When our son got his second DWI, he asked us to send him to a rehab facility. Everything in his life was spiraling out of control and knew he needed help.
John
When our son got his second DWI, he asked us to send him to a rehab facility. Everything in his life was spiraling out of control and he was terrified at the direction it was going and knew he needed help. We got busy searching for the best facility we could find for him, and we chose St. Christopher’s in Baton Rouge.
Within a few days we were taking him to a place totally unfamiliar to all of us and we, as parents, had an empty feeling. It was about 10:30 at night when we arrived at St. Christopher’s, and we will always be so grateful to Katrina, the nurse, who checked us in. She explained the program to us and was so warm and friendly. By the time we left our son, we knew we had made the right decision. We were at peace with it. The counselors called weekly with a report for our son, and we soon got totally comfortable with him being there. After 30 days in primary, he was begging to come home, but we knew he needed to stay longer.
He ended up completing the entire program and graduating. If we could give a parent any valuable advice, it would be to encourage your son to stay the entire length of the program (30 days is NOT long enough). It was amazing to see the stages our son went through in the treatment program, and how after the 30 days, he was so glad he stayed. We got to know and love the staff and clients at St. Christopher (from weekly visits) and they began to feel like family to us. We also found it so helpful to get to know and visit with other parents who were going through the same thing we were. The parent education classes that we attended with other parents were most helpful because we were so blind to addiction. This is not an easy program and it takes a lot of hard work for the client but upon completion, they have lifelong tools to work with. Our son also made some great lifelong friends, and they still keep in touch and keep each other accountable.
We will be forever grateful for this treatment center and to the staff that helped our family as a whole.
Jordan
When our older son needed to go to rehab, there was no question as to which one because we had already experienced St. Christopher’s first hand with our younger son and knew what a great rehab facility it was. Our older son DID NOT want to go there at all because he didn’t want to go out of state, but we insisted on St. Chris. He was mad at us for sending him there for a week or two then he began to settle in, embrace the program, focus and work very hard. He stayed the entire program and graduated and is so thankful he did so. He has been sober for almost 2 years now.
We are so thankful for the tools and education that this program gives for clients as well as parents. I would recommend it to anyone struggling with alcohol issues. Now, as a family, we have much needed peace after years of trials with addiction.