No More Denial...

A client showed up unexpectedly at my office yesterday and surprised me with what he had to say.

                "I just want to thank you for saving my life," he said, extending his hand.

Normally, this man's statement wouldn't me by surprise. We often get comments like this from clients who give us more credit than they should for the changes in their lives. After all, they're the ones who did the work.

But when I first met this man he was in total denial. He showed up hot on a drug test and claimed that he didn't know how that had happened. He said that he had never been a drug user and that he didn't know how his test had been dirty. It must have been some kind of mistake. But his company had wanted him evaluated anyway because he was in a safety sensitive position.

Since he had no history of drug use or driving under the influence, after I evaluated him I gave him minimum consequences. I required him to attend ten 12 step meetings within a week, with signature verification. Even though he had only completed eight of the meetings within three days, he was so enthusiastic he wanted to tell me about his experience.

I didn't bother to point out to him that he didn’t have a problem when I met him a few days earlier. But my experience has been that when addicts or alcoholics start hearing others tell their stories it's easier to relate and identify the problem..

In any case, it was refreshing to hear how this man reacted to the meetings. I hope he benefits from his experience.