Her son is being released from a detox unit at ten in the morning. She wonders if we have room for him. If we can help him get sober.
She has anxiety and sounds worried as she asks me the kind of questions that many mothers ask when they send their grown children to our halfway houses.
For example, she wants to know what our success rate is. I tell her that's a question I can't answer. Because I don't know. We don't have the ability to follow addicts around to see if they revert to using after they leave. And neither can any other program. And if they tell you they can, then they're lying.
I tell her a little bit about the structure of our program. And what he can look forward to when he gets here. I tell her what kind of clothes he needs to bring, mostly work clothes. Plus toiletries and personal items.
I do tell her that if he does everything we tell him to do he has a 100% chance of staying sober the rest of his life. I think she sounds relieved because she knows I'm not telling her any bullshit.
She says she's making arrangements to put him on an airplane tomorrow.
I tell her to text me his flight number. And to have him call when he arrives. One of our vans will pick him up from the airport, Which is about a mile from our Phoenix facility.
If he gets here, we may have helped another addict save his life. All he needs to do is follow directions and he won’t have to use anymore. It's simple, especially if he's had enough pain.
