Once in a while we’re forced to realize our program doesn’t work for everyone. This occurred again when a client who has been in our Hard Six program several times was taken off restriction this week and allowed to seek work.

The first thing he did, however, after nearly a year of restriction to the property, was to find a synthetic form of marijuana, known as “spice” and smoke himself into unconsciousness. He was found passed out in an alley and returned to our Roosevelt property.

After some consideration the staff decided to discharge him because he’d been in the program too many times without being able to leave for even a day and remain drug free. His history has been to immediately get high whenever he leaves direct supervision.

The real question for us is where to draw the line? We have clients who leave and get drunk or high two to three times in succession. Then, it seems like some of them finally get it. Something clicks and they start working a program. They get a sponsor, they start carrying themselves differently. They begin to look at themselves as the problem, as opposed to pointing the finger at everyone else. Some of these formerly chronic relapsers have now served with us for years as staff members and are helping others to walk the path of sobriety.

In the case of this man it seems like he doesn’t make even a minimal effort to change. He’s never been enthusiastic about finding a sponsor or getting involved in 12-step meetings. The other clients seem to resent him because of his lack of effort and his ingratitude.

All of these factors came into play when the decision came to discharge him from TLC.