Helping your teen after treatment is hard work. To assist your teen once inpatient treatment is done is a whole new task. When parents feel lost and confused when they find out their teen is on drugs. They are wondering what needs to be done in regards to helping your teen after treatment. It’s only natural to rush in and try to solve the problem. You may see this as a reflection of ignoring the warning signs of teen addiction. Unless you are educated and understand the pattern and signs of addiction, it can be difficult to know what to do. If you send your teen to drug treatment, it is important that you do the research. Find one that works closely with the whole family system and not just the teen.

So what do you do when they return from treatment and are back in the same environment they came from? It is only natural to want to make sure that your teen is working their program but all too often I have seen parents smother their teen and try to micromanage their recovery. This can send the message to your teen that they are incapable of implementing what they have learned. I have worked with parents driving by AA or NA meetings to see if their teen actually attended.

Helping Your Teen after Treatment Does Not Mean Enabling

What is important to remember is it is up to your adolescent to implement the skills they have learned and try to trust that they will follow the suggestions – to change all people, places and things that once were triggers. If you try to manage or control you teen’s recovery, it can backfire and the teen will feel that no matter what they do, you will never believe them. When you learn it is up to the adolescent to want to change, you realize the most important thing you can do is learn to detach with love, stay focused on yourself and learn to allow your teen the space and ability to implement the coping skills which will ultimately help them increase their self esteem, communicate more effectively and learn that life is much better substance free.

What Does Work When Helping Your Teen After Treatments

  • Drawing very clear boundaries and lines so that your teen knows that you will not be blind sided.
  • Sett the tone in the house. Restructure it so that it works for you and not the addict who has been the tornado.
  • Randomly drug testing and coming up with a contract that all sign as a way to have a set criteria. A road map that holds your teen accountable.