Addict to Advocate - Program Graduate Pays it Forward

Talking with the confident, attractive 25-year-old who is looking forward to the birth of her first child, it is hard to believe that Tevvy was a teenage opiate addict. Now a college graduate with a degree in psychology and certification in child advocacy, she has a clear perspective about past issues and the lifesaving guidance she found at Elk River Treatment Program (ERTP). She recently returned to campus to pay it forward.

It was a Parent Workshop Weekend and most of the parents attending had not seen their son or daughter since admitting them to the program. Tevvy was there to help them understand that although success starts at ERTP, it continues with the family's ongoing commitment to the changes they learn during treatment. Program founder Karen Lee recently hired Tevvy to assist the admissions and marketing departments of The Pinnacle Schools, the parent company of the Elk River Treatment Program. "For years while in college, Tevvy volunteered to be a referral source for parents who contact us for help with their troubled teen," Lee said. "We have many success stories," Lee continued, "but Tevvy has always been exceptional. She has already helped countless families."
"I wanted help," Tevvy said when asked about her experience in treatment. As a teen with abandonment issues following her parents' divorce, she turned to opiates for a numb, "hazy feeling." She stole to support her habit. When her mother demanded her thin teenage daughter take a drug test, Tevvy finally admitted she had a problem. It sounds noble, but the confession wasn't easy. "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do," she says. "You have to have the mindset that you want to do better. I was so ashamed."

At the time, Tevvy didn't necessarily realize the request for help would land her in the rural residential program. If confessing was hard, detoxing for two days before going was worse. "It was like the flu multiplied by 100," she recalls. She came to ERTP and graduated the program in 10 weeks. The average length of ERTP these days is 14 weeks. The program "helped me tremendously," she said, by giving her and other troubled teens the tools to deal with their problems. "You figure out why you are trying to numb yourself and get to your core issues," she explained. Core issues, Lee explained, can be anything real or perceived that drives negative behavior such as abandonment, abuse, loss and/or inconsistent boundaries.

ERTP counselors have seen that a lack of distractions at the facility can help young people focus on themselves and their issues. You won't see cell phones, iPads, or video games at ERTP. You will see teenagers making eye contact and genuinely listening to each other. The peer setting makes them more comfortable talking about their problems. Those factors, combined with intensive supervised therapy, a certified education program and medical supervision make ERTP one of the premier treatment programs of its kind.

Tevvy says she was never really tempted to go back to drugs, but "you never forget your past." Now happily married with a baby due in the fall of this year, Tevvy looks forward to a career working with at-risk teens and their families. She and her mother are closer than ever and it's her mission to help other families by sharing her experience.

Asked where she would be without the help she received at ERTP, the confident young woman seems momentarily lost for words. "Oh my God," she says simply.

The Elk River Treatment Program is a residential program of The Pinnacle Schools. The Therapeutic Intervention Program provides diagnostic, assessment, education and treatment services on a base campus in North Alabama.