In a recent opinion piece in the Washington Post, “How AA Fails Young Addicts,” Chelsea Carmona, who attended her first AA meeting at the age of 20, addresses what she sees as systemic problems in treatment, and in particular the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) program, when it comes to addressing the needs of youth.
First, I want to say that if this woman found what works for her in order to stay sober, then I am very glad. As a person who works hard in the recovery field, I want people to find what they need to get and stay sober, and different things work for different people..
That said, I think Carmona was sorely misinformed, and her perspective provides a misleading look at the issue.
First, AA as an organization gets no outside funding and has grown from two men into millions worldwide. Obviously it is doing something that works, and part of what makes it work is sticking to its primary purpose – helping people who have a desire to stop drinking. If Carmona was adamant that she didn’t’ have a problem with alcohol then it makes sense AA would not be the right place for her or that she would not relate.
Later in the piece, Carmona says, “The most disheartening aspect of 12-step recovery and inpatient care: Because most of their AA colleagues are older, the adolescents I met in treatment found more drug connections, party buddies and rehab romances than they did mentors, counselors and long-term sober friends.”
I don’t know where she went for treatment, but at Caron, adolescents , young adult men, and young adult women are in their own units and gender separate. Our counselors are also fully aware of what is going on in their groups and with the individuals in their care.
Are there some purists in AA or the treatment field who think there is only one way to recover? Yes. But on the whole, AA and treatment programs are absolutely doing what they can to meet the unique needs of the young person suffering at their respective bottoms with special literature, videos, and age/gender specific programs. In fact, there are national and international conferences specifically for young people in recovery!
In addition, Caron and the local AA groups do a lot of fun things like dances, comedy nights, game nights and barbeques. If a young person new to recovery is willing to walk through the fear of getting to know people sober and try a new and better way of life, it exists! It absolutely does and people are finding that through quality programs like those at Caron and active sober 12-step recovery groups.
In the greater DC area, in addition to treatment centers like Caron having alumni recovery meetings, AA meetings are plentiful and diverse. A quick search of AA meetings in the DC area for Young People revealed 48 locations. There are meetings for beginners, young people, gay people, men only, women only, mothers, lawyers, and the list goes on!
The most notable inaccuracy Carmona brings to the table relates to what she calls the Al-Anon inspired directives for families to “cut us lose at the first sign of relapse.” I can assure you that nowhere in Al-Anon literature does it say that, no matter what the situation, the alcoholic should be cut off at the first sign of relapse. That is some interpretation Carmona’s treatment program employed, but it is not consistent with Al-Anon.
At Caron and in the rooms of Al-Anon, it is case by case, there is no set rule. Plenty of spouses stay in a marriage where the alcoholic is still drinking. Many parents will help a teen who has relapsed. Is tough love necessary in some cases? Absolutely. Might it save a person’s life and save a family if the addict or alcoholic is given the opportunity to hit their bottom? Yes.
Let’s be realistic, any alcoholic or addict at any age could find reasons why they don’t have a problem or why AA or treatment won’t work for them. And to them I say, are you done? Are you willing to go to any lengths? And if the answer is yes, there is a solution.
