The Path with Least Resistance

Kelly Kettle is an amazingly kind and enthusiastic staff member who writes often about his experience working in the field of addiction treatment.

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From the beginning, take away every opportunity to defocus- it is common for new people to go into treatment and start picking everything apart.  This concept is to make everything so appealing that the people receiving treatment want to make changes in their lives because they they are enjoying their surroundings and life in a way they had never experienced it before.  Ideally, they would think to themselves, "Wow staying clean and sober can be a exciting and new, I want this thing and eventually I must have it."

If I was asked to try and describe the ultimate rehab this is how I would describe it?

It would have to be at the beach or very close to the beach. It would be Co Ed.

I would want to feel like I am in a safe environment, there would have to be structure, though at the same time, I would like to have a lot of freedom to go to the beach by myself or with friends or go out with my wife or go to lunch or dinner.
I would have some responsibilities so that I would get in the habit of making the right decisions on my own. I would like it to be where the rules and the staff are not so strict that I get in to trouble for every little thing and I would want to be treated like an adult.  I would like to be treated with dignity and respect at all times and expected to treat others the same way.

I enjoy eating what ever I am in the mood to eat so I would like to be able to do my own shopping at the market. It would be nice to ride beach cruisers all around - even to meetings and such. I would be able to watch the sun set into the ocean every evening.

The rehab would have meetings on the beach, and be staffed primarily with people that are in recovery that I could identify with. I would want around $150.00 a week to buy groceries and coffee and lunch, and be taken shopping if I really needed something big like a surf board or clothes.

There would be private rooms available and no more then two people in a room. If for any reason I wanted to take a day off (mental or sick) I could with permission from my case manager. I would want to be able to go to the gym at least 5 days a week and maybe even golfing or surfing and go to the movies and other activities even get a message or go tan.

These are a lot of things I feel that normal people get to do and I want to recover from alcohol and drug addiction though at the same time I want to feel normal.

It blows my mind on a Dailey Basis that I get to work at a treatment center that in my mind is the ultimate rehab:

Sober Living by the Sea – 23 years of developing a daily routine that has strategically placed:

• Structure
• Freedom
• Activities
• Therapy 

in a way that is healthy and attractive – for a new and lasting lifestyle – clean and sober!

 - Kelly T. Kettle