A drug rehab center located in Massena, NY has recently doubled the number of beds available in its adolescent program, which has been designed to treat 12- to 15- year olds with substance use disorders.
The drug rehab center, Rose Hill Residential Services for Youth, is a part of the St. Joseph’s Addiction Treatment & Recovery Centers, a healthcare system that provides both inpatient and outpatient addiction treatment services for men and women of different backgrounds throughout New York State.
Rose Hill Residential Services for Youth offers a varied selection of substance use disorders programs for children, teens and young adults who are between the ages of 12 and 20.
A couple of years ago, only a small percentage of the people coming into the drug rehab center was under the age of 16, according to one of the directors of the facility.
But at the moment, about one-third of the youth admitted into the addiction treatment center is under 16 years old, which has prompted the expansion of the facility’s adolescent program.
While the adolescent program at the Rose Hill Residential Services for Youth is planned to be developmentally appropriate for 12- to 15- year olds, the young adult program offered by the facility targets the specific needs of the patients who are aged 16 to 20, focusing primarily on working on allowing them to be independent.
Both programs use evidence-based methods to treat substance use disorders such as group, individual and family counseling as well as anger management but they also include holistic treatment approaches such as meditation.
Bi-lingual therapists and medication-assisted treatment programs are available options to some of the patients, depending on their needs or the nature of their addiction.
The drug rehab center features aftercare planning and relapse prevention services, sober socialization gatherings and other drug-free recreational activities, in addition to 24/7 supervision, with either a nurse or a physician onsite.
GED preparation sessions, tutorials and other educational services tailored specifically to allow each one of the adolescents to keep up with their academic curriculums are also available at the rehabilitation center.
The representatives of the addiction treatment center stated that one of the many goals of their programs is to reduce the number of teens that end up facing drug-related criminal charges in the area. However, many of their patients have already faced charges or had encounters with the local law enforcement, which may have led them to the facility, to begin with.
Because the drug rehab center welcomes primarily patients who are minors, their parents become an essential part of the treatment programs and a crucial element in their recovery.
The Rose Hill Services for Youth team explained they have noticed that oftentimes their patients are simply a part of a cycle of addiction.
According to Rose Hill Services for Youth’s Family Support Specialist, Aron McLaughlin, many of the patients come from families that have been affected by substance use disorders for generations.
“We have a lot of parents who are in recovery themselves,” he said.
Author: Livia Areas-Holmblad
Livia Holmblad is an editor at Addiction Now and covers breaking news, features and everything in between. She moved to SoCal after living in NYC for about 10 years, where she worked for VICE and SinoVision as a writer, editor, host, producer, and director. Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro. Contact Livia at liviah@addictionnow.com
