A Forever Recovery

I saw something about A Forever Recovery for the first time maybe 7 years ago. I was looking into rehabs for my son and AFR had seemed like it would be a good place for him. Before I called, I did a bit of research and after reading some of the reviews and posts about AFR, I changed my mind about sending him there. There were far too many reviews and posts that said AFR wasn’t much more than a recruitment center for a cult, and I had no interest in sending my son to a place like that.
My son spent the next 6 years in and out of rehab and each time he relapsed, I’d start looking for a new rehab for him and I would see the ads for AFR. After 6 years of son making zero improvement, I thought if a cult could get my son sober, it might just be easier to get him out of that cult than getting him sober another way. Which is a stupid thought to have but, I was at the end of my rope and I didn’t know what else to do for my son. I ended up calling AFR just to see what they said about those reviews and posts and I found out that AFR isn’t affiliated with that cult anymore. Which made sending my son there an easy decision.
AFR has an impressive set-up and the more I heard about it, the more excited I was to have my son go there. AFR has different programs that their clients choose from. They don’t have a one size fits all mentality when it comes to treatment and I thought that, more than anything else, would help my son. Honestly, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that it never occurred to me that my son wasn’t the only problem. That the programs he was doing weren’t right for him. Whenever I found out that he had relapsed, I blamed him. I thought that he wasn’t trying hard enough or didn’t care enough to try. I’d been sending him to 12-step programs because it was the only program that I knew anything about. It’s been around for so long that it didn’t occur to look into different programs.
When my son was at AFR he was able to choose a program that he felt comfortable doing and his attitude towards his recovery changed after deciding to do the SMART program. He put much more effort into doing that program because he’d finally found something that made sense to him.
The clients at AFR are also moved forward on their programs based on their individual progress. As I said earlier, they don’t have a one size fits all mentality at AFR, so the clients choose their programs but, they also stay at AFR for however long it takes them to get that program right. My son started at AFR with the same attitude that he’d started every other rehab he’d been to. Annoyed that he was back in rehab with a plan to ride out his time there while putting as little effort as possible. After he went through detox and saw the different program they have, he spent time figuring out what he wanted to do, and that attitude changed. Being at AFR stopped being something that he had to do, and it became something that he wanted to do.
He stayed at AFR for 18 weeks because he wanted to stay for that long. He knew that being at AFR was helping him and felt that the program he was doing was something that would really be able to help him stay sober, so he put everything into doing his program right.
Going to A Forever Recovery gave my son a better chance at staying sober than every other rehab he’s ever gone to. I am very happy that I finally called AFR and gave them a chance because going there has saved my son’s life. He got home last week, and I’ve never seen him so determined to stay sober. He’s doing everything he’s supposed to b...

When my husband and I started looking into rehabs for our daughter, we knew she wasn’t ready to get help. We couldn’t do nothing though so, we started looking into treatment centers she could go to. When we first spoke with the intake counselor at AFR we told him that we didn’t know when or even if our daughter would ever agree to go to treatment. The intake counselor we worked with was great though. He was willing to talk to my husband or I whenever we called with a question, and he was instrumental in helping us get our daughter to agree to go to rehab. He helped us understand why our daughter wasn’t willing to talk to us about rehab, why she’d refused to get help in the past and he coached us on better ways to go about talking to our daughter about getting help. Knowing that it might be a very long time before our daughter went to his center, he still spoke with us at least once a week, asking after us, after our daughter, he gave us some really great advice in that time and he helped us cope with having a daughter that was addicted to drugs.
He also helped us get everything set up so that as soon as our daughter did agree to go to treatment, she’d be on a plane and headed to AFR before she had a second to change her mind and back out. Having our daughter go to AFR was the best thing to do and it was the perfect place for her to get the help she needed.
It didn’t take long after she arrived at AFR for the changes in her to become noticeable. For starters, I hadn’t a single phone call with her in over 5 years where she wasn’t calling me just to ask for money and getting into a fight when I wouldn’t give her any. When she finished detox and called home, I was able to talk to her asking for money or having any kind of disagreement with her at all. Which was such a nice change.
After she’d been at AFR for 3 weeks, her dad and I went to visit her, and the physical changes were just as amazing. She’d lost a lot of weight because of her drug use and she’d started gaining that weight back. Her skin was also clearing up but, best of all, she looked and sounded so much happier.
As a parent, you worry about your kids. Having one of them start to use drugs is awful. Watching as your kid becomes completely dependent on a drug like heroin, when there’s nothing that they will let you do to help them, it’s a horrible thing to have to deal with. Your watching your kid choose to hurt themselves, knowing that until they make the decision to get help, there’s not much you can do to help them.
Having that kid finally get the help they need and watching them come back and start acting like the person you love in amazing. Because my daughter went to A Forever Recovery, because of the help my husband and I received before our daughter had even agreed to go there, she’s now off everything, completely sober and has been for 5 months.
Since coming home she’s been vigilant in continuing her aftercare program. She speaks to her aftercare counselor regularly, though that tapers off the longer she’s home, however she can call her aftercare counselor if she’s needing help with something.
Our daughter knows that just because she went to treatment and is still sober, that doesn’t mean her dad and I completely trust her again. Since she’s been home she’s done a lot of work to earn her dad’s and my trust back. We knew that she needed to start working and doing something with her day but, we wer...

I was ready to start a new life when I went to A Forever Recovery. I wanted, more than anything to stop doing drugs and all the other harmful things I was doing. When I first got to AFR, I was this weird mix of hopeful yet, jaded. I wanted to get clean but, I was very sure that it was something I could do. Just the fact that I did want to get clean helped though. I was more receptive to doing the program and to doing the work I needed to do. While I was going through my program, I learned how to navigate my life and my choices, so I didn’t fall back into old habits. Because of the things I learned at AFR, I’m still sober today. 6 months ago, I finished my program, and while I’m still sober and very happy about that, my life is also more stable than it’s been in years. Which is important for me. Having that stability helps me so much to stay sober. While I was going through my program at AFR, I learned so much about myself. I learned why I’d been doing the things I’d been doing, why I’d been making horrible choices in my life, and where my reactions came from. I learned how to stop myself from instantly spinning out of control as soon as something went wrong. How to take a step back when something didn’t go right, reevaluate things and then deal with my issues the right way, before I got to the point where using seemed the best option. One of my problems when I finished a rehab was the fact that always, always in the back of my mind, if I was having a bad day, if something was going wrong or any other little problem I was having, I could make it go away by using. I knew the problem itself wouldn’t go away but, I knew that I wouldn’t care about the problem anymore. Dealing with things takes more work than it does to use and pretend that the problem doesn’t exist. So, while I was going through my program I learned how to spot and deal with my problems before it got to the point where I felt like I needed that escape. While I was going through my program, I decided that I didn’t want to go home to my parent’s house. I probably could have gone home and stayed sober but, I had family in Colorado, and I decided that starting over would be a lot easier to do if I was doing it in a place where I’d never used. So, and I decided that starting over somewhere new would be easier and less stressful for me. I’ve always had a hard time asking for help, I always felt like if I asked for help, I was failing at whatever it was. So, I’d try to do everything on my own and I’d fail anyways. When I was going through my program, I realized that staying sober was something I wasn’t going to be able to do without help and that the bigger support system I had, the easier it would be for me. That asking for help wasn’t failing but, making sure I could succeed. So, while I was going through my program, I asked my aunt and uncle for help. They’ve been amazing. My uncle helped me get a job and I started working 5 days after getting to Colorado. I’ve been doing good at my job too. I’ve been making it work on time every day and haven’t missed a day since I started. It’s the best record I’ve ever had with a job. I’ve also been acting like an adult for the first time in my life. Paying all my own bills and everything. Before I went to AFR I didn’t think this kind of life was possible for me. As much as I wanted to be clean and sober, I didn’t truly believe I could do it. The counselors at AFR were great with me. They were always exactly what I need...

Going to A Forever Recovery was the hardest and most worthwhile experience of my life. My problem with drugs started when I was 19 and it started with pain pills and it progressed to heroin, Xanax and whatever else I could get. When I was 23 my parents convinced me to get help. I went to a rehab that put me on Suboxone and weaned me off the Suboxone as I moved through detox. The Suboxone helped me so much when I was taking it. I helped me feel normal and when I took it, I didn’t have the urge to use. So, when I relapsed after finishing that program and relapsing, I went to a doctor and asked to be put on it. I stayed on Suboxone for next 4 years and life was pretty normal in that time. I went to work and had a stable job. Went out with friends without always wanting to use. I was still taking something though, and after 4 years of it I decided that it was time for me to get off.



Which was extremely hard. I had though that because I was coming off Suboxone and not off heroin or pain pills that the withdrawal would be easier for me to get through. It wasn’t and I ended up taking Percocet, trying to ease the withdrawal symptoms without taking Suboxone. Pain pills have a much shorter half life than Suboxone which was my reasoning for the Percocet but, the end result was that I was right back where I had started, addicted to pain pills. I started researching rehab center and after finding A Forever Recovery I asked my parents to help me get into the program. Going to AFR wasn’t easy but, I wanted my life Back and I felt that AFR was the best chance I had to get it. The staff at AFR helped me so much. It was hard there, especially in the beginning because as a drug addict you’re used to manipulating people and situations to get your way. The staff at AFR, being that they’ve dealt with drug addicts so much and have helped a lot of people, they don’t allow you to manipulate anything. They also have staff at AFR who were addicted to drugs as well and they know exactly what someone would say or do because they’d have done the same thing so, it really is impossible to manipulate them. In the beginning of my program it made me angry and I had a rough time of it. I’m glad it was like that at AFR because I needed it. My parents knew I was on Suboxone and they knew that it wasn’t good for me to stay on it that long but, I’d convinced them that if I wasn’t on Suboxone, I’d be using pain pills and so they paid for my Suboxone and doctor appointments. Hell, when I wanted to get off Suboxone the Percocet that I took came from them. My parents knew it was wrong but, it goes to show you just how manipulative a drug addict can be. They way AFR approaches rehabilitation helped me a lot. They have different programs there, so I wasn’t stuck doing some cookie cutter approach to rehabilitation. The counselors helped me find the right program for me and that was the SMART program. Which has been amazingly helpful. I’ve changed so much since going to AFR. I went to AFR in November of 2018 and my program lasted just over 10 weeks. I got home in January and I’ve stayed sober since getting home. It wasn’t exactly fun to stay at AFR through the holidays even though the staff worked hard to make the holidays nice, it’s not the same as spending Christmas with your family. It was worth it though because this is the first Christmas in over 11 years that I’ll spend Christmas with them and be completely sober. I can’t thank the staff at AFR enough for everything they’ve helped me achieve. I have over 12 months sober and it’s because the staff at AFR made me do the hard work so I could stay sober long term.

My parents talking me into doing the A Forever Recovery program ended up being the greatest thing for me. I’ve gone to my parents a lot over the years when I needed help and what amazes me is that to this day, no matter how much I’ve put them through, and I’ve really put them through more than any parent should have to deal with, is that they’ve always been supportive and willing to get me treatment for my drug addiction. They’ve always been hopeful that I’d get sober even after I stopped trying.
I’ve gone to a lot of rehabs over the years. Some of them helped a bit and some of them didn’t help at all but, after years of trying to get sober every time I relapsed it just became another failure and another reason to stop trying. When my parents started telling me about AFR I was at a point in my life where I just wanted to give up. I wasn’t suicidal, I didn’t actually want to die but, I was really damn tired of it all that I wasn’t very far away from being suicidal. So, when my parents told me about AFR and asked me to go there, I said no. I’d hurt them so many times by relapsing and I thought that it would be better to not get their hopes up by going to rehab. They kept pushing though and I did finally agree to go. I didn’t go to AFR because I thought it would help. I went because I thought that after I relapsed again my parents might stop trying and it’d be easier on them.
I went into the program at A Forever Recovery 9 months ago, and I loved it there. Being at AFR was a lot easier for me than I expected. The staff are pretty great when you’re going through detox. There are people working at AFR who have been addicts as well so it isn’t just people who want to help but don’t have a true understanding of what you’re going through. The pains and discomforts that you feel when detoxing can be brutal and because they’ve actually experienced it, they know how to help.
I did the SMART program at AFR. There are different programs there but, that’s the program that I was most interested in. I’ve gone through 12-step programs before and they just don’t work for me. That’s one thing I really loved about AFR, I wasn’t made to do the same program as everyone else, I didn’t have to hope that doing another 12-step program would help me when it’s never helped before.
It also helped me a lot that I was there for 2 months. I’ve done 60-day programs before and relapsed right away so it isn’t just how long I was there for, it’s not solely the program that does makes AFR different or the staff they have there. All those things together though, made going to AFR the best experience I’ve ever had when going through rehab.
Best of all, I’m still sober. I’ve been home for 7 months and I haven’t used at all. The SMART program really helped with that. Staying sober when you’re at rehab is easy. There’s nothing around to tempt you or to distract you. So, when you have a craving at rehab it’s pretty easy to just push it aside and work on your program. When you get home through, that craving is a lot harder to push aside and the SMART program helped me learn how to deal with the cravings so I wouldn’t give in to them.
It’s been 9 months since the last time I used and 7 of those months have been at home. I can’t believe how good I feel right now. My life is my own again. Thank God my parents never gave up on me, because without them sending me to A Forever Recovery, I’d still be using.

The reviews I read about A Forever Recovery made it sound amazing and when I sent my daughter there, I hoped and prayed that it was as good as it sounded. That going to AFR would help my daughter change her life in a positive way. My daughter started using heroin 10 years ago. Right after she first started using, things got bad so much faster that I could have ever anticipated. It takes barely any time for someone to become addicted to opiates and I saw that firsthand with my daughter.
I’ve sent my daughter to so many rehabs in the last 10 years that going to rehab had become something of a joke to her. After the first few rehabs didn’t help, she started believing that nothing would, and she started taking each rehab less and less seriously. It’s not quite right to say that rehab was a joke to her. She did want to get clean, she didn’t think the rehab she was at would help her, so she wasn’t trying to and the only reason she continued going to rehab at all was to humor her dad and me. So, it’s not surprising that they didn’t help her and that she continued using.
When I first found AFR and started talking to someone there, I was impressed with them. I wasn’t sure how effective AFR would be in helping my daughter because it was so different from every other center that she’d been to but, that’s also why I wanted her to go. AFR is the first place I’ve found that looks at and treats drug addiction and recovery the way that they do. It was refreshing to talk to someone who honestly wanted to and thought that they’d be able to help my daughter. Once I decided to send her to AFR they helped me get everything set up so that when my daughter agreed to go, it wouldn’t much more than driving her there and she wouldn’t have time to change her mind. Anyone who has ever tried to get someone into rehab knows that as soon as they agree, you need to be absolutely ready because they can and will change their minds very quickly.
AFR is only a few hours away from where we live so I drove her there and was able to see the way they treated and interacted with my daughter, and I was impressed with the level of care and compassion they showed my daughter. The process of my daughter’s recovery started differently at AFR because they made sure that it would. While they were checking my daughter in, before she’d even started detoxing, they explained their program and what she’d be doing there. They talked to her, and somewhere during her check in process she started seeing AFR differently to the other rehabs and they got my daughter’s agreement to put in the effort on her program.
During her program, the staff were patient with her. They understood that she’d been guarded for so long that it would take more for her to open up and talk to them about her problems. They worked with my daughter until she felt comfortable enough to open up and start working with them to deal with her problems. While my daughter was at AFR she became a better person. She learned how to live her life without using drugs as a crutch for when she wasn’t happy or when something didn’t go her way. She learned all of this because of the staff at AFR and because the program she did was a program she was interested in and could understand the philosophy behind.
In the last 10 years, I’ve spent a lot of time looking, talking to and getting my daughter into different rehabs. A Forever Recovery has the best collection of staff that I’ve seen. The way AFR is run and the staff th...

5 years ago, my dad had a heart attack. When I went to visit my dad in the hospital after his surgery he begged me to get help. I’d been addicted to heroin for 9 years at that point. He told me that he didn’t want to watch me die before him because of my addiction and he didn’t want to die before knowing that I was sober and would be okay. That’s the point when I started caring about myself again and wanting to get sober. His heart attack also made me realize that I didn’t have forever to fix things with my dad, if I wanted to have a relationship with him again I needed to get clean.
I went to A Forever Recovery and after finishing the program there I stayed sober for 6 months. It wasn’t always easy but it was amazing being sober again. Unfortunately, I relapsed at the 6 month mark. For a few months I hid it from my dad, he eventually realized I’d been using again and confronted me about it. We talked and I agreed to go back to rehab. He wanted me to try a different program and even though I’d really liked it at AFR I agreed with him. Even though I’d been good for 6 months after AFR, I still had relapsed so we were hoping another program would do more. I went to a different rehab and relapsed a lot quicker, then 2 more rehabs that I relapsed after before my dad and I decided that AFR had been the most helpful and that I’d go back there.
There were 2 years between my first program at AFR and the second. I was nervous about going back there. Worried that it would be weird or that the staff at AFR would be disappointed that I was back. It wasn’t like that at all though. There are staff at AFR who dealt with addiction themselves and the staff who hadn’t been addicts had been around long enough to understand how hard it is to get and stay sober.
It felt right going back to AFR. There’s so much about the staff working at AFR that made it easy for me. I got along with the staff and the other clients there so it wasn’t hard to stay there for however long I needed to be there. The counselors at AFR will push you to work really hard on your program. When you aren’t working on your program though the staff and counselors do a lot to make sure you have a good time there. They were always planning activities or outings for us which was really nice and I always had a good time during them.
It’s really nice to have people who understand you when you’re going through rehab. My counselors experience with addiction made it possible for me to talk to him about anything and whatever he said in response or whatever advice he gave me I knew it came from experience and that he was just repeating something he’d read. He had found what worked for him to stay sober and he helped me find what would work for me.
I learned so much about myself during my second program at AFR. By the time I graduated I knew what I could and couldn’t handle. I knew who and what I could handle being around and who and what I absolutely had to stay away from if I wanted to stay sober.
Going through the program at AFR helped me a lot with my dad and our relationship. My counselor talked to him routinely throughout my program. He kept my dad updated on what I was doing, where in my program I was and how I was doing. He also helped my dad understand addiction in a way I never could. With his help my dad and I started working on repairing our relationship.
Since coming home I’ve stayed clean. It’s been 18 months and I love it. I love being sober, I love how much better my life is now. My dad and I are closer than ever and he’s actually become the person I talk to when I’m having a hard time staying clean.

The other day I was speaking with my aftercare specialist from A Forever Recovery and she asked me if I’d write a few reviews online for the center. I don’t talk to her very often anymore because I’ve been sober for 2 years now and don’t need to. That’s 2 years of sobriety, 2 years of having control over my life, 2 years without hurting or disappointing those around me. I can’t even begin to explain how amazing that feels.
When I went into the program at AFR O wanted to get clean. I had struggled with my addiction for years and it never mattered what rehab I went to, what program I tried, it was never enough. I could never make it past 6 months. Which sucks.
I had used heroin for 10 years and before I went to AFR I had been going to about 2 rehabs a year. By the time I was 30 I’d gone to over 20 rehabs and every single person in my life was suffering because of me and my addiction. My parents were miserable. I hadn’t spoken with my brother in over 3 years and my sister had been engaged for 5 years without planning her wedding because she was afraid that I’d show up to it high. I knew all this, knew I was hurting the people I loved and who loved me and still I couldn’t stop messing up.
The last few rehabs before going to AFR my parents weren’t sending me to them thinking that I’d stay sober after. We all wanted that sure, but by that point it was more about sending me to rehabs because when I was in rehab they knew where I was and they knew that I wasn’t getting into any trouble. When I was in rehab they weren’t worried that they’d get a call from the cops telling them I’d been found dead of an overdose. To be perfectly honest, before I went to AFR that’s how I figured I’d die. I didn’t want to but after having a heroin habit for 10 years it was more of a surprise that I wasn’t dead.
So, when I went to AFR that was the main reason. Keeping me out of trouble. Every rehab I went to I went with the hope that this one would be that magical, special place that would perform a miracle and I’d be able to stay sober but realistically we weren’t expecting that.
AFR was that special, miracle performing place for me though. The reason AFR was so different for me was the staff working there. After going to so many rehabs I’d gotten lazy about doing the programs when I was there. I didn’t really expect the program to work so had stopped putting in effort. The staff at AFR didn’t allow that. They were hard on me and they made sure that I worked hard on my program and did each step right.
The dedication and commitment that the staff at AFR have towards the clients and their sobriety is something I hadn’t ever experienced before. Every person working there was invested in every client. They wanted all of us to be able to use what we learned there and stay sober.
They made sure I did my program right and when I went home after I graduated I was still terrified. I knew what I had learned. Knew how to use it but being home and around everything again had me scared. I ended up calling my aftercare specialist constantly. She helped me a lot as well. Every time I had something come up that I had trouble dealing with I’d call her and she helped me get through every snag, every hiccup, every bit of trouble I had she was there, always willing to talk to me and help me work through it so I wouldn’t relapse. Her always answering my calls and being willing to talk to me almost daily is a big reason I’m still sober today.
Saying that going to AFR saved my life is an understatement. My sobriety, the fact that I’m still alive and on good terms with my family again is...

It’s been almost 10 years since my brother started using cocaine. His using got really bad about 2 ½ years ago. Before that he was binging only on the weekends or when he was on holiday and because of that his addiction never seemed to get out of control and he was able to convince people, mostly our parents, that he wasn’t an addict. He had no problems keeping his job, he had his own home, paid all his bills and so our parents never understood that he needed help.
He started using daily about 2 ½ years ago. He stopped binging on just the weekends and from then on every penny he had went to his addiction. He stopped paying bills, stopped doing everything that convinced our parents he was fine. Then 2 years ago, he was arrested.
Which I though was a really good thing. It was what finally woke both him and our parents up to the fact that he did really need help. When he called me from jail, I called our parents and they agreed with me that they wouldn’t bail him out of jail unless he agreed to go straight to rehab. Which he did.
In was in and out of rehabs for the next 1 ½ years. He’d check himself in, do okay while he was there and then relapse after a week, sometimes two of being home. That all happened after the first rehab. That first rehab he was a bit delusional going in. He didn’t tell anyone but, his plan was that by going to rehab he could keep using cocaine but, would go back to only binging on the weekends and such. So, that first rehab he relapsed the first day he was home.
After going to 5 rehabs in a 2 year period, he still wasn’t doing any better. Our parents then came across the A Forever Recovery website and it was such a good find. When they showed me the website and told me some about the program I started getting excited again about him going to rehab. We all started talking to him about the facility and what made it different and better than the others he’d been to.
The first thing was the ability he’d have to choose his own program. The other thing I was excited about was that he’d have people who worked at AFR who understood him better. Not because they’d been to school and worked at a rehab for a while but because they had their own histories and experiences with drugs and addiction.
He agreed to go to AFR 5 months ago. From the beginning the program just seemed better for him. Not everyone who works at AFR was a drug addict but, the ones that he worked with helped him so much. He was more willing to talk to them about his problems and experiences because he wasn’t worried about being judged by them. He knew they’d gone through the same things and it made things easier for him.
Since his arrest my brother has been trying to get better. Even with that first rehab, he was trying to get better. The desire to do better, to stay sober was there. Only he didn’t have the ability to do it. Going to AFR gave him the tools he needed to get and stay sober. No matter how long.
He’s been home for 3 months and he’s still sober. It’s the longest he’s been sober since he first started using cocaine all those years ago. He’s done pretending he’s doing okay when he’s not. He’s not lying about being sober anymore, he really is sober. Every day things are getting better for him and he has more control over his own life. A Forever Recovery was a great find and I’m so happy our parents were able to find the right place to send my brother.

My parents and I chose A Forever Recovery because they offer the SMART Recovery program there. The SMART program is the only program I was interested in doing because it seemed to be the only program I hadn’t done before. My parents and I were hoping that it would be more beneficial than the other programs I’ve been through.
I really like it at AFR. The facility was nice. The staff were amazing. They were very easy to work with. Their true understanding of drug addiction and what it was like made it easy for me to listen and work with them and the SMART program was exactly what I needed.
Going through this program completely changed the way I viewed addiction and recovery. They don’t take the view of “once an addict, always an addict” whether you’re currently on drugs or not. Instead, addiction is looked at as addictive behavior. Something that can be worked on and changed.
One of the first things you do on your program is take stock of your life. I had to look at my life without any blinders on and it forced me to see how much I’ve changed for the worse since I started using. I did comparisons of every part of my life. I looked at my family life and how that’d changed, my relationships and how I am with work. My health, my happiness, everything and it was eye opening to say the least. It was great motivation for me to work very hard on my program and to stick with it when it got hard.
During the program I learned how to recognize my triggers. I figured out which triggers were riskier than others. Which ones could be avoided and which ones needed to be handled a certain way. Then I learned how to handle them and myself in any situation I could possibly find myself in. All this you learn and practice through role-playing. The role-playing is taken seriously there which I appreciate because I was able to get the practice in that I needed so when I got home I could stay sober.
You also work on what to do when you have a craving. I used pills for 10 years before going to AFR. The longest I’ve managed to stay clean after getting out of rehab was 6 months and those 6 months were awful for me. I would have these cravings and I didn’t know how to do with them. I’d try to grit my teeth and just power through it but, that’s not very easy. I was miserable all the time and eventually gave in and used. Through this program it’s understood that when you get home you’re cravings aren’t going to disappear. You might have less cravings when you’re in rehab but that’s more because you in a controlled environment with a lot of other people who also don’t want to use. At home it’s different and you’re going to have cravings. I learned how to deal with them. First just by distracting myself until the craving past. Every time I had the urge to use I’d go for a run or I work on my art. It’s helped a lot. Now, I don’t have as so many cravings and the cravings I do have are milder and easier to get through.
Every rehab I’ve been to before, it always felt like I was just fighting to not get worse. I wasn’t getting any better from doing those programs. A Forever Recovery is the first rehab I’ve been to where it felt like I was working and fighting to get better. I’ve wanted to have the ability to keep myself clean for a very long time now and I finally have it. Because I went to AFR and did the SMART program there.

8 months ago, my son went to A Forever Recovery because he was addicted to heroin. It’s the first rehab he’s been to and it’s been the only one he’s needed. I’m so glad I found AFR because I’ve heard so many stories of addicts who have had to go to 10, 15, 20 rehabs or more before they find one that works for them. Because I found AFR, which is a rehab that works for my son, he won’t ever have to do that.
He started using heroin 3 years ago. He had started seeing this girl who was using. When they first got together she wasn’t using all the time, so he had no idea she was using until they’d been together for about a month. She got him started on it, though he could have been smarter and just walked away.
As he started using heroin more and more he changed. He became sullen, petulant and resentful. Then there were the times where he was mean, very mean. He and I got in an argument when he was still living with me. I had found out that he was using heroin and that his girlfriend had given it to him. I wanted him to leave her and go get help. He refused and moved out of my house and in with her. It was a year before I saw him again. Then, when I did see him it was only because he wanted money and thought I’d give it to him.
8 months ago, he had a scare and agreed to get help. His girlfriend had almost died from an overdose and he called me. When that happened he finally realized that using heroin could get him killed, no matter how careful he was. When he agreed to go to rehab I sent him to A Forever Recovery.
I had found AFR 4 months earlier and had been speaking with the intake counselor there fairly regularly. Which I want to say something about. When I called AFR the first time I had no way of knowing if my son would ever get help. He and I weren’t even talking at the time and I told all this to the intake counselor. He still answered all my questions about the facility and then spoke to me almost weekly after that. He would ask how I was, how I was dealing with everything and he gave me great advice on dealing with my son and his addiction. Then, when I called to tell him my son had agreed to go to treatment, he got him into AFR so fast my son had no chance to balk and change his mind.
Even though my son had agreed to go to rehab, he wasn’t 100% committed to getting sober. So, mid detox he decided he’d gotten enough help and that he wanted to leave. I had just gotten him there so when he called I refused to help him get home. Still, he could have left if he’d been determined enough and if the staff at AFR hadn’t been so great with him. What made the biggest difference was the fact that the people talking to him about completing his program were staff member who had been addicts themselves. Because they’d gone through the same thing as him he had an easier time listening to them. 3 other times during his program he’d tried to leave and each time they got him to stay.
Since my son completed his program he’s been doing so much better. He isn’t with that girl anymore and is starting to get back in touch with the friends he had before he started using. He and I both know that he has a lot of work still to do for him to stay sober. I’m confident though that he will continue to do that work.

My daughter went to A Forever Recovery 14 months ago. When she completed her program and left she did well for 6 months. When she relapsed 8 months ago we sent her back to AFR. I obviously had hoped and prayed that she wouldn’t need rehab a second time and when she did well for so long I started to believe that she wouldn’t. She did end up needing help again though and we chose to send her back to AFR because of how well she did there and how much they helped her the first time.
When my daughter first told her dad and I that she needed help and why we were both stunned. She went to AFR because of an addiction to methamphetamine and she started using when she went off to college. I guess she was having some trouble keeping up with everything and one of her roommates gave her some Adderall to help her catch up with her studies. From what she told me, after that it was easy for her to find more when she wanted it and that led her to getting hooked on meth.
Before she asked us for help I didn’t know anything about addiction. I had watched a couple shows about interventions or a documentary here and there about someone’s addiction but those shows are for drama and didn’t help me when it came to helping my daughter.
We found A Forever Recovery through a referral service. There’s so many programs out there, so many different places and I was lost. When we called the referral service and told the guy what we were having problems with he suggested AFR because they have different programs there. It took the guess work out for us. We didn’t have to figure out what kind of program would work for our daughter. It worked out well too. When she finished detox her counselor helped her get on the right program for her.
Going through her program made her a stronger, smarter person. She was happy again and pleasant to be around. She did great when she got home at first. She was working and looking into different colleges to finish her degree. I really thought everything regarding her addiction was over and done with. Maybe it was naïve of me but I didn’t think she’d go back to doing something that hurt her.
Instead, she was having some trouble with something or other and stopped working on staying sober. She went out, found some meth and relapsed. She started using again and she needed to go back to rehab. We didn’t even look at other rehabs, we just called AFR, made sure they had a spot for her and packed her up.
She’s home again and doing even better this time, I think. More than anything she’s more vigilant in making sure she is doing what she needs to do to stay sober. Her aftercare work isn’t something that she gets annoyed with or puts off. She speaks to her aftercare specialist a lot more and doesn’t ignore his calls. It’s been helping her a lot. Having someone that she respects and trusts to talk to.
I hope she doesn’t need to go back to rehab but we’d send her to A Forever Recovery again if she did. They take such good care of the clients there and our daughter learned so much there that I wouldn’t trust anyone else to get her back on track.

I went to A Forever Recovery because I became dependent on my prescription medication. My dependency started slowly really. For over a year I took my prescription exactly as I was supposed to. I never took it more than I needed and always followed the instructions on the bottle exactly. I’ve had headaches most of my life and for most of my life I’ve dealt with them as best as I could. Until 5 years ago I had never taken anything stronger than an Advil for them. Then, my sister gave me a Vicodin and it helped. It helped so much more than I thought it would. For the first time in what felt like forever I took something and then felt better and could function again. After that I went to my doctor and got a prescription for myself. Like I said before, for over a year I didn’t abuse my prescription, I wasn’t dependent on them to feel okay. I took them when I needed but never more than I needed. Then about 4 years ago I had a week that was filled with headaches. It was every day and I dealt with it the only way I knew how by then. I took my prescription and I ended up taking more and more. I realized after I got to AFR that I was probably making the headache worse and last longer by taking the Vicodin but all I knew then was that I wanted the pain to end any way I could get it to. After that week I became more dependent on my prescription and ended up getting a stronger one from my doctor. I hid it all from my husband. I might have become dependent by then but I had a system and it worked for a while too. I didn’t miss work, always made dinner and cleaned the house. Nothing changed all that much so my husband didn’t realize that I wasn’t exactly the same. Eventually though he noticed I wasn’t exactly right and really realized something was wrong when my sister’s husband sent her to rehab and my husband realized he’d seen some of the same things with both of us. He asked me about it and it worked out for me because I had been trying to get my courage up to talk to him about it. Together we decided that I needed rehab but he didn't want me going to the same place as my sister and I agreed with that. It wouldn't have been good for me. So we started looking for places and when we found A Forever Recovery we decided to send me there. The facility is in Michigan and we live in Arkansas so it wasn’t exactly around the corner from us but it seemed like the place was right for me so that’s where I went. It really was perfect for me too. The staff were great. They’re really nice and understanding and yet they were relentless about making sure I understood and apply each part of my program before moving on to the next step. They helped me find different, better ways to deal with my headaches as well so that I didn’t go right back to using something during the first headache I had at home. I wanted my husband informed about my progress through my program and they were great about that. It helped us a lot when I got home too. He understood me better and our marriage hasn’t ever been better than it is right now. I’m so grateful for the help I received at A Forever Recovery and for the support I’ve continued to receive since I’ve been home. My life and my marriage is great again and they helped me make that happen.

I was stunned when my parents told me they were sending me to A Forever Recovery. I wasn’t actually addicted to anything so why would I need to go to rehab? It wasn’t that I thought I could handle my problem by myself or anything. I didn’t even consider that I had a problem at all. Before going to AFR I had used meth once or twice a week maximum for a couple months. That was it. Sometimes it was over a weekend, sometimes it was during the week but never more that once or twice a week. My parents found some meth in a bag of mine though and that was it. If I wanted to keep living with them, if I wanted helped with college, I was headed to rehab. It was a little embarrassing going to rehab with no actual drug habit. I’d get asked what my drug of choice was and I didn’t actually have one. I’d get asked how long I’d been using or how bad my habit was and I hadn’t been using very long and didn’t really have a habit. So yeah, when you’re in rehab with people who have been using for 15 years, it’s a bit embarrassing. I had to spend a day in detox. Not because I was detoxing, I hadn’t used anything in over a week but, everyone has to spend at least 24 hours in detox to make sure you aren’t going to have some latent kick or anything. So, embarrassing and while I’m glad I went now, when I first got there I was furious at my parents for sending me at all. With how much I was using I thought if my parents found out I’d get grounded or they’d take me to a few NA meetings for some sort of scared straight thing. I got over it though and once I did, the program really did help me. No matter what I thought of my own drug use I had developed some pretty crappy habits and that’s what I got help me. The program I did could be applied to any sort of addictive behavior and that helped too. AFR isn’t a bad place. It’s actually really nice and much better than I had pictured rehab to be like. I was only there for a month. Some of the other clients had been for much longer but the way it works there is that you’re there for as long or as short as you need and I only needed a month. There’s some really decent people working at AFR too. They understood my history and didn’t try to get me to admit I was a drug addict or convince me that the problem was much bigger than it was. They helped me figure out why I had even started using and helped me deal with that issue so I didn’t end up with a much worse habit. Now that I’ve finished my program I’m glad my parents were so set on making me go. I might not have had some horrible drug habit but, I did have things in my life that I needed help with and I got that help at AFR. I got my life sorted and back to normal before I ended up with a problem that was much bigger and harder to deal with.

A Forever Recovery is a great place to go if you need help getting off drugs or alcohol. The facility has such a great setup. AFR doesn’t feel like a rehab. It’s not all sterile and white. It’s actually a really comfortable place to be. The property the facility’s on is really pretty. It’s in a secluded location with tons of space. It’s a place where you can really settle your mind and start to sort through your issues. You really do feel comfortable there, which I think is really important. Especially in the beginning when you first get there and are going through detox. The program at AFR is great. First, going through detox they work with you to make sure that you’re doing a detox that you’re comfortable with. Each person does a detox that’s tailored to them and what they need. There isn’t a blanket way to handle either detox or addiction and they understand that at AFR. Going through detox they make sure you do so with as little discomfort as possible. Once you finish detox and are ready to start your program, you have multiple programs available to choose from. They understand there that what works for one person isn’t always going to work for someone else. So, each person that goes through AFR does a program that has the best chance of helping them. It’s an incredibly smart way to deal with addiction and recovery. So many people who need help with addiction aren’t able to just go to one program and never use again. Most of us have to go to multiple places. With so many people who have gone to rehab before and done one program or another, not having to do that same program over again just in a new place, but instead, having choices on what program to do, it’s a really big deal. You get to do a program that works for you. There’s a lot more to AFR than just rehab and the additional things they offer make it such a great place. Not additional program stuff but thing like having a great gym to work out in. Good and healthy food to eat. Music and art therapy classes. Yoga classes and all the other stuff they offer. So many people come to rehab malnourished and having good, healthy food and a good gym to work out in helps. Having yoga classes for people who don’t like working out in a gym is also great. It’s so much easier to stay sober when you’re feeling good and are healthy and the gym, food and yoga help with that. The music and art therapy classes are great. You get to be creative in both of these classes and they’ll help you work through something that bothering you without really having to talk about it. Really, just having that creative outlet helps. People going through their program at AFR will pick up an old hobby or start a new one. There will be someone who starts playing the guitar again, or whatever it is they played. There’ll be someone who starts drawing again. Or there will be someone who starts knitting again and then teaches others how to knit as well. The best thing about AFR though is the staff there. They are amazing. There’s a good amount of them who have struggled with addiction themselves. Which helps more than you’d think. It’s easier helping someone when you know personally what they are going through. It’s also a whole lot easier accepting that help from someone who truly understands what you’re dealing with. The program and the staff, those two things together make A Forever Recovery such a wonderful place to go when you need help or when someone you loves needs help dealing with addiction.

I’m really happy with the way A Forever Recovery was able to help my son. He was addicted to crack cocaine and heroin and had been for a long time. We’ve tried for so many years to help him but he’s always either refused to go to treatment or if he did agree to go he wouldn’t do anything to help himself while he was there. Just bided his time until he could go home. What finally convinced him to get some real help was watching his best friend overdose in front of him. It really scared him, as it should have. He finally agreed to get help and to really try this time. I found A Forever Recovery and right away I felt that it would be a good place for him. I liked that he wouldn’t be given more drugs there. That when he got home he wouldn’t be off heroin and crack but on some psychiatric medication instead. He would be completely clean and just have to do the work to stay that way. The staff at AFR are great. A lot of them have worked through their own problems with addictions and that gave them a great insight into what my son needed during his program. They were great as their job. Very professional but also extremely kind and understanding. They also helped me a lot in understanding my son and working with him to deal with the problems we had. For years I’ve watched my son screw up his life and for years I wasn’t able to do anything to help him, not really. It led to some pretty bad arguments between us. I didn’t understand why he didn’t want to just get help to get clean. The staff at AFR helped me understand more about my son and what he was going through, what addiction was like and why he wouldn’t want to get help. They also kept me updated on his progress throughout his program and how he was doing during each step. They needed his permission of course to talk to me about all of it because he’s over 18 but with that they were awesome about calling me with updates and talking me through how I could help him. I also liked that there’s no time limit for each person’s program. It’s all evidence based. Which meant that if the staff didn’t feel he was ready to move on to the next step of his program, he didn’t. I took a lot of comfort in that. Especially with the staff who had dealt with addictions themselves. Because I knew that they would see more signs of whether he was ready to move on or not then someone who didn’t have that first-hand experience. The program my son did was something else as well. They have multiple programs at AFR. Whenever he agreed to go to rehab in the past, I always sent him to a 12-step programs. I just didn’t know any different. At AFR they have different programs and each one is tailored to the individual’s needs. So, for the first time, my son got the exact right kind of help he needed, it took as long as it needed to take as he worked with people who really cared about him and his sobriety. It’s not just a job to the staff at AFR and it shows in everything they do. My son’s back home now since completing his program and he’s doing great. He’s a much happier, bright person. He’s working closely with his aftercare specialist and that seems to be helping a lot. I’m so glad my son went to AFR. It’s been amazing watching the person’s he becoming. Which is a happy, smart and sweet guy. Going to AFR saved his life and I would recommend the program for anyone looking to get help or looking to help a loved one.

Going to A Forever Recovery saved my life. It wasn’t that going there just helped me get off drugs, though it definitely did that. Going to AFR helped me create a life that I truly wanted to be a part of. While at AFR I dealt with my addiction in ways that I hadn’t before. They really understand addiction there. They know that what works for one person isn’t necessarily going to work for someone else. So, to help with that they have different programs available there. When I finished detox and was getting ready to start my program I met with my counselor who went over the different programs there and helped me figure out which of them was the right one for me. That made a big difference for me. For the first time since I started using and trying to get clean I wasn’t passively working on my recovery. I made a decision about my own recovery and that made me much more inclined to work harder on it. I put in so much more effort because of it. One of the great things about AFR is that it’s not only about addiction there. They understand that being sober is only part of the recovery process. They had classes and workshops available where I could learn basic life skills that I never acquired because I was using. Throughout my program I learned a lot more about my triggers and different coping skills so that I didn’t end up in a situation out of my control. I also learned basic things like how to communicate better, how to write a resume and have a job interview where I knew what to do and didn’t sound like an idiot. The basics of having a balanced diet and how eating right would improve my mood. Those things are incredibly basic skills that everyone should have yet I didn’t. Another thing that happened during my program at AFR was that I became a happier person. More willing to be part of the group and help those around me. I was never depressed in a clinical sense but going through rehabs and relapses is in itself depressing. That depression didn’t go away when I was in the other rehabs so I was surprised when I realized how happy I was. How much I looked forward to each day and what I’d learn. When I graduated from AFR I felt ready to go home. I knew what I needed to do, what I needed to stay away from and how to do that. When I got home I knew I couldn’t be idle for long so I started looking for work right away. I found a job and now I love what I’m doing. I’m smart enough to understand what I can and can’t handle right now and having a full paycheck at my disposal is a bad idea right now. So, my parents have been helping me with that. Things are going really well in my life and I’m happier than I’ve been in forever. I’m a more active participant in my family’s lives now and it’s been great. I’ve had some huge changes in my life and it’s because I went to A Forever Recovery.