You cannot help change "addicts". You cannot change "junkies". You cannot change "boozers". All of these are labels. A label is a tag or name we give to a set of things that look like something. Labels are about sterotypes and assumptions. You can however change people. To do this however you actually have to get to know them and all of their unique abilities. In other words you have to see them as people with a lot of value and some behaviors they want to change. If you just see a junkie, they will feel confined by YOUR definitions. I do not care how good your intentions are.
Drug rehab is about first finding the real person again and then about assisting them to change. How can you see the real person if the first thing everyone says is "Hi, I'm a alcoholic."? Labels prevent people from seeing people. Labels give the false impression that everything about addiction is the same and if you just do steps one through twelve, everything will be fine. People are not labels , and every solution is not a cookbook.
I choose the word client in describing people who deal with us for a very clear reason. It does not label them. A client is simply someone receiving a service. "Patients" and "Addicts" can come with some negative connotations. In drug rehab centers we help people. We help people find what they want and stop imposing our definitions on them.
