One mum’s experience with addiction

This mum wanted to share her experience with her daughter’s addiction recovery. This is not a paid endorsement and is unedited.

When I made my initial contact with DARA on July 16, 2019- it seemed like there was no hope for my daughter and I. She was struggling to a very large extent, with anxiety and depression and alcohol abuse.

Many times I was so afraid that something really bad was going to happen to her. I was living with a lot of guilt because I knew that these anxiety attacks were a result of a lack of parental love and nurturing and guidance during her childhood.

As a mother, I did not protect her as I should have, and now the nightmares were literally driving her to excessive drinking as a self-medication tool to ease her pain. I was in self-denial and I also felt so helpless at times.

One day, my daughter said something very profound, something that drove me to plead with God for help. I was presenting her with a book that she had wanted, a book written by an author who had overcome alcohol addiction and was managing his anxiety attack well.

My daughter said; ‘Thank you, mother, for this book. This is a story from someone who was determined to overcome alcohol addiction and who received professional help to do it.’

This statement really hit a nerve in me. We had tried applying to rehab centers around us and in our home country before. The problem with the local centers was the impossible amount they were charging, and my daughter worried about the lack of confidentiality.

We started searching abroad, and lo and behold, DARA came up. The words I read that really attracted me was the description I read:

‘Our comprehensive treatment program is based on a holistic treatment model of physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and social aspects, to help clients with their current issues, get them clean and prepare them for a lifelong journey of recovery. We use a range of evidence-based treatment approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Transactional Analysis, Mindfulness and introduction to 12-step, based on individual needs. We are not a “one size fits all” facility. All Dara professional counselors have recognized University degrees, are Internationally trained and have relevant experience in substance abuse and mental health, and we specialize in depression, anxiety, trauma, and PTSD. We have a total of 45 staff to take care of the client’s needs, which is one of the highest clients to staff ratio of any rehab in the region. Dara is essentially an International rehab located in Thailand and is also fully licensed by the Thailand Ministry of Health to be a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, the only one by a beach.’

When After I first contacted them on July the 16th, everything seemed to fall into place. Starting with a very informative and warm response from Martin, to God making a way for the fees, to my daughter being grateful and excited and anxious about the opportunity to be at such a promising center.

To cut the long amazing story short, 10 days after my initial contact with DARA we were traveling to Thailand on Friday, July 26, 2019.

The welcome was soothing to our hurt souls. My daughter has been in DARA Rehab for 4 weeks now. I cannot fully explain the transformation I see in her when she communicates with me. DARA is providing exactly what they had promised. A number of professionals attend to her, and she is learning about herself, about how her brain works, about how to deal with stress in a positive way. She loved one-on-one therapy sessions, and she also loves her group sessions. She says the CBT class is very informative and it sheds so much light on so many things that were a mystery to her. She loves her meditation classes also. She always looks forward to here excursion time on weekends. She has made a lot of friends on campus, which includes the cat, the dogs, and the monkeys.

The scenic environment of the beach and beautiful nature is a cure also in itself. Thank you so much DARA for all the help that you are providing to all your students, especially to my daughter. DARA Rehab has actually exceeded our expectations, and we are truly grateful for this. We are aware that healing is a lifelong process in this stressful world. We are determined to continue to use the tools, skills, and strategies that my daughter is being equipped with at DARA. Well, this is a long post, all I really wanted to say was, “Thank you so much DARA”.