Drug and Alcohol Rehab in Florida

Most people travel to south Florida for the white sand beaches and gorgeous weather, but there is another draw for some. South Florida is home to one of the most thriving recovery communities in the world. Every year, thousands of drug addicts and alcoholics from all over the country seek drug and alcohol rehab in Florida.

Drug and alcohol rehab in Florida is different from drug rehabilitation in much of the country. Because drug and alcohol rehab in Florida is located in a flourishing recovery area, the treatment centers are often superior to treatment centers elsewhere in the country. These treatment centers have the best reputation, proven treatment programs with great success rates, and very experienced staff members.

Drug and alcohol rehab in Florida is generally based on the “Florida Model” of treatment. The Florida Model is a gradual phasing process. The first phase is a safe medical detox. This is the most regimented phase of treatment. The second phase is a residential treatment center, and the third phase is a sober house and outpatient treatment. With each phase, you are given more freedom and responsibility until you are ready to live on your own in the real world.

Medical detox, the first phase of drug and alcohol rehab in Florida, is designed so that the withdrawal phase is both safe and comfortable. Patients in a drug detox are given medication to relieve the pain of withdrawal and to ensure that the process is safe. For certain drugs, safe, medical detox is an absolute necessity. For example, detoxing from benzodiazepines and alcohol can be deadly if it is not monitored by health care professionals. For other drugs, like heroin and oxycodone, the process is merely very, very painful. This pain is what causes many drug addicts to relapse during withdrawal.

Once the detox period is completed, the drug addict is ready for the second phase of drug and alcohol rehab in Florida. This period consists of intense therapeutic work. Until the drug addict is completely weaned off the drugs and alcohol in detox, they will be unable to focus on the therapeutic-intensive second stage of drug and alcohol rehab in Florida.

The intense therapeutic phase of drug and alcohol rehab in Florida typically takes place in a residential treatment center. Clients either live on-site or on an off-site residence and are transported to the therapy center during the day. Throughout the residential phase of drug rehab in Florida, clients attend both group and individual therapy sessions. The therapist focuses on the reasons the client started using drugs in the first place. This part of drug and alcohol rehab in Florida also teaches the client the skills they need to deal with life without the use of drugs and alcohol.

After the residential phase, drug and alcohol rehab in Florida usually entails a stay at a sober living residence and outpatient treatment. In a sober house, residents are usually expected to get a job and pay their own bills. Sober houses have a strict no alcohol or drugs police, and they administer regular drug tests. Sober houses also usually have rules regarding curfew, guests, and chores. Most insist that residents participate in a 12-step program by going to meetings, getting a sponsor, and working the steps.

Drug and alcohol rehab in Florida usually includes outpatient treatment while you are living in the sober house. These therapy sessions help to keep you accountable and provide support as a person in recovery adjusts to living back in the real world.

If you or someone you know needs drug and alcohol rehab in Florida, call us at (877) 711-HOPE (4673) or visit us online at www.palmpartners.com.

Are You Enabling an Addict?

You may think you are helping someone suffering from an addiction by covering up for them, paying their bills, or even just waking them for work when they are hung-over. You may think you are just helping, when in fact you are enabling an addict to continue using drugs or drinking. When you are enabling an addict, you are doing them more harm than good. You are allowing them to continue drinking by shielding them from the negative consequences of their addiction. If an addict or alcoholic does not experience any negative repercussions as a result of using or drinking, they will have no reason to change or get treatment. The term “love them to death” is an apt description of someone enabling an addict. Enabling an addict could allow them to continue to use and drink until they die.

Most addicts and alcoholics do not have the resources to continue their using or drinking without outside help. Usually at least one person is enabling an addict to continue drinking and using. So what is the difference between enabling an addict and helping one?  Simply put, when you help an addict or alcoholic, you are doing something for them that they are not capable of doing themselves. Enabling an addict is doing something for them that they could and should be doing themselves.

Enabling an addict can include: Calling in sick for an addict because they were too hung over or high to go to work or school; making excuses for an addict’s drinking or behavior; lying for an addict, bailing them out of jail, or paying their legal fees; paying an addict’s bills or loaning them money; giving them several “second chances” to change their behavior.

The problem with enabling an addict is that an addict will never have any reason to change if they are being enabled. They don’t have any responsibility for their actions and don’t experience any consequences for their behavior. Enabling an addict gives them the idea that they will always have you to fall back on when times get tough. Whatever messes they find themselves in, they know they will be bailed out.

Giving an addict money, whether directly or indirectly, is another way of enabling an addict. Many people give an addict or alcoholic money directly, expecting them to use it on rent or food, and then they are surprised when the addict spends it on drugs or alcohol. Examples of enabling an addict by indirectly giving them money include not hiding your purse or wallet when the addict has stolen from you the past or paying for their living expenses. If you are enabling an addict by supplying unlimited meals, electricity, a place to sleep, and transportation, you shouldn’t be surprised that they quit their jobs and drink/use drugs all day.

Most addicts who make a decision to change toward a path of recovery reached a point when they realized that their life was unmanageable or intolerable – when they literally could not continue in the way they had been and live. Enabling an addict allows them to have a life that is not only tolerable but may be pretty enjoyable. This is why enabling an addict actually prevents them from getting better. Stop enabling the addict in your life and get them the help they need.

We can help, call us at (877) 711-HOPE (4673) or visit us online at www.palmpartners.com.

How to Help an Addict

How to Help an Addict

By Jenny Hunt, Palm Partners Recovery Center

March 15, 2012

It can be very difficult to know how to help someone addicted to drugs or alcohol. There is a fine line between helping an addict and enabling an addict to continue using or drinking. To help an addict, you must first understand the disease of addiction.

Loved ones wanting to help an addict often wonder why the addict cannot stop using even after suffering extreme consequences as a result of their drug addiction. They think that if the addict truly loved them, they would stop using drugs. If you want to help an addict, you must understand that the drug has become the most important thing in their lives and it takes priority over everything else. No matter how much you love a drug addict, you cannot ‘fix’ them or get them to quit without outside help.

In many cases, those that want to help an addict are actually enabling the addict to continue using. Drug addicts are often very manipulative and will do anything to obtain a drink or a drug. Friends and family will give drug addict money or a place to live when they lose their jobs or homes. They will bail a drug addict out of jail. They will think that this is the way to help an addict, even though it ends up hurting them.

To truly help an addict, most need to seek help themselves. Al-anon is a fellowship of people who have a family member or loved one who is a drug addict or alcoholic. Attending al-anon meetings can help you understand how not to enable a drug addict. Also, al-anon will teach you how to cope and seek happiness in your own life, even if the drug addict or alcoholic continues using or drinking.

Besides learning how not to enable a drug addict, one of the best ways to help an addict is to communicate that you are concerned about them and offer them outside help. Before you have this conversation, do some research on drug and alcohol treatment centers. This way, if your loved one decides that he or she needs help, you will be able to get them into treatment quickly. It is so important to help an addict quickly and efficiently as soon as they decide they need help. Many addicts or alcoholics change their mind or become too scared to go to treatment when they have to long to think about it. Out of those that change their mind, some end up dying from this disease.

When you have this conversation with your addicted loved one, remember to let them know how much you care about them. The best way to help an addict is to approach them with love and concern, not to criticize them for mistakes they have made in their addiction. This may also be a good time to let them know  which of the their activities that you will no longer tolerate, finance, or participate in if he or she does not agree to check into a rehabilitation center for treatment. Regardless of the addict’s decision, it is important that you discontinue these enabling behaviors. Often, knowing that their loved ones will no longer enable them is the factor that pushes a drug addict towards treatment.

If you or someone you know wants to help an addict, call us at (877) 711-HOPE (4673) or visit us online at www.palmpartners.com.

How to Beat Cocaine Addiction

How to Beat Cocaine Addiction

By Jenny Hunt, Palm Partners Recovery Center

March 13, 2012

Cocaine is a highly addictive stimulant drug. Cocaine’s addictive properties are related to its effect on the body’s reward pathways. It is a strong central nervous system stimulant that increases levels of dopamine, a brain chemical associated with pleasure, in the brain’s reward circuits. This release of dopamine causes the euphoric “high” that users experience when cocaine is ingested. The “reward” effect causes powerful cravings of the drug. Studies in mice found that if you give mouse cocaine every time it hits a lever, it will continue hitting the lever until it has overdosed, not stopping to eat, drink, or sleep. Cocaine can be snorted or injected. The crystalline form of cocaine, known as crack, is generally smoked.

To beat cocaine addiction, the first step you must take is to deal with the physical dependence. When someone has been using cocaine for a long period of time, their bodies become dependent on cocaine and they will experience withdrawal symptoms when they quit using. Symptoms of withdrawal from cocaine include paranoia, depression, exhaustion, anxiety, itching, mood swings, irritability, fatigue, and insomnia, an intense craving for more cocaine, and in some cases nausea and vomiting. Fear of the withdrawal process is often the biggest barrier to treatment for those who want to beat cocaine addiction. Many people who try to beat cocaine addiction at home relapse during the withdrawal phase. A medical detox is the easiest and safest way to get through the withdrawal process.

You must completely detox yourself off cocaine in order to beat cocaine addiction. A professional medical detox process is the best way to accomplish that. Medical detox facilities can ensure that your detox process is safe and comfortable. They administer medications to treat with the withdrawal symptoms and monitor your vital signs to ensure that you are stable through the process.

To truly beat cocaine addiction, detox cannot be the only treatment. Those cocaine addicts who attend detox alone are unlikely to beat cocaine addiction in the long term. Most cocaine addicts need further treatment in order to examine the reasons they used cocaine in the first place, and to learn the skills they will need to truly beat cocaine addiction. A residential treatment center is a great place to accomplish these things. Generally, a stay in a residential treatment center lasts between thirty days and one year. Most addicts stay between thirty and ninety days. In a residential treatment center, you will attend both group and individual therapy. Therapy is an important component when you are trying to beat cocaine addiction.

When you are trying to beat cocaine addiction, the third crucial step is attendance at 12-step meetings and working the twelve steps with a sponsor. After you leave the residential treatment center, it is vital that you work a program, whether it be Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or Cocaine Anonymous. Cocaine Anonymous (C.A.) is a 12-step program that uses the Big Book and Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. C.A. is concerned solely with the personal recovery and continued sobriety of individual drug addicts who turn to the Fellowship for help. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop using cocaine and all other mind altering substances. All 12-step fellowships suggest that you attend ninety meetings in ninety days, get a sponsor, and get a home group. Your sponsor will take you through the twelve steps and show you how to beat cocaine addiction in the long-term.

If you or someone you know is trying to beat cocaine addiction, call us at (877) 711-HOPE (4673) or visit us online at www.palmpartners.com.

How to Stop Drug Use

How to Stop Drug Use

By Rhea Rosier, Palm Partners Recovery Center

March 8th, 2012

There are so many different drugs and so many people taking them that it would be almost impossible to stop drug use altogether. What can be done is to try and take preventative measures especially with young people to instill in them as many reasons as possible not to use drugs. The government and federal agencies as well as state agencies have been trying to stop drug use for a long time and have been severely unsuccessful. There is now way the government or us people as a whole can stop drug use all together all we can do is try and put as much knowledge out there about drug use and give young people reasons as to not use drugs.

In order to stop drug use within the younger population you must instill in them a sense of purpose and give them multiple creative outlets. People who have a purpose in life and who have things they enjoy doing rarely think to go out and use drugs. This is a perfect preventative way to stop drug use while also giving the younger population a true sense of fulfillment through something positive.

If you want to stop drug use in someone who has already been actively using drugs and alcohol that is going to be a much more difficult task but it definitely is possible. In order to stop drug use in someone who has been using drugs and is engrained within the drug culture you either must wait for them to want help, hold an intervention, ask them if they would be willing to go drug detox, or take them to some 12 step meetings.

The person who has already been using drugs and needs to stop their drug use is most likely an addict or alcoholic. If this is the case in order to stop drug use in their lives there most be some kind of treatment for them. Being an addict and alcohol who needs to stop drug use, they have a disease, one that needs to be treated in an appropriate manner either through 12 steps or alcohol and drug treatment. If the person who needs to stop drug use has been using habitually for a long period of time before they even get to drug and alcohol treatment is going to need drug detox in order to physically clear themselves of whatever drugs or alcohol they may have been using.

Most of the times drug and alcohol treatment is effective to help someone stop their drug use that mixed with detox and a strong aftercare program can even help someone stop their drug use for the rest of their life. For the preventative measures this is great to stop drug use way ahead of time. To give society a better standing when it comes to massive drug culture and new prescription painkiller epidemic we are facing.

If you or someone you know needs to stop drug use please dont hesitate to call: 877-711-HOPE(4673) or go to www.palmpartners.com