Throughout the country, an increasing number of “sober” schools are helping teens recover from their addiction to drugs and alcohol.

The purpose of “sober” schools is to keep recovering teen addicts in grades 7-12 away from their harmful peer groups that often lead to relapse.

“What’s great about these programs is that instead of telling teens who they should hang out with, you let them hang out with kids that they want to hang out with. At the recovery school, they’re all in the same boat and are able to turn negative peer pressure into positive peer pressure,” said Cary Quashen, CEO of Action Family Foundation.  

“Many people are asking me, ‘why a sober school’?  Unfortunately we live in a culture where both adolescence and almost everything else around us from television to music, from movies to fast partying, and peer pressure tend to glorify and promote substance abuse.” Quashen said.

“And the easy access to alcohol and drugs in our society creates a perfect and sometimes deadly storm for our teens and their families.”

The first recovery high school was established in Minnesota in 1987. Today, there are over 40 different recovery high schools in over nine different states, according to the Association of Recovery Schools.

“For many alcoholic and drug addicted teens, the sober school offers them a fighting chance to embrace sobriety, overcome their problems and live happy and successful lives. Recovery schools fill in the educational gap and emotional holes that are opened when kids use.” Qaushen said.

Like your average classroom, grades and credit reports are issued to students every quarter. All student grades and credits are transferable and students also have access to college planning with their school counseling staff.

“Because classes are small, teachers can check in with each student regularly. Students also receive extensive drug counseling and recovery skills. And each student will have specific education goals and an individual treatment plan” Quashen said.

Aside from qualified teachers and counselors who are always available to cater to the needs of their students, these recovery schools are a great place for the students to help each other.

“These kids really encourage each other. If they make bad decisions, they call each other out on it. Teachers and counselors surely make a difference, but not nearly as much as their peers do.”

About Action Family Counseling

Action Family Counseling has drug and alcohol residential treatment locations in Santa Clarita, Piru, and Bakersfield; Intensive Drug and Alcohol Outpatient in Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Ventura, Pasadena, and Bakersfield, Action Family Counseling is here to help you.

Action Family Counseling’s primary goals are to maintain abstinence, stabilize co-occurring illnesses, and increase quality of life. We support and reinforce change in behavior patterns so that adolescents and adults, or clients and their families can fully indoctrinate the philosophies and principles needed to remain abstinent and stabilized for life.

Action Family Counseling accomplishes this by providing an effective treatment approach developed by the Department of Health and Human Services that includes a multi-disciplinarian personalized approach by a treatment team. Once a patient is identified, we provide an initial screening and assessment, which allows us to properly diagnose and place patients in the appropriate treatment setting.

Once a patient completes our intake process to our residential program he or she receives 24-hour crisis management, individual counseling, group therapy, family education and counseling, treatment planning, routine and random toxicology screening, pharmacotherapy and medication management, education about Alcohol and Other Drugs and mental health issues, self-help and support group orientation, case management services, and discharge service planning with a transitional service plan to our Intensive Outpatient treatment program to ensure a continuum of care.

Visit their website here.