Fornits
General Interest => Open Free for All => Topic started by: cmack on November 12, 2011, 05:59:01 PM
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Chad Hepler's escalating drug problem began at age 14. Five days before his 18th birthday his parents had him transported to Wilderness Treatment Center in Marion, Montana. http://www.wilderness-therapy-program.com/index.html (http://www.wilderness-therapy-program.com/index.html).
He's now 25, a recent college grad with a degree in psychology who wants to be an addiction counselor. He wrote a book about his treatment experience that starts with being woke up at 4am and seeing a 6'6" transporter/kidnapper in his bedroom.
Go to the amazon link and click on the cover photo for a "Look Inside". The first 12 pages are an account of the transport procedure from being woke up, a half-hearted escape attempt, and subsequent tackle and handcuffs to the ride to the Atlanta Airport. It's an good read for anyone interested in the transport procedure.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145367 ... d_i=507846 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1453673547/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d5_g14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0HV242Y1C2QKKR1PE73D&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846)
Below is a newspaper story:
http://www.dailyinterlake.com/news/loca ... 03286.html (http://www.dailyinterlake.com/news/local_montana/article_184e5798-2ce1-11e0-8ed0-001cc4c03286.html)
Book relives drug treatment in Marion
Posted: Monday, January 31, 2011 2:00 am
Book relives drug treatment in Marion By CANDACE CHASE/The Daily Inter Lake Daily Inter Lake | 13 comments
Just five days before his 18th birthday, Chad Hepler had a rude awakening from the comfort of his bed in his parent’s house in Georgia.
“It was 4 a.m. and I was still hazy from drinking,” Hepler recalled in a telephone interview.
A 6-foot, 6-inch, 300-pound man and a strapping woman stood by his bed. They informed him that they were escorting him to a substance abuse treatment center and he had no choice in the matter.
“They said, ‘You can come the nice way or the hard way,’” Hepler said.
His book, “Intervention: Anything But My Own Skin,” opens with this scenario. In his fog, Hepler had no idea that he was headed for the Wilderness Treatment Center in Marion for the two transforming months that inspired this book.
“I learned so much about myself,” he said.
Hepler wrote it to share his life lessons with those in recovery as well as to give hope to parents who, like his own, had tapped every local resource trying to get their son off drugs and alcohol but had no success. He said parents who read the book feel a lot of relief.
“They find out, No. 1, that they’re not alone,” Hepler said. “No. 2, they shouldn’t be ashamed to be dealing with drug addiction and things can turn out OK.”
As the child of an upper-middle-class, caring, two-parent family, Hepler had all the advantages, including attending a private school. But money didn’t diminish the lure of alcohol and drugs for a socially awkward adolescent with low self-esteem.
Now a sober college graduate, author, speaker and addiction counselor, Hepler looks back to his Wilderness Treatment Center experience as a crucial milepost at the beginning of his journey to recovery. At 17, he had no motivation to seek treatment.
“I would never have gone on my own,” he said.
Hepler’s downward spiral started subtly in an environment that his parents never suspected was dangerous.
“I was 14 when I started experimenting with alcohol and marijuana,” he said. “It was the summer before the ninth grade with neighbors and friends. It gave me a feeling of comfort and peace.”
After this initiation, Hepler used drugs and alcohol on and off. When he turned 16 and started to drive, he got away from his parents’ scrutiny and gained increased access.
“I used cocaine and ecstasy — I tried meth once,” he said. “I tried hallucinogens, LSD and mushrooms. I was going to school high.”
A few days before his 17th birthday, Hepler got pulled over by the police, who found him with five bags of marijuana. He had become a dealer to support his habits.
“They took me to the police station just two days before my birthday,” he said. “If I had been 17, I would have been in the main jail in Atlanta.”
His parents got him a lawyer, and he received just community service and was required to submit to random drug screenings. Hepler said the judge could see that his parents were committed to helping him stop, yet he found a way to keep using.
After he turned 17, Hepler began to suffer from depression and received antidepressants but didn’t stop using illegal drugs. It pushed his behavior over the edge.
“I was off-roading on people’s lawns,” he said.
His parents tried all the tools to cut him off drugs. They tested him at home and had him sign forms saying they would sell his car if he was caught using illegal drugs.
Hepler spoke with counselors and psychiatrists and former addicts. He went to meetings with people in recovery.
“Nothing took that desire away from me, to make me stop using,” he said.
To please his parents, Hepler, now a senior in high school, met with the son of a friend who had gone through the Wilderness Treatment Center in Marion. Hepler had no idea he was talking to an investigator.
After the meeting, he told Hepler’s parents that their son would never get sober without intervention. But the time for action was slipping away as he was nearly 18, the cutoff for forcing him into treatment.
“Five days before my 18th birthday, they made a snap decision to hire the escort service,” he said. “Their job was to get me to the treatment center. That’s where my book starts.”
When the hulking man and large woman encountered him on that memorable morning, Hepler pretended to cooperate, getting up and getting dressed. As they walked him outside holding on to his arms, he bolted, but didn’t get far.
“I got tackled and handcuffed,” he said.
As they drove away, his escorts told him that, if he ran at the airport, he would fall under federal jurisdiction and he wouldn’t like the outcome. Hepler accepted his fate and flew to Montana for two months instead of finishing his last semester of high school.
Located on a 4,000-acre working cattle ranch near Marion, the Wilderness Treatment Center serves adolescent and young adult men ages 14 to 24. It was established in 1983 by John and Nancy Brekke.
Ben Dorrington, director of referral relations, said the Wilderness Treatment Center combines two models of treatment.
“We really are the only program that combines inpatient and wilderness therapy,” he said. “It’s been successful for 27 years. It’s changed a lot of lives.”
Hepler counts his as one. At the time, he was anything but receptive to the helping hand that jerked him out of his destructive lifestyle in Georgia and dropped him in the remote center in Montana.
He vividly recalls the four-and-a-half days of therapy with his family that began two weeks after he arrived.
“I had a lot of resentment when I first got there,” he said. “By the time they got there, I had simmered down and the drugs had left my body. We all just broke down and started bawling.”
Hepler said the therapy included becoming totally honest. He had to tell his parents what he had done, including the parts he didn’t think his parents knew about — like the car he had wrecked.
To his shock, he found out that they had figured out most of his darkest secrets on their own.
“For me to tell them was nerve-wracking,” he said. “It was really refreshing to get it all off my chest.”
After 30 days of inpatient therapy, Hepler began the 16-day wilderness survival portion of his therapy. For a Southern boy, the outdoor excursion in the middle of a Montana winter presented a daunting challenge.
“Coming from Georgia, I had never cross-country skied,” he said. “We went three to five miles a day. We lived in a snow hut and spent time completely by ourselves.”
According to Dorrington, Hepler’s book accurately portrays the program at the Wilderness Treatment Center. Depending on the time of year, the trip is 16 to 18 days long.
“After a month, the guys start to be motivated to change but they haven’t been tested,” Dorrington said. “The wilderness induces a naturally stressful environment. It brings out the best and worst in clients, and we counsel them accordingly.”
Dorrington said they return for more inpatient treatment, where they bring all the parts together. He said their successes in overcoming obstacles plays a crucial role in their rehabilitation.
“We really believe that if you increase a young man’s self-worth, he’ll feel empowered to make changes.”
Hepler went from the center to a halfway house, where he completed his core studies to earn his high school diploma. From there he returned home, and then went directly to college where he had an addiction setback, but overcame it and set a goal of earning his degree and publishing “Intervention.”
He said he came to the center with low self-esteem and anxiety with “that desperate feeling of wanting to be anything but me.”
He left with a new closeness to his family and himself.
“I worked on who I was as a person,” he said. “I learned so much about myself.”
Dorrington was so impressed with the vividly detailed account that he recommends Hepler’s book to prospective patients and their parents. He said he and others at Wilderness Treatment Center learned from the book as well.
“It really helped our staff to understand better what these guys go through,” he said.
That’s music to Hepler’s ears. Through his book and career, he transformed the devastation of his addiction into a positive.
“I’ve been able to touch people’s lives,” he said. “That brings me a high that drugs and alcohol can’t.”
People interested in purchasing “Intervention: Anything But My Own Skin” can order the paperback from any bookstore or through Amazon.com or in digital format via Amazon Kindle.
Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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http://www.dailyinterlake.com/news/loca ... 03286.html (http://www.dailyinterlake.com/news/local_montana/article_184e5798-2ce1-11e0-8ed0-001cc4c03286.html)
Comments from above article:
13 comments:
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ChadHe posted at 2:44 pm on Sat, Feb 5, 2011.
ChadHe Posts: 8
Jeffak
Wow! Cover to cover in that short of a period... You're a quick reader. Thank you so much for the multiple orders, I really appreciate it big time!!!
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Jeffak posted at 2:34 pm on Sat, Feb 5, 2011.
Jeffak Posts: 62
Amazon delivered a day early so I got the book on Thursday.
I read it cover to cover on Friday and dropped it off for my friend in a Ocala Florida rehab Saturday morning.
It's a powerful book, I ordered two more to share with a couple of struggling parents of teenagers I know....
Thanks Chad!
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ChadHe posted at 3:21 pm on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
ChadHe Posts: 8
Thank you MJV24, I couldnt agree more. I now work at an inpatient treatment facility and to see families bring loved one's in for treatment is always such an amazing act of love and courage.
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MJV24 posted at 12:11 pm on Fri, Feb 4, 2011.
MJV24 Posts: 58
What a great story! I am so glad you had parents who loved you enough to fight for you and help you!
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MrLaffs posted at 8:37 pm on Thu, Feb 3, 2011.
MrLaffs Posts: 35
His dad could have saved a lot of money by using the "closed-fist-and-rubber-hose" treatment...
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ChadHe posted at 6:34 pm on Thu, Feb 3, 2011.
ChadHe Posts: 8
Well said Chuckie! Very cool to hear you are a good friend of John and Nancy's! They do deserve much credit for creating such an incredible rehabiliation operation. It's amazing how many people I hear about that have either been to WTC or have had a family member go there. The place works, plain and simple.
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ChuckieInMT posted at 9:44 am on Thu, Feb 3, 2011.
ChuckieInMT Posts: 66
Let's hear it for John & Nancy's vision of some 25 or 30 years ago!!! Once upon a time, John and a friend took six of us through the South half of the Bob Marshall Wilderness with just our journal, a backpack and fishing pole. After we came out at Upper Holland Lake, a week later, all of us had grown immensely. I still think of John often and am glad to see his continued effect on people. It works, if you work it, huh?
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ChadHe posted at 6:13 am on Wed, Feb 2, 2011.
ChadHe Posts: 8
khopseker
Yes, the wilderness treatment center can do wonders for people struggiling with addiction. Congrats to your son! I share the same feelings he does toward the treatment center, that is I learned things that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I agree that parents need to be more intune with their children and make the tough decision to get them help before it get's any worse. You are commended to have made such a tough choice and I am sure your son is appreciative. Thank you for the book purchase, it helps keep me sober!
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khopseker posted at 9:58 pm on Tue, Feb 1, 2011.
khopseker Posts: 2
Chad, My son, now 31, also had a surprise trip to The Wilderness Treatment Center near Marion. He was also just a few weeks from turning 18. He had some relapses but the lessons he learned at Wilderness were seeds that developed in to a strong and healthy ego. He is now happily married to a wonderful woman and has a lovely one year old daughter. He tells me often that "Wilderness" saved his life. As a Mom, It was a huge decision to make. I was afraid that he would hate me forever and I didn't know if he would survive such a treatment center.. I did know that he wouldn't survive the drug life. We parents need a wake up call. It is so much easier at the time to put our head in the sand and wallow in our deniel.. I will buy your book. Good Luck to you. K
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ChadHe posted at 2:26 pm on Tue, Feb 1, 2011.
ChadHe Posts: 8
Jeff
Thank you for ordering the book! Hearing that people are either ordering my book or reading it gives me a high that drugs and alcohol can not touch. I frequently speak to groups about substance abuse and talk specifically about creating natural highs like writing and selling my book, so thank you!
I'm sorry to hear about your friend but glad to hear he his getting help. An inpatient facility can be very effective, trust me I know. I am currently working at an ipatient facility in GA and see a lot of success come from the facility. You are very kind for for not judging your friend and for helping him out.
Thank you for the feedback about the website issue. I will work on it. If you get a chance check out my blog on my website, I recently posted an excerpt from the next book.
-Chad Hepler
"Create the natural highs!"
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Jeffak posted at 12:46 pm on Tue, Feb 1, 2011.
Jeffak Posts: 62
Hey Chad,
I ordered your book after reading this story along with a few pages of the book on Amazon, they say the book will be here by Friday.
A very dear friend of mine just entered a court ordered rehab and this coming Saturday I will be allowed to drop off a few things for him, my plan is to make it a gift for him. I don't get to see him for another 30 days and thats if I'm allowed to act as his family member. His parents have pretty much abandoned him.
See if you can get some more keywords embedded in your websites pages. I did a search yesterday to see if you had a website and google didn't produce when I searched the following term.
"Intervention: Anything But My Own Skin"
Thanks........
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ChadHe posted at 10:40 am on Tue, Feb 1, 2011.
ChadHe Posts: 8
Thanks Jeffak, my book has recieved a lot of emotional responses based on the reader feeling like they are part of the story. I am currently writing the second book that will pick up where "Intervention: Anything But My Own Skin" left off. This is my website http://www.interventionbooks.com (http://www.interventionbooks.com)
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Jeffak posted at 8:39 am on Tue, Feb 1, 2011.
Jeffak Posts: 62
Amazon offers some pretty lengthy previews of this book.
It's getting incredibly strong reviews....
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Other relevant links regarding subject:
Chad Hepler on Struggles with Addiction and Alcoholism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkIBQgyHQ-s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkIBQgyHQ-s)
http://www.facebook.com/AddictionAuthor (http://www.facebook.com/AddictionAuthor)
Book website:http://www.interventionbooks.com/
Another article:
Marietta resident details recovery from drugs in new book
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/15 ... eft_column (http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/15671818/article-Marietta-resident-details-recovery-from-drugs-in-new-book?instance=secondary_story_left_column)
Wilderness Treatment Center Memories
by Lon Woodbury on February 15, 2011
http://parent-empowerment-blog.com/2011 ... -memories/ (http://parent-empowerment-blog.com/2011/02/15/wilderness-treatment-center-memories/)