Rehab for My Son Johannesburg

Rehab for My Son Johannesburg is usually searched by a parent who has been managing this alone for a long time and has run out of ideas. This page covers what you can actually do, what you cannot, and the two mistakes parents most often make. For treatment itself, see Drug Rehab Johannesburg.

Rehab for My Son Johannesburg: Under 18 or Over 18?

Everything turns on this. Under 18, you are the decision-maker alongside him, and adolescent programmes exist for exactly this — see rehab for teens. Over 18, he is legally an adult. You can arrange an assessment, fund treatment and set conditions on your own support, but you cannot admit him against his will, and a clinician cannot discuss his care with you without his consent.

Where an adult son is at serious risk and refuses, South African law does provide for involuntary treatment through a court process under Act 70 of 2008, involving a social worker and a magistrate. It is a genuine option in severe cases and it is slow, adversarial and often damaging to the relationship. It is not the first move.

The Two Mistakes

Paying for the consequences. Settling debts, replacing what has been sold, paying fines, covering rent. Every one is understandable and every one removes a consequence that might otherwise have created pressure to change. The distinction worth holding: fund treatment, not the life around the using.

Ultimatums you will not enforce. "Get help or move out" said three times without follow-through teaches him that nothing you say is real. Say only what you will actually do.

How to Raise It

For the wider version of this - preparing an intervention, what to do if he refuses outright, and what the household should change either way - see how to get someone into rehab.

• 1
  Choose a time when he is not intoxicated and neither of you is mid-argument.
• 2
  Describe what you have seen — jobs lost, money gone, weight, the people around him — not what you have concluded.
• 3
  Have something concrete ready: an assessment already arranged, a date, a place.
• 4
  State clearly what you will and will not continue doing.
• 5
  Expect refusal the first time. It usually is not the last conversation.

Legal Trouble

Arrests, charges and driving offences come up frequently with young men. Two things worth knowing: a court may take voluntary entry into treatment into account, and a criminal matter is a separate track from a clinical one — take legal advice on the case rather than assuming rehab resolves it. If he is in custody, that is often a point at which he becomes willing, and it is worth having something arranged for release.

What Usually Sits Underneath

Undiagnosed ADHD, anxiety, depression, trauma, or an emerging psychotic illness — which most often first appears in men in their late teens and twenties. Cannabis and methamphetamine both carry documented associations with psychosis in vulnerable people. A proper assessment covers all of it — see dual diagnosis treatment.

Safety at Home

Where methamphetamine is involved, paranoia and volatility can make confrontation genuinely unsafe. Do not attempt a serious conversation during a binge or after days without sleep. Secure documents and valuables, agree where other household members go if things escalate, and call 112 or 10177 if there is immediate danger. See meth addiction.

Looking After Yourself

Parents in this position frequently arrive exhausted, in debt and not speaking to each other about it. Nar-Anon and Al-Anon groups run across Johannesburg for family members, free, whether or not he ever agrees to treatment. Your own counselling is a legitimate use of money even if he refuses.

Frequently Asked Questions