Special skills are required when using an intervention on adolescents and.  Modern society has exposed adolescents to a range of substances. Dealing with chemical dependency in young people is to deal with it as a family issue as opposed to dealing with them alone.

There are many reasons that could trigger drug use in adolescents and young adults, some of the greater risks are during times of transition, for example, when schools and neighborhoods are changed and divorce.  Another point to look at is when children advance from elementary school to high school and they have to face new challenges, socially and academically, to fit in, they tend to go with the crowd, so if the crowd is smoking cigarettes, so will they and this is where the peer pressure sets in.

It is no wonder why young people who abuse alcohol and drugs often have problems with family, school, health related, and involvement with the juvenile justice system.

Many of them function through their days so they believe it is your problem and they can control how much they are using or abusing, until it gets out of hand.

Young people are very good in hiding their addiction because they are always in and out of the house.  Most parents do not detect substance abuse problems because they are always in denial, “no way is my child addicted!”  And they are unaware of the signs.  It is what every parent wants to believe.

Some of the signs to look for in an adolescent to see if they are possibly using a substance are when their grades starts to drop, when they skip school or classes, looking tired and sleeping more often, emotionally withdrawn, avoiding family activities, always on edge, angry and defensive outburst, mood swings or depression, suspended from school and getting in trouble with the police.

When any of the above symptoms surface in an adolescent it would be wise to confront them but not in an angry and boisterous way, there is a way to talk to young people to get them to open up to you, sometimes they may just be looking for what they consider to be “someone to care”, although they know as a parent, unconditionally you care, but it seem that they need to see action, for example, in today’s society you have both parents at work, so a lot of family time and family discussions, family dinners, family activities are not as frequent anymore,  when this occurs, the adolescent develop an attitude, feels alone and have a need to belong somewhere, this is a danger because it is where they become involved with “the wrong crowd.”   Communication is one of the key to any success.

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