The process of recovery is often jump-started by external influences. This is natural. Most people, and especially teens, won’t recognize when they need help. It follows that when your daughter is in the trenches of illness or addiction, she relies on you to help her get to a better place. However, just as your support and her care facility are important, so too is her own involvement. At Clearview, we believe that true recovery happens when girls take responsibility for their own well-being. Our team endeavors to help girls with balancing independence in their recovery. When teenagers are involved in their own care, this reinforces the improvements they are making.
We believe that teenagers’ recoveries are strengthened by their own desires to do better. Facilitating this includes letting a teenager struggle but also showing her how to help herself. If she learns this independence regarding her care, the changes that we facilitate are more likely to last.
Your daughter needs to have the confidence to take care of herself when she is back in her daily life. When encouraged in this way, she will have the skills she needs to stay focused on recovery. This blend of independence and personal responsibility is something our care team tries to cultivate. We believe in a sense of healthy independence. As the parent, you can help create these changes in your daughter as well.
Fostering Independence
Making major changes in recovery will always be a matter of balancing independence and support. When your daughter develops the desire to do better within herself, this will ensure that the changes made through treatment will be lifelong.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) working definition of recovery touches on the importance of independence and self-direction. SAMHSA’s website acknowledges that patients need to “optimize their autonomy and independence to the greatest extent possible…In so doing, they are empowered and provided the resources to make informed decisions, initiate recovery, build on their strengths, and gain or regain control over their lives.”
Each person in recovery is working toward gaining control in their life again. However, we know that it may feel like giving your daughter independence is counterintuitive. After all, your daughter’s choices are what brought her here in the first place. While that may be true, finding the confidence to be more independent will prevent her from getting to this place again.
Providing Support and Guidance While Balancing Independence
Fostering a change in your daughter’s internal desires can be difficult work. It is important to find a balance between providing an adequate amount of support and encouraging her own independence.
This means allowing her to struggle. It also means giving her the tools and support to fall back on if it is too much for her. If she feels supported, she will be more likely to feel empowered to make the changes she needs to.
This balance can be curated by finding an effective care team that both of you trust. If your daughter is involved in her treatment, she will be able to gain independence in her care. This balance in treatment will ensure our treatment is most helpful for your daughter. Working to establish this type of care can be difficult, which is why it is important to find a facility you trust to care for your daughter.
Our Approach to Balancing Independence
Finding a care facility that instills self-sufficiency in your daughter is important. At Clearview Horizon Girls Academy, we believe this is what is different about us. We have a focus on changing your daughter’s core beliefs and initiating a desire for change within her. Your daughter’s therapist will work alongside her to help instill that desire in her. Therapy should be a process that encourages changes through gentle guidance.
Our therapy is meant to make significant changes in your daughter’s life. The goal is that all students who stay with us feel empowered to care for themselves when they leave. Our program’s length and individual focus on creating self-sufficiency can make a major difference in girls’ lives. We believe that our form of treatment is the most effective in encouraging long-term success. This is usually true even when girls have struggled with other treatment methods before.
Achieving Long-Term Success
Achieving and maintaining long-term success is the goal of any treatment program. You want your daughter to feel empowered to step back into her life and not fall back into old patterns.
Sure, there will always be a risk of relapse when dealing with recovery. However, when your daughter is informed about what leads to relapse and works to prevent it, this will lead to long-term success. With your support and your daughter’s newfound strong independence and personal drive, she will have the tools she needs to change her life.
The process of recovery can feel daunting to many girls and parents. Reaching out for help is just one step in the process of making lifelong changes. Supporting internal changes in your daughter will create long-term success. If your daughter is given support and shown how to be independent, she will feel comfortable doing what needs to be done to take care of herself. At Clearview Horizon Girls Academy, we work on balancing independence and support from her team to ensure she is able to face any situation that arises in her life. Recovery should involve internal changes as well as external ones. If you are interested in hearing more, contact us at Clearview at 866-584-4788.
