What Success in Treatment Looks Like
We do a great job of identifying the pitfalls of young adults and their families. Mostly, I’m speaking for the work I do because it’s so easy to lean on what needs to be done differently. What we often forget to highlight though is what success through treatment could look like. Success is such an ambiguous word, it’s hard to pin down a representation across the behavioral healthcare industry. Similarly, to how we approach our clients we ought to be clear in saying that “success looks different for everyone.” That’s frustrating to the parent who needs to see results, especially large and obvious gains.
It’s important to reiterate the importance of treatment not being a “fix” for a loved one. That’s not how treatment works. To think that a Clinical will be able undo what’s been done for years in less than 10 weeks is an unrealistic expectation. To move a loved one in 10 weeks to being willing to change, now that’s a win!
It’s hard to anticipate what could happen when you enroll a loved one in treatment. When asking a program for success stories and outcomes, it’s important for the parent to being willing to hold a mirror up to themselves. Their loved one in treatment isn’t the only doing work. The family has to be all-hands on deck. The families that I have witnessed having the “most success” are the ones where the parents did just as much work to change, as their adolescent or young adult.
Success could look like several days sober and skills to not return to addictive substances once an adverse situation strikes. Notice how I didn’t say “if” it strikes. We all know life is full of wrenches. Success could also look like a kid who doesn’t lose their pencil the entire time they’re in treatment. The ability to be responsible for such an arbitrary item, as actually translate to the possibilities of what could snowball after graduation.
Success is hard to define. And to truly be open to the possibilities of what success could look like post-treatment, it begins with letting go of expectations. We must be more accepting of the reality of what life for our loved one will look. Success can look like only being responsible for your own self, and no one else. Success looks like a young adult who chooses to have a job or go back to school because it’s what they want, not what they’re being told.
In t he end, it could look a lot of different ways. But for a young adult, all you want is for them to be moving forward with their life. Going to treatment it going to help with that movement.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
