As I mentioned the other day, we are now shopping around for a residential treatment facility for Youngest. For the uninitiated, residential treatment facilities are part hospital, part boarding school for those who, for whatever reason, find it impossible to live at home, usually for six months to a year. Some of these are for drug & alcohol rehabilitation, some are for trouble-making youth, some are for patients with mood or personality disorders, and some treat all of the above.
The problem with residential treatment is that it is expensive. So expensive, in fact, that I've read reports from parents taking a second mortgage on their homes. Also, more and more parents who don't have the money have had to rely on a very tricky method of getting help for their child. These parents have to wait for their underage child to do something illegal, something dangerous enough for a judge to mandate residential treatment, but, hopefully, not dangerous enough to hurt themselves or someone else. Sounds fun, huh?
I've located residential treatment facilities online. I've only been brave enough to call one so far. Their estimate was... are you ready... $400 to $475 per day, depending upon the individual situation. Yes, you read that right. Per motherfluffing day! Six months in this place would cost almost the same as four years' college tuition. We would have to live in a cardboard box or I would have to start selling my body on a street corner for that sort of money! Okay, so I might not even be able to bring that sort of cash any more; maybe I could sell a kidney on the black market instead. Needless to say, we're still looking.
I've also discovered that residential treatment facilities employ an astounding array of techniques. Some use equine therapy, some have each child take care of a golden retriever of their own. Some use behavior modification, some employ something called Positive Peer Culture to exact change. I've even found one where the incentive for personal changes is aviation lessons! How the hell are we supposed to navigate this landscape of options? Pick one that sounds like fun, because I'm totally digging the flight lessons thing? Their websites all generously invite us to visit their campus, but by the time we did that, we could have paid for, like, a whole week at the first place we called.
It's often said that money can't buy happiness. I guess we are supposed to believe it can buy sanity instead. At $400 a day, though, I'm not buying it.
Asking for help is the most important step you will take on the road to recovery.
Posted by: Important Step In Your Recovery | August 05, 2008 at 10:33 PM