Part 8 of the series, What Parents Need to Know: “Hope Academy Parents Share Their Experiences”
“Know the red flags of behaviors related to anxiety, depression, drug use and intervene as early as possible. Find professionals with addiction treatment backgrounds.”
“First, there is hope! As dark, scary and overwhelming as this world of recovery looks, there is hope. Second, that despite the stigma associated with addiction, there are many other families out there going through the same thing and usually keeping it a secret. Third, that there are a lot of resources to help you.”
“In my opinion, the public and private school administrators need to be educated on what to look for and how to report teens who may be in danger of drug use. Even though I had relationships with my daughter’s teachers and personally knew the principal, no one ever told me that she was falling asleep in class, bursting out incomprehensible answers, etc. When I asked the school counselor, point blank, what I should do, she shrugged her shoulders. At the high school level, the counselor’s job is to figure out what the kid is going to do after graduation (college, art school, job); it’s not to help them figure out their social problems. Clearly, with the ongoing drug epidemic, they should be our first resource. That being said, talk to as many people as you can about the situation. (Talking about it will help you decompress, you might find out valuable information and you would be surprised how many other people have some kind of connection to substance abuse.) Take care of yourself, learn how to de-stress yourself so you can go on helping your child.”
You are not alone. Like the parents shared, find your community and ask for help. If you don’t know how to find your community, give us a call. We can help. Resources for help:
• Hope Academy Recovery High School (317) 572-9440
• Adolescent Help Line at Fairbanks: 855-518-2501
• Fairbanks Treatment and Recovery Center (317) 225-HOPE
• SAMHSA (Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration): 1-877-726-4727
• National Institute on Drug Abuse