Treatment in Metaphors
When talking about the pace of treatment in real-time versus the pace of treatment that a young adult and their parents want, there is a gap between reality and expectations. When those expectations are driven by finances, ulterior agendas, or the need to be “back on track,” we lose sight of the importance of going to treatment in the first place: lasting change. To help families align their expectations with the pace of that lasting change, it helps to describe this process in metaphors.
One example is learning to swim. When reflecting on how a person truly learns to swim, it was not by pushing them off a diving board into the deep end to see if they sink or swim. What is most common is a young person dipping their toes into the shallow end with their floaties on, under the supervision of a lifeguard. Once they get comfortable in the shallow end, then they can start to test themselves, going into deeper water. Additionally, they are now taking swimming lessons, so they know the strokes to swim without the safety net of the floaties. This part takes time. Everyone is different in how quickly they learn and how quickly they feel comfortable trusting themselves. At the end of this continuum will be the art of diving off the diving board into the deep end without supervision knowing they will survive.
To compare this to treatment, the floaties and shallow end is when they are in a residential level of care. Once they are starting to get comfortable and learning to take swim lessons, this is when they are in extended care. By the time they are diving off the diving board into the deep-end unsupervised, this is when they have been in sober living or independent living for long enough to be graduating to complete independence from the treatment umbrella. How does this usually look in terms of the treatment world? Realistically from Residential to Extended Care to Sober Living, we are looking at least 12 months.
For those reading that love to bake, another metaphor for treatment will be in baking bread. If you are familiar with making break from scratch, it is not a completely easy process. Additionally, if you don’t let the bread rise before putting it in the oven, or if you take it out of the oven before it is completely baked, you have a loaf of bread that is practically inedible. To get the bread one wants, someone would have to start from scratch all over again. From the treatment lens, there are two negative aspects to this. First, you lose a lot of money when you pull a loved one out prematurely. Additionally, they will most-likely not have enough time to rewire their brain and heal, to which it will sadly be only a matter of time before they relapse.
The last metaphor comes in with a medical lens. Residential treatment is seen as entering an Emergency Room. It is meant to be a short-term, highly supervised and monitored stay. From there, someone is quickly patched up and given recommendations for how to heal. Following through with those recommendations is equivalent to doing physical therapy for months. You don’t go straight from surgery to running. The patient needs to relearn to use their body; they must retrain and strengthen their body. If you have had surgery before, you totally get this. Physical therapy is extended care. After months of physical therapy, then the patient can start to live their life practically pain-free. They will still have occasional follow-up appointments, but for the most part they are paying attention to their body as they independently continue to get healthier.
If you or your adult child ended treatment prematurely and you are looking for assistance in finding those swim lessons, or physical therapy (aka the extended care level of support), hire a professional to help you navigate where to go! If you are exploring the first steps in getting your adult child into treatment, be ready to tackle this year-long (or more) journey through healing. The more you anticipate this being a long-game, the more likely you are to support your loved one living a life of recovery.
For questions or comments contact Joanna.
