Testimonials

When my daughter and I came to PDAP almost six years ago, I was absolutely drained.  I had no resources left to draw on; mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually.  As I attended meetings and eventually scheduled sessions for both of us I was “informally” working the first four steps in my head.  I could both see and feel the difference the program was making in all facets of my life; not just in my relationship with my daughter.  After close to a year, I began formally working the steps with a sponsor and began experiencing some of the promises. My daughter learned life lessons and gained valuable tools through the group, her sponsors and working the steps.  These will always be available to her to draw upon should she choose to do so.

I am 17 years old.  I first stepped foot in PDAP 4 years ago.  At that time I was cold-hearted, had no relationships with my family, and  I shut out all of my emotions because I felt emotions were for weak-minded people. I had the mentality of “if people feared you,  you really do have all of the power.”  I truly believed that.  At first I was hesitant about coming, but I did it to get my parents off of my back.  A few weeks passed and I came to believe I really was and am an addict.  After a while in PDAP I made true friends/family, I came to believe in my higher power, basically I felt like a new person…as if my life did a complete 180.  I truly believe that PDAP saved my life because without PDAP I know I would be either in a cemetery or in a lock down facility.

PDAP has helped me stay sober and find a sponsor. I would have not be able to get sober without PDAP. It has also helped me find friends that are sober and help me when I need advice or someone to tell me how it is without sugar-coating it. It has helped me become a better person all around. Of course, I’m not perfect but I am getting better with the help of PDAP and my friends.

PDAP is my safe place. This is where I come to find solutions to my problems with the help of my counselors and peers. The counselors have always showed me unconditional love and support no matter what I have done or how I have acted. PDAP is where I meet sober friends and receive feed-back I may not want to hear at the moment but need, and eventually really helps me out in the long run.  PDAP is where I grow and remain teachable. There is almost no other place in the world that I feel safer to come and to be than PDAP.

I learned of PDAP from a rehab facility my son was in. At that time, I was in crisis mode; I knew I needed help for my son when he got out; back into the world in which I believed got him in rehab. I had no idea what a life changing experience it would be for both us. I started going to the PDAP parent meetings before he was able to attend his peer meeting. I was sure I was going to learn how to fix him. To my surprise, with the help of staff and the other parents, I learned how to work on myself, which, in turn taught me to be there for my son in a healthy manner, how to walk the walk rather than talk the talk, mirror if you will, what I asked of him. My son started attending PDAP meetings about one month later. The tools PDAP has given me and my son are something I could have never imagined. There is always someone there to help me and/or him. Today my life is one I never knew of. I am a much better person for my son and others in my life due to all I got from my parent meetings and the same is true for him. I am a pdarent, my son is a pdaper, we live a life of recovery because that’s what we learned, recovery is a lifestyle and it works if ya work it! –

In the last weeks before our son was discharged from residential rehab, we started registering that life after in-patient would involve something called an Alternative Peer Group (APG). So, as we planned for our son to continue treatment with intensive outpatient group, we had to shop for an “APG.” At the time, I remember being confused by what seemed like an alphabet soup of new acronyms: IOP, APG, PDAP and more.

It made sense to me that, for my son to stay sober, he would need sober friends and activities that would include emphasis on both sobriety and fun. Finding the right APG was a critical step in his recovery and in restoring our family system to health.

The whole family was nervous as we went to our first PDAP meeting on a pass from residential treatment. Our son met other teens, some as new as he but some with significant sobriety under their belts. We met other parents, some in more distress than we but some with an enviable serenity and wisdom worth remembering. Did we like everything we heard? Of course not. Did we find nourishment for the journey? Resoundingly, yes.

Now PDAP is one of the main supports for our life as a family. Our son looks forward to the meetings and functions and his fellow PDAPers are his main group of friends. He got a sponsor early on with whom to work the PDAP steps. My husband and I decided it was time for us to get sponsors, too, so that we could each find support for our journey and keep our recovery paths separate from our son’s. I cannot imagine recovery without PDAP. –

Retreats have done so much for me. I’m super grateful for the opportunities PDAP has given me. Without this program I wouldn’t be sober, graduated from High School, or be in college. And retreats are a huge reason why I’m sober today!. I went on my first retreat when I had about a month sober and that was a huge turning point for me. Thanks again!