Drug Abuse; Counselor’s View

Several days ago, I shared with you a story of a father (James) who lost his son to drugs and alcohol abuse. George passed
on and now James bears the burden of Julius who is following in the brother’s footsteps.

As I always say, many lives have been ruined and others continue to be ruined by this menace. This is the reason why I took the initiative of speaking to a professional counsellor, Moses Muriithi. My aim was, to try and find out how we can salvage the life of Julius and other youth who are heading in the same direction.

According to Moses, the best thing to do in this case is to seek the assistance of a peer counsellor. A peer counsellor is well trained to understand the effects of drugs and can offer assistance. Another benefit is that, the peer counsellor is in school with Julius and may be in a position to monitor how he is doing.

Peer counselling is closely associated with peer support. According to the Wikipedia, peer support occurs when people provide knowledge, emotional, social or practical help to each other. It commonly refers to an initiative consisting of trained supporters and can take a number of forms such as peer mentoring, listening or counselling. If you are a parent and your child is abusing drugs, consider the help of a peer counsellor.

Addiction counselling is another option that Moses provided. This may, however, be expensive but necessary. Addiction counsellors specialise with people abusing drugs, substance and alcohol. They may be in a position to understand what pushed the person to drugs. Julius may have started abusing drugs for reasons unknown to the father.

Talking to the boy on the effects of drugs and alcohol abuse using the late brother (George) is worth the shot. It could bring him to his senses. There are also institutions that deal with drugs and alcohol abuse, such as rehabilitation centres and Non-governmental organisations. Such institutions may be very resourceful.

That is what the counsellor had to say but I believe he forgot something, faith in God. James should seek the assistance of a religious leader and at the same time he should invest greatly in prayer. In support of Julius let us say this short prayer, “May the Lord Almighty heal Julius. Amen.”

Here are related articles:

1.Alcohol, Drugs and Substance Abuse

 2.Reality Check on HIV/Aids