Teen Treatment for Addiction and co-occurring mental health problems.

Frequently Asked Questions

• (Parents) How do we know this program will work?

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  One of the great things about contingency management is that the outcomes are clearly defined and measurable. The measurable objectives are different for each teen and family, but by the end of the first couple contingency management sessions, you should have a very clear idea of what success will look like. If we’re not achieving the desired results, we will troubleshoot the plan with you and your teen until we do. As a last resort, we will refer you to a higher level of care such as a residential program.

  It is important to have realistic expectations about addiction treatment for teens. Do we help teens get substantial periods of time sober? Absolutely. Do we help teens commit to life-long sobriety? Sometimes, but not usually. Developmentally teens are not primed for that type of commitment or for seeing substances unambiguously bad for them. The primary clinical goal with teens is to decrease the impact of early onset substance use disorders on their cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. Teens who respond well to contingency management are given an opportunity to have fun, cope with stress, regulate their emotions, perform academically, and engage in relationships during a sensitive period when addiction can have a powerful and long-term impact on these areas of development. With contingency management, parents are often able to celebrate significant improvements in their teens’ mood, relationships, academic performance, and other measures of wellbeing even if there are occasional lapses to substance use.

• (Parents) We want to be involved in our teen’s treatment. How will this work?

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  At Plan Your Recovery, parents have a central role in a teen’s treatment. We provide individual therapy to your teen, but we also help you in developing family-based goals and a contingency plan to meet them. Teens make all their decisions within a family environment. We support you in creating an environment of rewards, consequences, expectations, and boundaries that help your teen make the changes you expect of them.

• (Parents) What are the first steps for getting our teen into treatment?

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  Give us a call and we’ll connect with you for a brief phone screening. You can describe for us the basic problem you want to address and we’ll outline for you how we would plan to approach the problem. If it seems like a good fit, we’ll schedule an assessment. Generally, the assessment involves one to two sessions with your teen and one to two sessions with you. Once we’ve got a good handle on the strengths, goals, and challenges in your family we will schedule a family session with you and your teen and begin the collaborative process of contingency management.

• (Parents) What makes this program different from other adolescent programs?

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  Most treatment programs for teens follow the model of adult addiction treatment. This means a lot of group therapy and education, a small amount of individual therapy, and minimal engagement with the family. At Plan Your Recovery, we use little or no group treatment for teens and focus instead on reshaping family dynamics in order to motivate teen success. That doesn’t mean that teens and parents will always agree, but that they will, over time, return to a relationship of honesty, mutual respect, and a capacity for compromise.

  This approach requires our therapists to be sensitive to developmental differences between teens. The parent-teen relationship is different at 15 than at 18 or 19. It also requires us to be sensitive to differences in teens themselves—in the personalities, motivations, and the co-occurring mental health challenges that they might bring to treatment.   

• (Parents) Why shouldn’t my teen just do what I tell them to do?

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  Adolescence is a period in which parents are gradually transferring authority to their teen so that they can practice living responsible lives. An authoritarian parental stance inhibits healthy individuation and skill-building. A totally hands-off approach can involve significant risks to health and safety. We help you find a parenting strategy that balances limit-setting and risk-management with a teen’s need to practice taking charge of their own lives.

• (Teens) How much time do I have to spend with my therapist?

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  We work around your schedule. One of the primary ways we do this is via telehealth. You can meet with your therapist with phone and video calls, and you can text with your therapist between sessions. We will schedule contacts with you more or less frequently, depending on what you need.

• (Teens) I’ve been in therapy before, and I didn’t like it. Why should I try again?

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  Our therapists have diverse experiences and backgrounds, and we’re typically pretty good at matching teens with therapists. That said, if you don’t think your therapist is a good fit, we’re always happy to re-match. Our therapists love working with teens and are trained to be client-centered. You are the primary authority in your own life and we are there to provide honest, supportive, and expert assistance.

• (Teens) Why should I agree to a plan like this? My parents don’t understand what I’m going through.

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  If you are asking this question, your parents are probably requiring you to address a drug, alcohol, or behavioral problem. Our goal is to help you do that with as much input from you as possible. While we help your parents set limits with you, we also help them reward your progress and to address any challenges without yelling, blaming, or power struggles. In other words, we design our program so that there are significant benefits to you.

• (Teens) You talk about rewards. What’s in this for me?

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  What’s rewarding is different for every person. Your rewards might involve more freedom, time with friends, use of technology, or even monetary rewards. We’ll work with you to identify incentives that are motivating to you and collaborate with you parents to implement them.