The Road Home: A Guide for Parents with Teens or Young Adults Returning from Treatment

by Ruben Jimenez

Finally, there’s a guide — written for parents, not just clinicians — describing the unique challenges you are likely to face when your teenager or young adult comes home from therapeutic treatment. Using a wealth of examples, sample dialogues, worksheets, and insights gleaned from real families’ experiences, The Road Home illustrates how to manage the scenarios you can expect to face in the weeks and months ahead—or that you may already be facing—and how to avoid the most common pitfalls awaiting you and your child after treatment. Whether your child is returning from a wilderness therapy program, a therapeutic boarding school, or a drug and alcohol treatment center, The Road Home will empower you If you’re looking for a step-by-step process to prepare for your child’s arrival home — and to strengthen your relationship with your child — this book is for you.

440 pages, Paperback

First published December 24, 2013

Reviews

[Darin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource! Gives examples of aftercare documents and offers real-life examples. We're in the process of transitioning our son home from treatment and have found this book invaluable.

[Tami Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for parents who are bringing their children home from any kind of residential treatment program. When my son completed wilderness therapy and therapeutic boarding school, his dad and I felt unprepared for him to be back into the environment that got him into the dysregulated state he was in the first place. All of the same temptations and friends would be around him again and We were terrified that the energy, hard work, and expenses we put forth to help him would go down the drain! Most residential programs don’t really prepare the parents for the next steps after treatment. The author is a clinical social worker who was previously a wilderness therapist so he understands exactly what parents need to set firm boundaries. There are even samples of reasonable home agreements that you can download. I highly recommend this book!

[Toni Guyton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book that I could not read in one sitting. Not even in one month. Heavy and hard and needed breaks. One that I will continue to use as guidance during this huge transition. Highly recommend. Even if not everything sticks or even applies to your exact situation, there’s definitely gems throughout worth remembering.