tell a practicing Buddhist who believes there is no god to change their metaphysical notions to accommodate a deity that makes no sense to them.
What I do like about the AA 12 steps method is the insistence on group support. It is often very helpful for a recovering addict to hear the experiences of other recovering addicts and those who have already beaten the disease. It makes the goal of recovery seem closer and more feasible.
I also think there is much to be said for the AA insistence that the recovering addict seek to redress the wrongs they have done to people. It can be very depressing and negative to take the first steps of admitting addiction and disease, and then detailing all the ways in which your life has been derailed and how you have hurt the loved ones in your life. There is a lot of therapeutic value in patients seeking to make amends to the people they have hurt with their behavior and actions.
I feel the really successful rehab programs are those that are not entirely based in an office or group session. People have to take their therapy out of these environments and apply them to all aspects of life. They will have to leave rehab institutions at some point and so this process should start as soon as is appropriate. The rehabilitation facility where I work separates people from society to remove temptation, to allow people to ‘dry out’. However, once the initial period of ‘cold turkey’ has finished then preparation to re-join society must be started immediately. That is why we allow patients home visits and weekends away from the facility. Patients must not be made to feel like ‘prisoners’. Rather they must take responsibility for their own recovery.
This website is designed as a resource for people training to be rehab counselors. It is also about showing people that there are plenty of substitutes in life for alcohol and drugs. I intend to stimulate recovering addicts’ interests in life. Thus, I write about travel, about home products, about music, about many topics. Where once drugs and alcohol was the mainstay of interest, the every day, the mundane, the flow of life must be re-embraced. This is effective counseling.