When it comes to preventing teen substance abuse, spreading awareness is key. Below are articles about the work we do here at New Beginnings, as well as published articles by Johnny Patout about addiction and treatment trends.
Former Cocaine and Alcohol Addict Rejoices in Recovery
September 16, 2016
Hundreds of former addicts participated in a special event titled a night of celebration all to rejoice in their road to recovery. The Victory Addiction Recovery Center along with The Burning Tree and New Beginnings Adolescent Recovery Center joined forces to show former addicts that living a cleaner life is better for both themselves and their families. Read full article
Help the patient tap into resource of courage
June 1, 2016
Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to push forward and make changes in the face of fear. For those with addictions to drugs and alcohol, the thought of giving up mood-altering chemicals is a scary proposition that requires significant courage. However, with the help of addiction professionals, individuals can overcome their fear and negative self-image, accept the limitations of their condition and be encouraged toward positive steps in their recovery. Read full article
With teens, accentuate the positive
October 27, 2015
It takes more than academic achievements to work successfully with teenagers struggling with drug or alcohol abuse. It takes the difficult-to-define “it factor.” That’s our theory at New Beginnings Adolescent Recovery Center, a 21-acre treatment center for teenagers in Opelousas, La. When we recruit therapists to join our team, we require academic and training qualifications, including master’s-level education and experience in working with substance abuse patients, but there’s more to it than that. Read full article
Addicted Teens Need More Than a Locked Cabinet
January 22, 2015
At a young age, children are given pills and vitamins that taste and look like candy. Medicine cabinets are stocked full to help with every ache and pain. Parents jokingly refer to strong pain medicine as “the good stuff.” We live in a culture that is very comfortable with over-the-counter and prescription drugs. For teens who struggle with drug addiction, the omnipresence of drugs in the home creates an additional stumbling block to recovery. Read full article
2014 Behavioral Healthcare Champion Johnny Patout
July 11, 2014
After earning a graduate degree in social work from Louisiana State University, Johnny Patout, LCSW, entered the behavioral health field and worked in several positions before becoming CEO of New Beginnings Adolescent Recovery Center, a private facility in Opelousas, La. Like many behavioral health leaders, Patout experienced the treatment system personally when he committed to his own recovery process in the 1980s. Read full article
Ten Essential Tips for Working With Teens
April 15, 2014
Being an adolescent is such a wonderful, fascinating and awful period in a person’s life. Everything is just “more.” More mysterious. More frustrating. More exciting. The music we loved in our youth still impacts us. The people we loved still cause a pause and a pang. The experiences are mythic in our memory. It’s difficult not to be nostalgic about our teenage years—to glorify them, to distort and then to project our myths about that age onto our young patients. Read full article
Creating a Positive Environment for Teens in Recovery
January 16, 2014
Johnny Patout LCSW and CEO of New Beginnings Recovery Center, guest lectures at ATCPCC 2013 on creating a positive environment for teens in recovery.
A New Beginning for New Beginnings Recovery Center
June 27, 2013
Begun as a 34-bed facility by three recovering physicians some 25 years ago, New Beginnings Recovery Center (NBRC) of Opelousas, La. has always offered its clients an atmosphere that blended Cajun hospitality and family-focused concern. However, by the time that its last surviving founder, Dr. Bobby Trahan, was in his latter years, the center had endured several years of serious financial struggle: its patient population had dwindled, its commercial insurance reimbursements had faltered, its clinical staff had shrunk dramatically. Read full article
Before and After: The Impact of Strategic Planning at New Beginnings Recovery Center
June 25, 2013
A detailed strategic plan was just the beginning of a two-year revitalization effort at New Beginnings Recovery Center (NBRC, Opelousas, La.), winner of the 2013 James W. West Quality Award. The award was presented by Michael Walsh, CEO of the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers (NAATP), to Johnny Patout, NBRC’s CEO, on May 19 at the annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Read full article
Drug Testing for Teens
January 13, 2013
Nurses working in many areas of care may encounter parents who believe their child may be using drugs. It could be in the ED when the child is brought in on an unrelated issue, in the school setting, in a primary care office, or any number of places. Parents may turn to nurses for advice as nurses are a trusted profession, and parents may feel they can confide in the nurse without consequence. Read full article
New Beginnings Review
January 11, 2013
Specifically designed to provide treatment services for teenagers and young adults who are experiencing substance abuse problems, New Beginnings Recovery Center, located in Opelousas, Louisiana, is a facility that opens its resources and treatments for kids between the ages of 13-19. The treatment center sits on a beautiful 21-acre campus with unlocked doors. New Beginnings has found that even though patients are not physically confined, soon after admission they generally engage in the recovery process and do quite well. Read full article
The Relationship Between DXM and Street Drugs
January 10, 2013
There are plenty of reasons for parents to be concerned about their teenagers abusing over-the-counter cough medicines containing dextromethorphan: Some 5 percent of teens report abusing these medicines; they are inexpensive, easy to obtain, and potentially deadly if combined with other drugs and alcohol. Here’s another yet reason for concern: I believe DXM abuse can be a precursor to abuse of street drugs and even an indicator of street-drug addiction. Read full article
Five Warning Signs Your Teen May Be Using Drugs
January 8, 2013
Raising a teenager can be trying, but living with one suffering from addiction creates a host of new challenge that need to be handled delicately, says Johnny Patout, CEO of New Beginnings Recovery Center, the leading teen residential treatment program in the Southwest and one recognized nationwide for teen rehabilitation. Read full article
The Family’s Role in Addiction Recovery
October 30, 2012
As young people suffer from addiction, their families suffer too. Just watching the decline of people they love and feeling helpless to stop it is bad enough, but they probably also feel angry, hurt, and frustrated with the addict. There are a number of things family members can do to help in a child’s recovery as well as steps they can take for themselves. Read full article
The Why’s of Addiction
October 26, 2012
Early on in my nearly 30 years in the treatment business I developed a significant interest in trying to help others understand the whys of addiction: Why can’t addicts see they are destroying their lives with alcohol and drugs? Why can’t they see they are hurting those they love? Why don’t they like the way they feel when they’re not using? Addressing these questions in a teen drug treatment setting requires us to examine the hidden dynamics of addiction. Read full article