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If you’re anticipating court-ordered treatment for drugs or alcohol, being proactive has advantages. By taking positive steps now rather than waiting for a court mandate, you’ll not only be getting help for yourself sooner but your choice to seek treatment early may impress the judge hearing your case as evidenced by the following letter:

Hello,

I would like to let you know that your letter from STI to the Mesa Municipal Court was very effective.

By way of review, I was arrested in December for DUI. My family had been urging me for some time to get counseling for alcohol abuse. This incident certainly convinced me to get my house in order and I signed up for group sessions with John Butler in January.

My second pretrial hearing was in March. By that time, I had a screening by John and had attended over 20 hours of group sessions. My attorney brought the letter to the judge’s attention, who then asked what this was all about. My attorney advised him that I was proactive in seeking help, rather than wait for court ordered classes.

The judge seemed to be pleased with this and said that the sessions I had committed to met the requirements for alcohol counseling.

Best regards,
(Name redacted and dates changed)

by Steve Farrell

I am a lifelong student at Scottsdale Treatment Institute and there’s a simple reason why: Their program works. I recently celebrated my four-year “clean” anniversary and also completed a 26.2-mile marathon. When I shared the news of my achievements with John Butler, CEO, Scottsdale Treatment Institute, we had a talk about other people’s success at STI and how that manifests in additional areas of their lives.

We agreed there are a few common threads in their stories that I relied on during both my clean-up program and my marathon training. Those common threads are:

Making Up Your Mind. This is the most important aspect! At a point in my three-year, 24/7 addiction to methamphetamine, I was urged by friends and family members to get cleaned up. Those thoughts took a while to sink in but eventually I made up my mind that I did not want my life to continue the way it was going and I sought help. Similarly, at a point in my physical recovery, I made up my mind I was going to get back into the running shape that I had been in prior to my addiction. On both occasions, a monumental task was at hand but the road to success started with my making up my mind, saying, “I’m going to do this.”

Asking What’s Next. Okay, so I said, “I’m tired of the “getting-high” lifestyle but what’s next?” Number one: Get professional help that can lay out a plan with all the tools that are available in today’s world. The daunting task of stopping the addictive lifestyle is almost too huge to comprehend, however, with guidance, I was able to break it down into manageable pieces: what do I need to do today? – this week? – this month? Planning these smaller goals allowed me to achieve one success after another while getting a little bit closer each time to my main objective. My plan included medical help, two days a week of therapy, repairing the damage I had done to my body, and just getting up every day and doing the next right thing. Similarly, I started my physical come-back and began to return to running. At first, I was struggling, running only 50 yards or so and taking a few minutes of rest, and repeating this for many many weeks. Slowly I began increasing and adding to the 50-yard distances, and after several months, I was able to run a full mile without stopping. At some point, I said again, “What’s next?” Adding another 50-yards or another mile or two… or hey, how about a half marathon in six months and a full marathon next year? I made up my mind and I asked, “What’s next?” I took it one day at a time, one mile at a time.

So the thought of my going from full addict to clean was tough to imagine but going to a meeting today and doing the next right thing… that adds up to a good program.

And the thought of my going from running 50 yards to running a full marathon was also unimaginable but a mile-a-week increase… that adds up to a good program. And good programs gave me back my life.