Enjoying life sober is at the core of our philosophy as a program. We often say: “anyone can get sober – liking it’s the trick!”
In addition to our support groups for parents, our program stresses the importance of social connection and support for young people recovering from a drug or alcohol problem. Our Denver addiction and alcohol support groups for young people utilize a 12-step approach, and are specifically targeted at meeting the social and emotional needs of teenagers and young adults.
Adolescence is a time in life when a young person experiences a multitude of changes. One of the primary changes is that of transitioning from seeking family acceptance to seeking peer acceptance. While this transition can be notoriously difficult for parents and young people alike, it is a critical developmental stage that all of us go through, and it cannot be avoided. We’re sure you’ve noticed that your teenager is far more likely to listen to their peers than they are to any adult or authority figure. While this phenomenon tends to drive parents crazy, it is actually important for their development. One of the things we recognize as a program is that with or without drugs, nobody can stop teenagers from being teenagers.
The problem arises in addressing young people’s existing peer relationships when they enter the program. Almost all young people who use drugs have surrounded themselves with drug using peers, usually at the expense of any positive peer relationships they may have had in the past (if any). These negative peer relationships combined with the teenager’s tendency to listen to their peers above all else creates a recipe for disaster in early recovery from drug an alcohol abuse.
This is why the Cornerstone Program emphasizes filling one of the major gaps in the traditional drug and alcohol treatment world. By emphasizing drug and alcohol support groups, our program is designed to allow teenagers the freedom to have a fulfilling, fun, and connected social life while doing so in a safe and drug free manner. Upon graduation, many of our teenage and young adult clients bring up how grateful they are that they’ve had the opportunity to “grow up” in the program.
Details of Our Drug and Alcohol Support Group for Young People
The Cornerstone Program hosts alcohol support groups and drug addiction support groups for teens four times a week – split between two 12-step meetings for young people and two sober social events per week. These events and 12-step meetings allow young people the opportunity to gather with their peers, have fun, and develop sober relationships based on honesty, rather than a common interest in drugs.
The members of this drug and alcohol support group are all young people who have gone through the intensive outpatient program at the Cornerstone Program in past two to three years. This allows young people to connect with peers who can share their experience based on six months, one year, or even two years of abstinence from drugs and alcohol. We have personal relationships with every young person; our drug and alcohol counselors work constantly to ensure the support group is a safe and drug-free environment for young people to grow during this critical life stage.
Two of the 12-step meetings and all of our weekend sober social events take place in the evening, allowing young people who are not in our IOP program the freedom to go to school, work, or connect with each other.
Why the Emphasis on Fun?
One of the first things parents and young people notice when they are exposed to our program is the emphasis on having fun in recovery. Many parents initially find this approach counterintuitive – shouldn’t they be studying the steps and dealing with deep issues? Most people are surprised to find out that our drug and alcohol treatment program is not a somber place. Consider:
Anonymous surveys of teenagers have shown consistently over many years that the primary reason teenagers use drugs and alcohol is to have fun! While it’s true that there may be a number of other factors and reasons teenagers cite, almost all of them agree on this point.
Over the years, our staff has grown to affectionately refer to teenagers as “fun machines.” Even when teenagers take care of basic responsibilities, such as cleaning their room or studying for a test, we find that most of the time the reason they did it was because they would get to have more fun if they completed the task, than if they did not.
Of course, this teenage tendency to seek fun over all else changes as we grow into adulthood, but as stated above – rather than trying to stop teenagers from being themselves, we provide them with the fun and connection that they seek. There’s only one catch – they can’t use drugs if they want to continue to participate. This approach is a critical aspect of our unique approach to young adult and teen drug treatment and it’s the reason that we emphasize having fun in almost everything we do.
What Sets Our Drug and Alcohol Support Groups Apart
Getting sober should not be a grind. Our drug and alcohol support groups are designed specifically to give young people tools to address the challenges they face, all while having fun, thriving, and developing a new way of life. All 12-step meetings are supervised by certified substance abuse counselors.
Another distinguishing feature of The Cornerstone Program’s youth alcohol and drug addiction treatment support groups are the organized sober social events (called “functions”) we host, which take place every week on Friday and Saturday evenings. Examples of sober functions include:
- Dances
- Comedy nights
- Bowling
- Sports games
- Live concerts (put on by a band that has been formed by young people in our support group)
- Games such as “flyswatter hockey” or “human foosball” (hilarious, just ask us when you come in for your initial appointment!)
Every year, we also plan larger functions that may last a few days:
- Our summer weekend campout
- Our yearly ski trip
- Our annual “Round Robin” – an all-night New Year’s Eve experience filled with meetings, dances, and fellowship
These events offer a fun experience where young people are shown a way of life without drugs that is better than getting high. As we’ve discussed elsewhere on this site – sobriety needs to be better than getting high! These experiences with the support group build hope for young people and foster critical peer connections with other young people who share a common goal – to enjoy life sober.
Read success stories of young people who have participated in our support groups.
The 12 Steps for Young People
The Cornerstone Program’s drug and alcohol support groups are 12-step programs. We use this version of the 12 steps in our drug and alcohol program for young people. It is used with permission from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) World Services. 12 step groups are a time tested and effective method of aiding chemically dependent persons with finding a lasting recovery. Those familiar with 12 step addiction support groups will notice that the wording of these steps has been slightly modified to match the needs of teenagers and young adults, rather than the adult alcoholics they were originally written for:
- We admitted that mind-changing chemicals have caused at least part of our lives to become unmanageable.
- We found it necessary to “Stick with Winners” in order to grow.
- We realized that a Higher Power, expressed through our love for each other, can help restore us to sanity.
- We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understand Him.
- We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
- We became willing to allow our Higher Power, through the love of the group to help change our way of thinking and humbly ask Him to help us change.
- We made a list of all persons we have harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
- We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them, others, or ourselves.
- We have continued to look at ourselves and when wrong, promptly admitted it.
- We have sought through prayer and meditation, to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the courage to carry that out.
- We, having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, tried to carry our love and understanding to others, and to practice these principles in our daily lives.
Meeting Times for Our Addiction / Alcohol Support Groups
Our support groups for young people meet on Monday and Thursday evenings, with an optional third meeting on Saturday afternoon. Our sober social activities are hosted on Friday and Saturday evenings. Our parent support group meets on Thursday evenings at the same time as our 12-step meeting for young people. Details of the weekend’s sober social activities are announced weekly at the Thursday night parent support group meetings.
Learn More About Our Drug and Alcohol Support Groups for Teens and Young People in Denver, Colorado
Our substance abuse support group for teens and young people is a big part of all of our drug abuse treatment programs. If your teen or young adult needs alcohol or drug addiction treatment, or if you would like to join a support group, contact our Denver drug rehab center or call us at (303) 690-0082 to set up a consultation.