00:00:00:00 – 00:00:21:16
Speaker 1
About 67,000 people die of something linked to substance abuse. Now, those numbers come from the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. Whether it’s you or someone you love struggling with addiction, going to a safe place to get help like rehab can be a lifesaver. But it’s hard and there are still many misconceptions about the process. Valentino Colavecchia is a counselor at Addiction Rehab Toronto.
00:00:21:18 – 00:00:31:06
Speaker 1
He’s joining us this morning. Good to meet you this morning. Good morning. Many people believe that in order to go to rehab, you have to hit rock bottom. You say that’s not true. Explain that a little bit.
00:00:31:13 – 00:00:50:24
Speaker 2
Simple answer is no. I mean, like any illness or, you know, it’s looking at progressively worse. There’s really no time to say I need help. You can reach out for help at any time before things get worse. So that’s like one of the biggest misconceptions that someone needs to be at that rock bottom point before they reach out for help.
00:00:50:26 – 00:00:58:24
Speaker 1
It’s hard, too, when the person doesn’t want to get help, Right? What do you say to families who are looking for some answers as to what to do with a loved one?
00:00:58:26 – 00:01:20:03
Speaker 2
I think it comes from a place of obviously compassion for families, but there has to be a certain amount of willingness on the part of the other, you know, of their family member or loved one to want to get help. Right. So that is the whole thing with the rock bottom. Many people say, well, you know, if I get to rock bottom, then I’ll have that desperate this or that willingness to fall and get help.
00:01:20:11 – 00:01:23:21
Speaker 2
But families are always still struggling to get, you know, their loved ones into treatment.
00:01:23:26 – 00:01:31:16
Speaker 1
So let’s talk about treatment and what rehab looks like. What can somebody expect when they first arrive to a rehab center?
00:01:31:18 – 00:01:55:26
Speaker 2
What we do is what we call intake process. So we’ll we’ll receive a client, you know, and we’ll do a pre assessment for them when they come in. And when they arrive to us, they’ll meet with our clinical team and our nursing team and we’ll do a medical session with them and we’ll go through all the particulars of, you know, any acute medical needs, you know, what their deal see is and things of that nature.
00:01:56:03 – 00:02:11:28
Speaker 2
And then we’ll see a doctor within the first hour and we’ll address their withdrawal symptoms and see how we can mitigate those, you know, those problems. And then they’ll sit with our clinical team and go through particulars of like, you know, address stillbirth, all these things like that. Right.
00:02:12:02 – 00:02:18:29
Speaker 1
Yeah. We saw on the board there the detox process, the withdrawal process. What does that look like?
00:02:19:01 – 00:02:41:23
Speaker 2
It’s varies from individual to individual. So, you know, we got someone coming in who is suffering with opiate withdrawal. So we’re mitigating those, you know, those factors. So when we coming in with alcohol, you know, withdrawal symptoms, they’re coming in. We’re treating them with compassion. Our nurses are taking care of them, making the most comfortable. It’s a brand new environment.
00:02:41:23 – 00:02:50:24
Speaker 2
So it’s super important for our staff and our in our nurses to show the utmost compassion and care to new individuals that are coming into treatment.
00:02:50:27 – 00:02:52:29
Speaker 1
How long does detox take, really?
00:02:53:02 – 00:03:16:15
Speaker 2
There’s no there’s no number. It could be one day. It could be seven days to be two weeks. Right. We do what’s called the CAL assessment for opiate withdrawal. And a CWAS for alcohol withdrawal symptoms. And we basically manage a client with, you know, those those assessments and, you know, get to a point where we feel that they’re stable enough to be participating in, you know, the day to day treatment.
00:03:16:17 – 00:03:19:00
Speaker 1
What happens if halfway through you’re like, I don’t do this anymore?
00:03:19:03 – 00:03:23:21
Speaker 2
Some people have a date or they decide to leave, right? That’s just right. Yeah.
00:03:23:22 – 00:03:30:03
Speaker 1
Yeah. A lot of people think that rehab is just therapy sessions all day long. What do you say to that?
00:03:30:05 – 00:03:53:17
Speaker 2
There’s a certain fun to it, right? There’s certain from that we start our day off with, you know, the morning group where we set an intention for the day. And then, you know, we have breakfast, There are meditation classes. We do obviously group therapy during the day. There’s other fun activities like Reiki and Muay Thai and yoga. You know, we do karaoke on Friday nights.
00:03:53:17 – 00:04:00:15
Speaker 2
We do staff versus, you know, clients activities. So there’s there’s a certain amount of fun to it. It’s not just therapy all day, right?
00:04:00:15 – 00:04:18:03
Speaker 1
And lots of structure and routine as I know is so important. Are there levels of sobriety? So what I mean by that is can somebody who goes in to treat a drug addiction, can they still drink? Let’s say when they come out? Or is it is it dependent on the person and their level of addiction?
00:04:18:05 – 00:04:40:17
Speaker 2
I think it’s dependent on a personal level of addiction. We you know, we we we are abstinence based. However, we’re going to meet a person where they’re are. Right. So, you know, we believe in the client centered care and, you know, addressing an individual’s needs. What is specifically need? Right. So some people might decide that, you know, they’ve dealt with, you know, one component of their addiction.
00:04:40:19 – 00:04:50:29
Speaker 2
And, you know, they they might want to do a harm reduction approach with another part of addiction. We we believe that it’s their decision to make those choices. Right. It’s part of the conversation to be had. Somebody’s watching right now. They need help. What do they do?
00:04:55:06 – 00:05:12:29
Speaker 2
Reach out. Reach out. It’s super important to be connected. We are available. You know, we could definitely take someone, you know, within 5 hours of them calling us, reach out or just ask for help. There are there are various resources online, and you know, it’s all there if you want it. Right.
00:05:13:06 – 00:05:16:18
Speaker 1
And, you know, we appreciate you walking us through this today. Thank you. Thank you.
