Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Helping?

A distressed family came to the rescue again for a client who was leaving the program because his insurance ran out.

This time they used a line of credit on their house to extend his stay.  That's because they’d spent their cash resources for his previous trips to rehab.

The parents are high-earning professionals who at one time had it all. But their son’s many trips to treatment centers drained their finances. Their savings finally dried up. Their credit cards are to the limit.

This is a scenario we sometimes see here in the program. Parents who are unwilling to take a position with their offspring. They act as if they throw enough money at the situation it will help. But it seldom does.

Over the past 23 years I've seen families brought to financial ruin trying to help their children.

But there are the smart ones who know how to draw a line. They’ll pay for the first rehab. But after that they realize the problem might lie with their child’s unwillingness to change.

They help their children confront reality by not going to the extreme to help them.