How to tell when your child is into drugs

Picture this. As a parent, you believe that everyone is doing fine in your family. You rear your child with love, affection and good values and he responds positively.

Then all of a sudden your son’s weight plummets. You notice certain changes in his behavior.

He spends most of his time locked up in his room. He becomes sloppy in his studies and begins to demand more money. He is untidy and moody. As a parent you now put two and two together and you suspect he’s into drugs.

What should you do? Perhaps, it is time to seek professional help.

Almost three years after it was founded in July, 1998, the Well-Spring Foundation Inc. has been gaining ground in Metro Manila for its program of helping victims of illegal drugs and alcohol addiction.

Well-Spring is technically a rehabilitation center with a program that is patterned after the Hazelden Model, 12 steps, Therapeutic Community (TC) concepts and Multi-disciplinary Team Approach emphasizing humane treatment and spiritual upliftment.

To help parents cope with early signs of drug abuse among family members, the foundation came up with five basic tips on what to do when symptoms begin to appear:

• Open up a line of communication: Honest expression of feelings and thoughts certainly help family members. Everyone should try to be patient and listen to what is being said instead of hearing what you only want to hear. Objectivity is a must.

• Avoid blame-throwing and guilt: When a loved one is suspected of using drugs, we feel an outpouring of blame and guilt. Everyone or everything becomes a subject of blame, even ourselves. This could be paralyzing and self-defeating which results in more inaction.

• Avoid resorting to anger: Along with the suspicion that a family member is a drug addict, you may be able to observe several behavioral changes such as irresponsibility and apathy which may bring embarrassment and disappointments. Anger is a basic normal feeling but must not overcome your thinking.

• Challenge your denial: The thought of a loved one about to ruin his life because of drug abuse can be very painful. To ease the pain, we may have the tendency to turn to denial. We might deny that the problem exists. Denial is a normal human reaction but, like anger, we must not let it rule our actions for we may lose the chance to help a person in need.

In Metro Manila, the Well-Spring Foundation Inc. is located at 6 Maalalahanin st., Teachers’ Village, West Diliman, Quezon City. For inquiries, those interested may call telephone numbers 927-1317, 921-0125 and 920-5993. – Ella Ocudayen