New program offers alternative drug treatment
for adolescents

By DON E. BRUCE
Staff Writer

It is easy to look at a child with a drug or alcohol problem and write them off as a bad seed, but a therapist who hopes to change that child's life must begin with hope.

That ideal was repeated often Thursday by Richard Barr, a program specialist with Seven Challenges, as he addressed employees with Recovery and Prevention Resources (RPR) of Delaware and Morrow counties.

Barr is in Delaware through today teaching therapists with RPR how to implement the Seven Challenges curriculum.

The program varies from other drug counseling systems, because the focus is not on telling kids drugs are bad or they need to stop using drugs. Instead, kids in a Seven Challenges program spend time talking about what they like about drugs and why they use them.

The goal is to get them to open up about the underlying issues that led to the abuse of drugs or alcohol and help the children overcome them.

“Kids think they do not have a problem,” Barr said. “They are different from most adults who will recognize they have a problem.”

Kids, on the other hand, may find themselves in a drug treat facility or program because their parents placed them there.

“They tell you, if they'd get off my back about smoking a little weed, I'll be fine,” said Barr.

Seven Challenges was developed by Robert Schwebel, a clinical psychologist with more than 25 years of experience treating adolescent substance abuse.

Schwebel's program has spread steadily across the country the last few years. That growth, and the program's documented success, is what drew RPR's interest.

Staffers at RPR spent the past three years searching for an innovative program, securing funding and finally beginning the implementation process this week.

“Adolescent clients are harder to engage in a meaningful treatment process using therapy techniques developed and used successfully for adult clients. Adolescents go through an interesting array of developmental challenges and family problems,” said Tony Williams, chief executive officer of RPR.

By implementing Seven Challenges, Williams said he hopes to reverse a trend he first noticed 25 years ago when he was a counselor at a residential juvenile facility.

“It was a 35-day program and we would see change. But when they went back home to the social pressures of their neighborhood, they would revert to old habits,” he said.

Following the Seven Challenges model, children talk openly about how they feel and what they want to accomplish.

“If we offer judgments and tell them what to do, they are not going to listen,” said Barr.

Instead, teens are informed of the consequences of their actions and asked to consider what they want from life and how their abuse might keep those dreams from coming true.

In its simplest terms, the Seven Challenges program follows these stages:

1. Talk.
2. Be honest.
3. What is the cost of the abuse?
4. Everyone has certain responsibilities.
5. What are your goals? How will your abuse affect those goals?
6. Make a thoughtful decision about your abuse.
7. Follow through on your decision.

Barr said even if a child continues to use drugs, but returns to school, that is success, since it is the beginning of the adolescent getting back on the right path.

However, the ultimate goal is that the child will begin to make sound decisions about his or her abuse.

“It's easy to tell a judge you won't do drugs again. But you have not thought about the stresses that caused the abuse or the pressure you'll get from friends,” Barr said.

Seven Challenges will be one of many options for adolescents struggling with substance abuse, Williams said, adding RPR will continue to assess each child individually and place them in a program that best fits their needs.

The new program was made possible by funding from the Delaware-Morrow Mental Health and Recovery Services Board.

dbruce@delgazette.com


this article was reprinted with the permission of the Delaware Gazette