Are you sure that you can stop drinking any time?

If this can happen to adults, it can surely happen to teenagers.
Tina a 29 year old female, a professional single mother with a 2 year old daughter. She was preparing for her class reunion. She had been sober for 5 years, but she didn’t want any of her old classmates to know that she was a recovering alcoholic. In our session together, we role played so that she would know how to handle each situation. She was confident that she’d be fine but I wasn’t so sure.
The following day I received a phone call from her parents. She didn’t make it home, and they didn’t know where she was. She was found 24 hours later, disoriented, in an area far way from where the reunion had taken place. On that night Tina, encouraged by a friend, decided to have a drink. She’d intended to stop at only one…but eventually she couldn’t remember how many she’d had. All she remembered was that she had too many drinks. She didn’t ask anyone for a ride home but she made it to her car where she passed out!
Fortunately, this one has a happy ending. She survived and re-started her sobriety program again.

(name and personal identity had been changed)
Making Wise Choices in a Disruptive Age

Zari Alipour, Ph.D.
www.SavingourYoung.org
www.DrZari.com
Zari@DrZari.com
310-849-4680

Dr. Zari is a psychologist for adolescents and adults. She teaches adolescents how to make decisions that are in their best interests and empowers teachers, counselors and parents with the words and accountability tools that reinforce healthy choices.