I had such a great experience at A Forever Recovery. It was unlike any rehab center I’ve ever been to before. It was just so much better there. For starters, the building is really nice. It’s clean, warm and inviting. It bears absolutely no resemblance to a hospital or institution. It was designed for comfort and it’s the only rehab I’ve been to where I felt comfortable and was able to relax. Now, detox no matter how you look at it is going to be dreadful. At least for me it always has been. In general, I’m not much of a drama queen unless it has to do with detoxing and then all bets all off and I become a crazy person. I’m miserable before it even starts and I build it up so much in my head that nothing really makes it better. My experience going through detox at AFR while still not great was much more bearable. It still wasn’t fun by any stretch of the imagination but it was much easier to get through. The medical personnel and the detox staff were great with me. They constantly checked on me to make sure I was alright. The understood what I was going through and knew how to help me get through it. When I did finish detox and was starting my program I sat down with my counselor to go over the different treatment options they have there. I’ve done enough 12-step programs to know that it wasn’t what I needed. There isn’t one addiction treatment that works for everyone and they understand that at AFR. What works for one person might not work for someone else and so they help you find the treatment that will work for you and tailor it to your needs. I ended up doing SMART recovery and that worked for me. I was able to completely understand my addiction for the first time ever. What motivated me to start using and why I had so much trouble getting and staying off drugs. There is something so special about the staff at AFR. They understand addiction and are beyond dedicated to helping every client that comes there. One thing they focused on there was communication. It doesn’t seem like such a big thing but really so many of my fights with my parents could’ve been avoided if we had just talked through it. So I learned how to talk with people better and get my point across without a talk devolving into a screaming match. I learned what kind of my behavior led me to use and how to staff away from those things and the people that made it easier for me to relapse. I’m better able to handle conflict without resorting to using drugs to make it better. Dealing with my emotions again after using for so long was hard. You don’t really deal with anything when you’re getting high and having all those emotions come back full force when you’re clean can turn into quite a mess. The counselors there were great with getting me through that and dealing with my emotions in a positive way again. The staff at AFR are some of the kindest and most compassionate people I’ve had in my life and they made the whole process of getting off and staying off drugs much easier. For the first time in my life I feel ready and able to stay clean and sober and that’s due to the experience I had at A Forever Recovery.
- Julia
Battle Creek, MI
I am so grateful for this place, I personally was not there on treatment, but I had my cousin there and she is just changed and finally got iff drugs. She nas been on drugs since she was like 15-16 and she got onto quite hard core drugs, she literally tried everything, she got into loads of trouble over the years, I a, loads of trouble, arrestments and so on, and this was an on going situation for a long time, all her family was suffering because of this, and we all tried to help her, and sometimes she got better sometimes worst, but she never stopped. Even when she wanted it was hard, and she got different help from different people and so on. Anyways it is a looong story. Finally we heard about this place from some friend of a friend, and it was a long while till she decided that she will give it a try. After all we heard good things about it, and hoped that it will get her off of drugs. At the beginning we heard that she is in detox and so on, and than when she was done there she was already better, and she said that they are really helping her and that they are very nice and they help her through the rough patches. Than she did the rest of the program, she said that there was a counselor, and than different courses and she got to choose some stuff that she liked. She said that was nice, cause she felt like she was hally after a long time and not stressed and so on. She could really focus on her program and really see what was off and what she had to get help with. She said she really liked it actually. At first she said she was ginna abandon cause it was rrally hard, but she was so long in this deep place that she was gonna fight her way through. I am rrally happy for her that she went to this place. And the good thing she said that tzey were more oriented towards like natural way of helping, and stuff, and she coudl do yoga and other different things, I don't remember so much anymore all the details. The place she slept was very good and the food too, she said she liked it and enjoyed it. She said she got some real friendships, and that they were all a great team and were helping each other, and they stay in touch even now after they are done with the program, this is good cause they can motivate each other in case they get some hard time or whatever, they really understand each other. So anyways for the place, I totally give it a five star, my cousin is like totally changed, she is like how we where when we were kids, she is happy and smiley again and hound some good purpose in life, and now she is hanging out with the right people.
- Ab
Manistee, MI