Drug rehabilitation during the Christmas holiday season can be a lonely, isolating experience for some. But at the drug and alcohol treatment center of Narconon Arrowhead it is a heartening, encouraging time of year with much support provided to its residents by staff, family and friends.
The beginning of the yuletide season at the treatment center is signaled with the raising of its magnificent Christmas tree in the lobby of the facility which overlooks the beautiful Lake Eufaula in southern Oklahoma. Next is Narconon’s traditional Deck the Halls party where staff and resident students all participate in festooning their surroundings with holiday decorations, creating an atmosphere that mirrors the spirit and hope of the season—a spirit that Narconon embraces at the very core of its treatment program.
The facility delivers a highly-successful, holistic treatment program to its students, offering them more than just hope for the holidays, but confidence that their future will be completely drug-free when they participate fully in their own recovery. Highly sought after, the treatment is unique in that it helps a person recovering from substance abuse eliminate the toxic effects of the drugs so no residual effects remain.
This is in stark contrast to many other programs that simply replace the abused substance with another, leaving the person still dependent. The center also educates their students in much needed life-management skills to set them up for success in the future. This training includes how to get along with others, how to effectively communicate, and how to strengthen their own personal integrity and resolve to remain drug-free for life.
Celebrating the Holidays with a Drug Free Life
During this time of year, the management and staff of the facility seek to provide its recovering students with a variety of ways they can celebrate the Christmas season through sober and drug-free activities. After the raising of the tree and decking the halls with yuletide trimmings, they participate in a festive celebration that includes great food, great company and a holiday-themed talent show. It’s important to engage those recovering from addiction in high-spirited activities that offer them a chance to reconnect to those around them. So many times a person who has been involved in substance abuse turns inward and isolates himself from family, friends and others. Out of shame, embarrassment, or guilt, they seek to minimize the harm they’ve done to those they care about. But in order to fully recover, they must rediscover their own value as a person and resurrect relationships with those people who are important in their lives.
Adding to the merriment at the treatment center are other holiday activities including the building of Narconon Arrowhead’s traditional Christmas parade float. Entered into the local McAlester Christmas Parade and the Eufaula Holiday Parade, the “drug-free life” message is promoted to the hundreds of spectators along the parade routes. As a crowning activity to the festive program, the staff at Narconon Arrowhead has enlisted the support of past successful residents to deliver Christmas stockings with letters of encouragement to those currently undergoing treatment.
Graduates of the program donate $15 toward the Christmas stocking and write a personal letter to a current student, offering assurances and giving them confidence that they too will be successful in kicking their substance abuse habits.
No gift donation in the world can do more to bolster the morale of the students. It is these words from former residents they find the most meaningful of all; for who knows better than one who has been there and made it through the worst of it? There is indeed hope after all.