My husband and I live in Los Angeles. When we realized our son was an alcoholic, we tried to find him help. We were so happy to find a luxury residential alcohol rehab for our son. While researching various high-end alcohol rehabilitation centers, we found so many of them lacking in one or more of the components that we felt were so important. The one we found in Malibu had them all! 12 Step base, an interventionist, a wonderful staff of personal counselors, dual diagnosis assessment, medications prescribed if necessary, an individual care plan for each client and the option to extend the program to 60 or 90 days. It was all we could hope for, and more. I’m now convinced our decision will help him lead the happy, healthy life he deserves. As we said goodbye to our son and drove away, we had tears in our eyes but it was such a relief to know that we had found the very best alcohol rehab for him.

My drug abuse was so shameful, I changed my name to Gloria. Everyone who was living in the dark world in the western suburbs knew the name! If someone called me by my real name (including family) I didn’t know who they were talking about. I removed myself from all that was good and lived the life of an alcoholic and drug addict for more years then I wanted to remember. Back then I never really knew what the lifestyle or the drugs and alcohol were doing to me — slowly killing me! I didn’t know how to get out. It was the only lifestyle I knew: hustling for my next hit, doing my next one til it was gone, then beginning the nightmare all over again! Breaking the law, going to jail, doing my time and hitting the streets to do it all over again! The more times I got caught the more time I went away for! When the Judge started talking double digits I began to come to my senses, and figured there had to be a “softer easier way.” I went home and my father shocked me. He gave me a hug, told me he loved me and offered to pay for a drug rehabilitation center. It was the first time I felt like a human being in a long time. A week later, we flew to Los Angeles and went into drug rehabilitation.

The Cycle of Addiction… No one intends to become a drug addict or alcoholic. At a very special Malibu, a drug addiction treatment center, our experiences show that the drug addict or alcoholic was usually an intelligent and often creative person with much hope for the future. However, they were unable to deal effectively with life’s problems and turned to drugs or alcohol as a means of dealing with unwanted situations. When the addict or alcoholic enters drug addiction treatment they learn that they usually takes drugs because they attempt to compensate for some personal deficiency or life situation. They may be depressed, in pain or incapable of dealing with a loss of a loved one or extreme circumstance. It could also be as simple as a need to fit in and make friends, or a way to lose weight. Regardless of the reason, the person begins to seek “help” in the form of drugs or alcohol. They need to detox, because drugs are essentially a pain-killer. They lessen emotional and physical pain and provide the user with a temporary escape from problems. But, once one enters a drug and alcohol addiction treatment center you learn that those “problems” are conquerable.