Treatment Programme for Adolescents
Support for adolescents and young people and their families
The care programme for adolescents and young people and their families was created in response to a need identified in recent years in our practice in drug dependence. The new patterns of use and the earlier age of onset call for a specific approach and a tailored response adapted to this stage of life.
What does the programme for young people offer?
Care for adolescents and young people aged 14 to 25 with the aim of reducing or stopping drug use and preventing or detecting other risk behaviours (school failure, aggression, eating problems, risky emotional and sexual relationships, delinquency, reckless driving…). It includes:
Personalised individual psychotherapy. A space of trust in which to assess the pattern of use (use, misuse or addiction), become aware of the behaviour and motivate change.
Psychiatric assessment. Evaluation by a psychiatrist specialising in the adolescent/youth population to establish a psychopathological diagnosis, where appropriate.
“Let’s Talk About Use” youth group. A group therapy format that encourages critical reflection on drug use.
“Let’s Talk About Change” group for young people motivated towards abstinence. A group for those with minimal motivation to maintain abstinence, with sharing of experiences, a plan for change and maintenance strategies.
Therapeutic support. A tutor who accompanies the young person in their everyday environment to ensure the agreed therapeutic and/or reintegration goals are met.
Support for families with a young person in their care (whether or not the young person attends treatment), to assess the situation of use, advise and offer guidelines for action suited to the case.
Family psychotherapeutic care: objectives
Inform about drugs, their effects and consequences in the short, medium and long term.
Provide tools for detecting use and other risk behaviours.
Offer family strategies to interrupt or reduce use: boundaries, communication, family social skills, understanding and empathy, parenting style, and so on.
Family group
A programme of 6 structured sessions, held fortnightly with theoretical and practical content, aimed at improving understanding of drug dependence, acquiring new tools to cope with the situation and to support change in the young person and their family system, as well as sharing experiences.