She seemed surprised when I told I wasn't sure. That we didn't know of any way to keep track of who succeeds and who relapses.
And I added that any program that claims a huge success rate is being disingenuous. Either that or they're spending a lot of money doing surveys and taking random drug tests. But such follow up is unrealistic for anyone in the long term. Maybe the government can afford these kinds of studies. But I don't know of any honest program that can say for sure if clients are succeeding after they graduate.
I mean, think about it for a moment. When a client walks out the door how do you know what he or she is doing? Do you know if they're drinking. Smoking pot? Using heroin.
Oh, we hear things. We get a rumor that so and so is using. Or a former client might call back and say they now have a great job. Or they're starting a business. Or getting married. But unless you have someone at their side 24 hours a day you can't be sure of what they're doing.
I think those who follow our strict guidelines and participate in our groups and individual sessions have a good chance of living a sober life. And we often have parents send other family members who are having problems.
But I would be lying if I gave anyone a percentage rate of how many succeed. I do think we do as good a job as other programs that offer the services we do. But there again, that’s only my opinion.
