Now I know how this title sounds, but I did not go through a rehabilitation treatment program. I worked in a Juvenile residential treatment facility for young women struggling with addiction and other criminal behaviors. I volunteered for three months and then interned for another four with the company. It was an incredible, educational, and, at times, saddening experience. The clients were learning how to live a sober lifestyle, how to utilize independent living skills, and so much more. Yet, at the same time, they were teaching me right back.
Here is a little inside on what the young women within treatment taught me:
Love Deeply, Selflessly, and Unconditionally
Not one of the clients I met came from a "normal home." They showed me the harmful effects of coming from an unloving familial environment. I have been blessed with a loving family and fairly stable life thus far. It broke my heart to hear that so many had been abused by parents, grandparents, siblings, significant others, or whoever it may be. This wasn't limited to abuse; they simply weren't getting the support they needed. This taught me to love my friends and little harder, my family a little deeper, and to treat anyone i come across with the respect those young women struggled to find. I see the people around me in a new light; no matter the mistakes they made or the obstacles I face in my life, I cannot love them any less than they deserve.
Never Judge due to an Addiction
Addiction can happen to anyone, and it is often out of their control. There are biological, familial, personal, and environmental factors that can cause one to become depend on a substance or behavior. In my time working in rehabilitation I learned about so many factors that can influence addiction. Many clients were exposed to drug use in their homes at young ages, some as young as 9 or 10. Such conditions make addictive substances accessible, normative, and even acceptable within their households. To me, after my experience, addiction in adolescents in households such as these are never the teen's fault; it is their environment that is to blame. This accounts for for many other factors as well, and other age groups, and addictions outside of the substance realm. I can never judge someone due to an addiction again.
I'm a Big Softy
I used to be the kind of person to show few emotions. Not much used to phase me. This changed after hearing the pasts of these young women, and their determination to change their lives from the better. The compassion and drive I saw often brought me to tears when I waked out the door at the end of my shifts. Additionally, those tears fell at every graduation, discharge, or hardship in clients lives, i felt an empathy for them that I had not always expressed before. I feel like a big teddy bear when I think about those girls. My experiences around them showed me just how emotional I can be.
Girls can Create Drama out of Anything
I lived in a sorority house of 60 women. I have seen the drama that can come out of so many girls living together, but sometimes the young ladies in treatment took it to a new level. Girls can little things HUGE, and nothing at all even HUGER. For example, one day a client walked around the dining room with only socks on her feet. The other girls wanted her to have shoes on like everyone else; it ended in tears and just about ended in a fist fight. Needless to say more; girls can make a big deal out of literally anything. There was never a dull moment at this job.
Someone Always has it Worse
I know this sounds cliche, but it's so true. Life may be hard, but someone always has it harder. The young women I met in treatment taught me a humility I had never had before. I gained an appreciation for my family, my friends, my education, my caring boyfriend, my physical health, my mental health, and so much more.
Everything about my rehab experience was eye opening. Those girls and that facility did so much more for me than these things listed. On a surface level, they helped me narrow down my career goals and fulfill a graduation requirement. On a deeper level, they touched my heart and made memories that will forever alter my outlook on life and addiction.
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