17 Year Old Son in Recovery from Opiate Addiction. Your Thoughts on "Sober Living?"

Would love your input. My 17 yr. old graduated from an inpatient program the end of June (he was away for 6 months) and is living in a "sober house" approx. 45 minutes away. He will attend school (on line) soon.

I know that he has relapsed as evidenced by the urine test administered at the house. Somehow, they are giving him another chance. He does attend meetings, etc. Is this the right setting or should he return to the inpatient program? He is an opiate addict.

Try to do all the right things--no cash, etc. I take him grocery shopping instead. He has just started with a substance abuse counselor on a weekly basis.

---

---

Answer

A relapse is not necessarily the end of the world. For some it takes a 'relapse or two' to get it and learn their lessons, before they're ready to continue on the path of sobriety.

I think the key is however how he responds to this. Is he committed to learning from his mistake, working his recovery program and continuing with the necessary relapse prevention strategies - or is he not all that serious about turning his life around?

If he does regret his mistake and is genuinely committed to following the path of recovery, then giving him a 2nd chance to continue staying at his sober living house isn't a bad thing. But there's nothing wrong with you as parent sitting down with the people who run the place to ask what measures they've got in place to try and avoid this happening again.

Ultimately though - if your son is ever going to win the fight against his drug addiction - he has to want it, because he's the one that is going to have to put in the work on himself to change. Rehabs and Sober Living houses provide the environment and 'tools' for doing so, but the rest is up to him.

So hopefully this was just a slip and won't happen again. If it does however, then you may have to consider a change in approach. But as long as the commitment to change is apparent from his side, give him the benefit of the doubt.

All the Best