Sundown was the first Residential Rehab and Recovery program (following one other longer term and…read moretwo short term residential facilities) that fostered a cohesive family focused community feel. This gave our child the safe place and trusted people needed to "really connect." "This was the first program where I really connected and felt like they cared about me.". When I picked up our child, they had grown so much in their ability to identify feelings, triggers and the role they played in their dark times over the last three years. They wanted to make amends and attend meetings and continue their sobriety and live a life not driven by anxiety.
They better understand themself as part of a family, and society, and have a better sense of why parents have rules. As any other teenager, our's doesn't love rules, but now they understand why they should be respected and that they DO apply. (YAY!! Status quo is not always right, but you must first understand societal norms in order to change those with which you disagree.) they have also learned, and are learning to incorporate, that we can't control and aren't responsible for other people's actions or feelings. We can only take care of our own actions and feelings, strive to do the right things, own our choices, and apologize and make amends when we screw up.
The Sundown Ranch Covid protocols were exemplary.
Picky eater, but loved the food (except fish, but at least they tried it).
They loved the routine (okay, the school part wasn't a favorite, but it never has been). Mostly, they loved the staff and counselors.
Fast forward one month from coming home. They have their 90 day coin. They've successfully made it through the first 30-day home contract, even with idle time waiting to start an after-care program and an on-line school. They earned their phone back and discovered a love interest they've missed for three months, had moved on. It is a really rough day, but they are still coping. Instead of punching walls or throwing a phone and breaking a picture window, they've taken a beat, identified how their feelings, and cried. A perfectly natural response. And Sundown? We reached out, after no real contact for a month, and the family counselor took our call and made an appointment to talk to him this afternoon.
At Sundown, you are not a cog in a corporate-program's routine. Sundown meets you, family and individual, where you are at and they give the time, the care, and the space needed to walk off their dude-ranch turned recovery facility with a new perspective and a hopeful future.
Thanks Sundown, thanks Sam, for helping our kiddo out of their anxiety into the light again.
