Almost two months ago my 16 year old son almost took his life. He was severely depressed, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, preventing him from following through with his plan. We almost hospitalized him, but decided to go with an intensive outpatient program instead. We were having a terrible time getting our insurance to cooperate with payment and our son said he was no longer feeling suicidal, so we decided to get him help through weekly counseling. However, this week I found out he has been doing drugs, something that I have been concerned about for a couple of months. He started using to self medicate. He said it was either that, or take his own life. Over the course of the last two weeks his behavior seems to be growing more and more concerning. He is starting to skip class, he is lying, he'll say he's going somewhere but then the story changes when we ask him questions, his group of friends has changed, he no longer is enjoying the same things he used to, and I'm very concerned. What was once a very athletically talented, musically gifted, kind hearted, young man is turning into someone I don't know. He claims that he's only drank alcohol and smoked Marijuna, but he's lied so much over the course of the past six months, I don't know what's truth and what's not anymore. We have an appointment set up for him to start in an outpatient day treatment program but he's very insistent on not needing anything more than weekly counseling. He's said he's not going to smoke weed anymore, but at the same time says that he doesn't think there's anything wrong with it.
We will be having to pay thousands of dollars for this program because our insurance won't cover it, and honestly I don't know how we're going to pay for it, but we'll figure out a way if it means saving our son.
So I'm wondering if anyone has helpful advice on how to get him to commit to going to treatment I would greatly appreciate it. Is it best to set some very strict guidelines including taking away driving privileges, if he refuses to go?
Also, if he's home during the evening and weekends, how do I prevent him from staying away from his friends that use drugs? I can't see how the treatment will be beneficial if he's coming home and hanging with the same crowd.
I'm heartbroken.
We will be having to pay thousands of dollars for this program because our insurance won't cover it, and honestly I don't know how we're going to pay for it, but we'll figure out a way if it means saving our son.
So I'm wondering if anyone has helpful advice on how to get him to commit to going to treatment I would greatly appreciate it. Is it best to set some very strict guidelines including taking away driving privileges, if he refuses to go?
Also, if he's home during the evening and weekends, how do I prevent him from staying away from his friends that use drugs? I can't see how the treatment will be beneficial if he's coming home and hanging with the same crowd.
I'm heartbroken.