Open spaces, open minds, open road to recovery

1
Using a Positive Peer Culture Approach in the
Treatment of Substance Abusing Youth
Because it Works!
Recovery is the first step in everything we do
Sobriety is the corner stone of our success
Open spaces, open minds, open road to recovery
Patrick J. Barrasso, LCSW 6151 E. Grant
Road Tucson, AZ 85712 [phone] www.inbalranch
.com
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Fighting the Current Adolescent Cultures
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Adolescent Use

• Begins Out of Curiosity
• New experience and altered state offers a unique
  feeling.
• As use increases, youth begin to immerse
  themselves in subculture.
• This subculture often provides psychological
  needs that may be lacking elsewhere.

www.theeveryman.com
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Psychological Needs of Adolescents

• The Development of
• Sense of Power
• Sense of Pride
• Sense of Purpose
• Sense of Passage

Power
Self
Passage
Pride
Purpose
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The Development Needs Often Met in the Drug
Subculture

• Sense of Power
• Belonging to a group of young people who they can
  easily influence by bringing into it different
  kinds of drugs, better potency, or connections
  that will help them ascertain the right drug.
• Sense of Pride
• Often draws youth to selling to get sense of
  status.
• Elaborate paraphernalia.
• Knowledge base about drugs
• Symbols of their affiliation to drug subculture

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The Development Needs Often Met in the Drug
Subculture

• Sense of Purpose
• Youth often feel rapport, feeling needed in the
  drug subculture.
• Describe having a role to play.
• Rites of Passage
• Often celebrated by watching a person experience
  an altered state for the first time.
• A young person may go from using alcohol and
  marijuana to harder drugs (cocaine, LSD and is
  some instances heroin).

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Cultures of Recovery

• Friendly and Specific to Population
• Community and culture made up of peers
• Church youth groups
• Intensive outpatient programs
• Adolescent AA Meeting
• Needs to be Exciting, Rewarding, and Alive.
• Reinstating Privileges
• Creating new rituals and passages
• Engaging them in treatment programs
• Creating respectful passages
• Focus and Emphasis on Gains Not Losses.

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Cultures of Recovery

• Treatment should Create Symbols and Rituals to
  Mark Passage into a Recovery Community.
• Symbols represent secrecy and exclusion of others
  as far as young people are concerned.
• Written Material
• Ornaments
• Key Chains

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Cultures of Recovery

• Idea of Membership
• Gives adolescents a sense of belonging,
  acceptance, and being part of something bigger
  than self.

• Creating name for treatment group
• Symbol that marks uniqueness of their
  treatment
• community.

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Ownership

• Must have a Sense of Ownership
• Involvement in Decision-Making of Recovery
  Activities Outside of Treatment.
• Can involve AA, NA, Weightlifting,
• Aerobic Activity, Kick Boxing, Music
• Lessons, and other activities young
• people should be encouraged to explore
• Young People Brought into Discussion are More
  Likely to have Ownership of the Outcome.

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What Predicts Sustained Abstinence and Fewer
Relapses?

• Treatment Completion
• One study describes youth as twice as likely to
  reduce alcohol and drug use in year following
  treatment then sample that left before
  completion.
• Longer Treatment Stays
• Youth that stayed 90 days were 1.5 times more
  likely to be drug and alcohol free one year
  post-treatment.
• 12 Step Meeting Attendance
• Avoiding Alcohol is Predictive of Success after
  Treatment
• Positive Relationships with Treatment Counselors
• Living Outside the Family Home after Discharge
• Avoiding Deviant Peers

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Replacing a Culture with a Culture

• Commitment
• Treatment Team
• Parents
• School
• Courts (if applicable)
• Adolescent