Although TLC has a treatment program, the bulk of our staff is made up of volunteers who themselves are addicts or alcoholics. In other words, they are peer counselors who help others get sober.
Many families and parents don't have experience with drugs or alcohol and don't quite understand this concept. How can another addict or alcoholic give my little darling the help he needs? After all, he's never been in serious trouble because of his drug and alcohol use. He's never been to prison. He never lived in the ghetto. He's never belonged to a gang. He just partied too much and maybe got into a little trouble.
How can these nonprofessional, untrained managers – some of them with only a GED – bring the best level of care and attention to my child or loved one? After all, he's a very bright child who was raised with all the advantages.
While I have nothing against professional counseling or training for those who deal with alcoholics and addicts, there's much research that shows that peer counseling is as effective – if not more so – than that delivered by the best trained professionals.
In my opinion our peers have a much better grasp on addict thinking and behavior than those who have never lived in the drug world.
Professional counselors are good at at telling us why we put a needle in our arms or drank ourselves into unconsciousness. But in the final analysis – to use a well-worn cliché – does it make a hill of beans why we used drugs or alcohol? My thinking is that the more important thing is where I go from here?
And the reality is that no one can spot addict behavior like another addict. Our volunteer peer managers – those who have been there themselves so many times – have an almost animal instinct about when one of our clients is about to use or if they have used. After the client has used, one of
our trained therapists can do a postmortem on the person's behavior and speculate upon why they relapsed. But is that a great deal of help?
It may help a little after the addict gets sober again and reflects upon the behavior that led up to his using. But in my opinion analysis of past behavior has never served much purpose unless we're really motivated to change. All the knowledge in the world doesn't mean crap if we don't apply it.
Click here to email John
