Recently my son was admitted to a residential treatment program after he relapsed after attending an out patient program. His mom admitted him after everything else failed and he expanded his problem from pot to cough medicine and pills. I am divorced and he spends about 2/3’s of his time living with his mom. I did not stand in the way of his admittence because I felt if something drastic was not done he was going to wind up in a hospital or jail.
Prior to this I was not very familiar with the 12 step (NA,AA) program that this institution practices. One of the counselors assigned to my son seems very cult like in her methods. Everything she speaks and quotes is based on the 12-step program as an absolute dogma without any exceptions. She has told all the parents that our children have a disease and were not at all responsible for their drug use. She said they will always have the disease and will need to recognize their powerlessness for the rest of their lives. She even said the parents were also diseased as co-addicts and could only be helped if they attended al-anon meetings. I am hoping that this counselor was an extreme example of how the 12-step program could be implemented. Does anyone have any opinions or comment on this. Is this counselors practice typical? I wonder if sharing my feeling about this with the senior counselor on the team would be helpful or harmful. Thanks
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