Seven out of 100 adolescents attend addiction treatment each year.
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Seven out of 100 adolescents attend addiction treatment each year.
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Of all individuals who seek treatment for alcohol and other drug use disorders (i.e., substance use disorder), 7% are adolescents between 12 and 17 years old.
From a developmental perspective, adolescents have unique clinical qualities making them different from young adults and older adults in terms of the nature of their substance use problems, and the different factors that influence these problems positive and negatively.
For example, research shows that environmental influences on substance use predominate among adolescents, while family history (e.g., genetic influences) becomes more prominent during young adulthood.
This study used an intensive, qualitative approach to describe and further our understanding of the critical elements of adolescent recovery among members of Teen and Family Services, an Alternative Peer Group in the Southwestern United States nested within a recovery oriented system of care, including a hospital based treatment facility and a recovery high school.
Grounded in the theory that, if centered on fun activities with peers, recovery will be perceived as more rewarding than substance use, Alternative Peer Groups (APGs) are recovery support services for adolescents with substance use disorder that engage them in a community of other recovering adolescents, to capitalize on the same desire for peer acceptance that is known to drive, in part, adolescent motivations for substance use.
A qualitative approach called clinical ethnography was used in this study, which is characterized by immersion in the environment being examined, the Alternative Peer Group at Teen and Family Services in this study. The program was designed to last 9 to 12 months, and like other Alternative Peer Groups, its explicit goal is “full engagement in the 12-step program of recovery from substance use disorder”.
Study methods include field notes, observation, records examination, as well as group and individual interviews. Participants were 14 alumni of the Alternative Peer Group (11 males and 3 females; 15-30 years old) with 1 or more years abstinent (1-11 years) who were actively involved in a 12-step program. In addition to program alumni, study authors also interviewed parents of Alternative Peer Group participants, and program staff/leadership.
Study findings yielded two overarching themes of adolescent recovery:
Participants identified the preparation stage (months 1-2) as most critical given that many adolescents entered the Alternative Peer Group with a great deal of resistance and ambivalence regarding changing their substance use. Young adult staff, who were in recovery themselves, helped adolescents through this ambivalence and provided support to help them get back on track if they drank or used drugs.
To work through the preparation stage participants identified:
Engagement (months 3-6 months) was the result of preparation and was typically facilitated through the benefits of a relationship, with a 12-step mutual-help sponsor for example. “Working a program” was characterized by working the 12 steps and spending time with other individuals who had active recovery lifestyles (i.e., “sticking with the winners”). These processes helped individuals cultivate and build on skills and coping strategies they learned in treatment.
Recovery maintenance was characterized differently by alumni and program staff. While the alumni all described recovery as maintaining abstinence, program staff felt abstinence was key through adolescence and until their brain development was complete (i.e., through mid to late 20s). They were more open-minded about adolescents being able to engage in low-risk drinking as they entered into adulthood.
Participation in fun recovery activities and forming relationships with other, particularly more experienced, recovering individuals are characteristics that map onto other qualitative research findings with adolescents and young adults.
Regarding their participation and perceived benefit from 12-step mutual-help organizations, like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), for example, research has shown that finding a sense of belonging and feeling a sense of universality — having a shared experience or problem — are important subjective experiences of youth recovery.
In a related study, Labbe and colleagues showed that, for young adults, the degree to which other young people are present at AA and NA meetings is related to recovery benefit early on (i.e., 3-6 months after initiating recovery), while meetings with older, more experienced individuals is more strongly related to benefit later on (e.g., 6-12 months after initiating recovery). So while connection with both peers and more experienced recovering individuals may be important, these relationships could serve different purposes depending on a person’s stage of recovery.
The mention specifically of “fun activities” is consistent with adolescent treatments for substance use disorder, such as the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach. This evidence-based treatment, like alternative peer groups, emphasizes the benefit of engaging adolescents in rewarding activities while abstinent, to compete with the rewarding effects of alcohol and other drug use.
Nash, A., Marcus, M., Engebretson, J., & Bukstein, O. (2015). Recovery From Adolescent Substance Use Disorder: Young People in Recovery Describe the Process and Keys to Success in an Alternative Peer Group. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 10(4), 290-312. doi:10.1080/1556035X.2015.1089805
l
Of all individuals who seek treatment for alcohol and other drug use disorders (i.e., substance use disorder), 7% are adolescents between 12 and 17 years old.
From a developmental perspective, adolescents have unique clinical qualities making them different from young adults and older adults in terms of the nature of their substance use problems, and the different factors that influence these problems positive and negatively.
For example, research shows that environmental influences on substance use predominate among adolescents, while family history (e.g., genetic influences) becomes more prominent during young adulthood.
This study used an intensive, qualitative approach to describe and further our understanding of the critical elements of adolescent recovery among members of Teen and Family Services, an Alternative Peer Group in the Southwestern United States nested within a recovery oriented system of care, including a hospital based treatment facility and a recovery high school.
Grounded in the theory that, if centered on fun activities with peers, recovery will be perceived as more rewarding than substance use, Alternative Peer Groups (APGs) are recovery support services for adolescents with substance use disorder that engage them in a community of other recovering adolescents, to capitalize on the same desire for peer acceptance that is known to drive, in part, adolescent motivations for substance use.
A qualitative approach called clinical ethnography was used in this study, which is characterized by immersion in the environment being examined, the Alternative Peer Group at Teen and Family Services in this study. The program was designed to last 9 to 12 months, and like other Alternative Peer Groups, its explicit goal is “full engagement in the 12-step program of recovery from substance use disorder”.
Study methods include field notes, observation, records examination, as well as group and individual interviews. Participants were 14 alumni of the Alternative Peer Group (11 males and 3 females; 15-30 years old) with 1 or more years abstinent (1-11 years) who were actively involved in a 12-step program. In addition to program alumni, study authors also interviewed parents of Alternative Peer Group participants, and program staff/leadership.
Study findings yielded two overarching themes of adolescent recovery:
Participants identified the preparation stage (months 1-2) as most critical given that many adolescents entered the Alternative Peer Group with a great deal of resistance and ambivalence regarding changing their substance use. Young adult staff, who were in recovery themselves, helped adolescents through this ambivalence and provided support to help them get back on track if they drank or used drugs.
To work through the preparation stage participants identified:
Engagement (months 3-6 months) was the result of preparation and was typically facilitated through the benefits of a relationship, with a 12-step mutual-help sponsor for example. “Working a program” was characterized by working the 12 steps and spending time with other individuals who had active recovery lifestyles (i.e., “sticking with the winners”). These processes helped individuals cultivate and build on skills and coping strategies they learned in treatment.
Recovery maintenance was characterized differently by alumni and program staff. While the alumni all described recovery as maintaining abstinence, program staff felt abstinence was key through adolescence and until their brain development was complete (i.e., through mid to late 20s). They were more open-minded about adolescents being able to engage in low-risk drinking as they entered into adulthood.
Participation in fun recovery activities and forming relationships with other, particularly more experienced, recovering individuals are characteristics that map onto other qualitative research findings with adolescents and young adults.
Regarding their participation and perceived benefit from 12-step mutual-help organizations, like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), for example, research has shown that finding a sense of belonging and feeling a sense of universality — having a shared experience or problem — are important subjective experiences of youth recovery.
In a related study, Labbe and colleagues showed that, for young adults, the degree to which other young people are present at AA and NA meetings is related to recovery benefit early on (i.e., 3-6 months after initiating recovery), while meetings with older, more experienced individuals is more strongly related to benefit later on (e.g., 6-12 months after initiating recovery). So while connection with both peers and more experienced recovering individuals may be important, these relationships could serve different purposes depending on a person’s stage of recovery.
The mention specifically of “fun activities” is consistent with adolescent treatments for substance use disorder, such as the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach. This evidence-based treatment, like alternative peer groups, emphasizes the benefit of engaging adolescents in rewarding activities while abstinent, to compete with the rewarding effects of alcohol and other drug use.
Nash, A., Marcus, M., Engebretson, J., & Bukstein, O. (2015). Recovery From Adolescent Substance Use Disorder: Young People in Recovery Describe the Process and Keys to Success in an Alternative Peer Group. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 10(4), 290-312. doi:10.1080/1556035X.2015.1089805
l
Of all individuals who seek treatment for alcohol and other drug use disorders (i.e., substance use disorder), 7% are adolescents between 12 and 17 years old.
From a developmental perspective, adolescents have unique clinical qualities making them different from young adults and older adults in terms of the nature of their substance use problems, and the different factors that influence these problems positive and negatively.
For example, research shows that environmental influences on substance use predominate among adolescents, while family history (e.g., genetic influences) becomes more prominent during young adulthood.
This study used an intensive, qualitative approach to describe and further our understanding of the critical elements of adolescent recovery among members of Teen and Family Services, an Alternative Peer Group in the Southwestern United States nested within a recovery oriented system of care, including a hospital based treatment facility and a recovery high school.
Grounded in the theory that, if centered on fun activities with peers, recovery will be perceived as more rewarding than substance use, Alternative Peer Groups (APGs) are recovery support services for adolescents with substance use disorder that engage them in a community of other recovering adolescents, to capitalize on the same desire for peer acceptance that is known to drive, in part, adolescent motivations for substance use.
A qualitative approach called clinical ethnography was used in this study, which is characterized by immersion in the environment being examined, the Alternative Peer Group at Teen and Family Services in this study. The program was designed to last 9 to 12 months, and like other Alternative Peer Groups, its explicit goal is “full engagement in the 12-step program of recovery from substance use disorder”.
Study methods include field notes, observation, records examination, as well as group and individual interviews. Participants were 14 alumni of the Alternative Peer Group (11 males and 3 females; 15-30 years old) with 1 or more years abstinent (1-11 years) who were actively involved in a 12-step program. In addition to program alumni, study authors also interviewed parents of Alternative Peer Group participants, and program staff/leadership.
Study findings yielded two overarching themes of adolescent recovery:
Participants identified the preparation stage (months 1-2) as most critical given that many adolescents entered the Alternative Peer Group with a great deal of resistance and ambivalence regarding changing their substance use. Young adult staff, who were in recovery themselves, helped adolescents through this ambivalence and provided support to help them get back on track if they drank or used drugs.
To work through the preparation stage participants identified:
Engagement (months 3-6 months) was the result of preparation and was typically facilitated through the benefits of a relationship, with a 12-step mutual-help sponsor for example. “Working a program” was characterized by working the 12 steps and spending time with other individuals who had active recovery lifestyles (i.e., “sticking with the winners”). These processes helped individuals cultivate and build on skills and coping strategies they learned in treatment.
Recovery maintenance was characterized differently by alumni and program staff. While the alumni all described recovery as maintaining abstinence, program staff felt abstinence was key through adolescence and until their brain development was complete (i.e., through mid to late 20s). They were more open-minded about adolescents being able to engage in low-risk drinking as they entered into adulthood.
Participation in fun recovery activities and forming relationships with other, particularly more experienced, recovering individuals are characteristics that map onto other qualitative research findings with adolescents and young adults.
Regarding their participation and perceived benefit from 12-step mutual-help organizations, like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA), for example, research has shown that finding a sense of belonging and feeling a sense of universality — having a shared experience or problem — are important subjective experiences of youth recovery.
In a related study, Labbe and colleagues showed that, for young adults, the degree to which other young people are present at AA and NA meetings is related to recovery benefit early on (i.e., 3-6 months after initiating recovery), while meetings with older, more experienced individuals is more strongly related to benefit later on (e.g., 6-12 months after initiating recovery). So while connection with both peers and more experienced recovering individuals may be important, these relationships could serve different purposes depending on a person’s stage of recovery.
The mention specifically of “fun activities” is consistent with adolescent treatments for substance use disorder, such as the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach. This evidence-based treatment, like alternative peer groups, emphasizes the benefit of engaging adolescents in rewarding activities while abstinent, to compete with the rewarding effects of alcohol and other drug use.
Nash, A., Marcus, M., Engebretson, J., & Bukstein, O. (2015). Recovery From Adolescent Substance Use Disorder: Young People in Recovery Describe the Process and Keys to Success in an Alternative Peer Group. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 10(4), 290-312. doi:10.1080/1556035X.2015.1089805
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