Ep. 90 Are Treatment Centers Good for an Habituated Person?

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Shows Main Idea – A treatment center can be useful in that the person can get away from some of the temptations that have ensnared him. He can have six weeks or six months of freedom from his habit. He can also get away from his friends or media temptations. The downside is that if all you provide is a treatment facility, the chances of it working is slim.

Show Notes

You may want to read:

• Learn and Practice the Thirteen Steps to Repentance
• Five Helpful Marks to See If Someone Has Changed
• Eight Sequential Steps to Change Yourself

Think of it like “going to church meetings.” A teen can “go to a church meeting” on Sunday, hear an amazing message, express conviction and remorse, and by Sunday night he’s back into the same old patterns. Too many sincere parents think the church is the total solution to their child’s problems. The church can bring supplemental help, but it’s not the total solution. A treatment center is similar.

Bad company corrupts people (1 Corinthians 15:33). A person with an addiction needs much more than a treatment facility if he wants to change. While a treatment facility can (1) give him time to recalibrate his soul and (2) give the family a break from his problems, there must be a practical plan to bring sweeping and sustaining change to his life after the facility experience.

The primary key to this will be his desire to change. If he is the one asking to go to a treatment facility, rather than it being mandated by the family or authorities, you may find that a short- or long-term facility to be the right answer. If he is willing to forsake every bad habit and bad friend before, during, and after treatment, there is much hope for change.

The doctrine of sin informs us that sin is ever-present, always on the prowl, and will not stop trying to trip us up all the time. That is the nature of sin, and our hearts are weak without biblical fortifications.

Pure Life Ministries

• Ep. 85 Pure Life Ministries Interview Nate Danser and Jordan Yoshimine
• Ep. 86 Interview With Steve Gallagher, Pure Life Ministries

Measure His Desire To Change

The following questions are perfect for assessing the seriousness of the person who is a candidate for a treatment facility. If you’re the caregiver, perhaps you can answer these questions to the degree that you understand the person. If the person is ready for a life change, he can answer these questions for himself.

Step #1 is grace–God’s unearned favor on your life.

1. Are you truly at the end of yourself (Luke 15:17)?
2. Do you really believe you’re undeserving of God’s favor (Romans 3:12)?

Step #2 is the gospel–God’s power to bring change to your life.

1. Are you convinced that only God can change you?
2. Are you willing to allow Him to have His way with you?

Step #3 is humility–the ground upon which the Gospel will do its work.

1. Are you broken enough to be vulnerable?
2. Are you broken enough to be transparent?

Step #4 is discernment–the ability to perceive the real truth about yourself.

1. Do you know the real you–all of you–the whole truth about yourself?
2. Are you willing to confess the whole truth about yourself?

Step #5 is obedience–the desire to follow-through with the Spirit’s illuminating instructions.

1. Are you willing to act on whatever it takes to change?
2. Are you willing to revisit your obedience every day?

Step #6 is perseverance–the grace-empowerment to stay the course.

1. Will you secure help from your friends so you can stay the course?
2. Will you hold them accountable to hold you accountable to the process?

Step #7 is gratitude–the heart that cannot be silent about God’s good work.

1. Will you make a gratitude list and add to it each day?
2. Will you share with one other person what the LORD is doing in your life?

Step #8 is exportation–the person who wants others to know, feel, and experience a similar transformation.

1. Will you ask the Father to bring at least one person to you so you can disciple them?
2. Will you begin helping them to experience what you are experiencing?

If he’s not willing to change, you may choose to send him away while asking God to break his heart during his time in the facility. Perhaps the Lord would use the treatment center as the means to “break him” if he is not broken prior to entering (2 Timothy 2:24-25).

Regardless of the motive for going, you must make sure that after he returns, you have all the means necessary setup to help him not fall back into his old paths.

Summing It Up

1. Does the person want to change? If he is not wholly interested in changing his life, there is nothing that will help him ultimately.
2. What are your reasons for using a treatment facility?
3. Do you have a plan beyond a treatment facility? What is that plan? Be practical and detailed.
4. How is the local church involved in the process? Is a local church going to be part his lifetime process of change? If not, why not? If so, how so?

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Rick Thomas

Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.

In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).