Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Abuse

Nikki Babbit, PhD, has spent the past 35 years working with adolescents and families, first as a high-school teacher and then as a school psychologist working in schools, psychiatric wards and public health clinics. In 1980 she had the opportunity to be the founding Director of the New Directions Residential and Outpatient Treatment Programs in Cleveland, Ohio which began literally in her living room. She retired from her management responsibilities at New Directions fifteen years later, in 1995, but she still maintains clinical ties as a consultant and as a facilitator/teacher in a weekly education and support group for parents. Nikki has consulted with schools, juvenile justice professionals, and youth agency professionals across the United States on youth and family issues and adolescent drug abuse and dependency issues. In 1989 she traveled to the Soviet Union to help begin AA and Al-Anon, which had been prohibited by the government despite their success in over 120 countries around the world. The following year, she was invited to Moscow to speak about western adolescent treatment at the joint Soviet- American Conference On Alcoholism. Nikki is licensed as a school psychologist and certified as a chemical dependency counselor and supervisor. She also holds a professional counselor license with the Ohio Social Workers Board. She is the author of the booklet Is Your Child Chemically Dependent? (Community Intervention Press, 1988). Nikki has been married to Harold Babbit since 1965. She is the mother of three children, one of whom is recovering, and she was the child and stepchild of alcoholics. She and her husband currently live in Shaker Heights, Ohio outside of Cleveland.

Preface 1. Use, Abuse, and Dependency 2. Patterns of Development 3. Assessment 4. Treatment/Rehabilitation 5. Working on Your Feelings 6. Harmful Consequences from Normal Feelings 7. Communication and Relationships 8. Working on Recovery 9. Working on Letting Go 10. Providing Natural Consequences 11. Stories of Empowerment A. Resources B. Information and Help C. Specific Drugs and Their Effects Notes Index