Patience and Recovery: Step 3 Preparation

PACIFIC OCEAN

09.10.2023

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Preston Jarrett 

USS Nimitz (CVN 68)   

PACIFIC OCEAN - Sometime between getting hammered at another party – because friends don’t let friends drink alone –and getting in a fight with my roommate, I decided to quit drinking.

I expected a newfound sense of clarity but was instead met with depression and dissatisfaction, constantly reconsidering my choice to abstain. I was still staying up past 3 a.m., and transitioning from party animal to lame babysitter was more frustrating than anticipated. I was prepared to maintain my sobriety, but I was honestly unprepared for how tough it’d prove to be.

Committing to a major change like sobriety might be a daunting task, but sometimes all it takes is a small turning point to mark a complete sea change.

“There’s this misconception that rehab is a crazy intense process of making you a better person; for most people, if you leave recovery or substance abuse treatment answering the question ‘would I consider change’ with ‘yes,’ you’re probably miles ahead of a lot of other people,” said Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Ryan Tellier, Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program (SARP) director aboard USS Nimitz. “It’s not always like you go through and magically become a better person. If someone hits the point where they think, ‘wow, I really need to consider doing something about it,’ and start to problem solve, my job becomes more of a coach than a therapist, helping them find hobbies and groups to engage with. For me, the most rewarding part is when someone hits that lightbulb phase of, ‘oh man, I definitely wasn’t making this easier for myself, but now I can try to work through it.’”

People who hit that “light bulb” moment prior to treatment are also able to request help on their own – called a “self-referral” – regardless of whether they’ve previously been involved in an AI (alcohol incident).

“Self-referrals, as far as what I’ve seen, can be anything, whether they had concerns for themselves, or something personal popped up but didn’t have a major effect like getting arrested or being in trouble with the Navy,” said Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Kevin Banta, Nimitz SARP counselor. “For self-referrals and command referrals, you don’t have to worry about any reprisal or trouble within the military. I know sometimes, the perception of those can be pretty negative, like ‘oh, I referred myself, so now I’m going to be in trouble,’ which is not true. You’re just trying to be better. We’d rather somebody self-refer than wait until something bad happens or someone gets in trouble.”

Though self-referrals might be a “best-case scenario” of sorts, the ultimate goal is to give Sailors the appropriate level and intensity of treatment needed to properly address their issues.

“Let’s say you come to me for help – you might binge drink a little bit, but you want some more education – then I tell you it’s way worse than you thought and that you might need 30 days of rehab. That might not be what you wanted, but if you recognized that something was going on and trusted me enough to tell me all this, then you’ve got to trust my opinion and see it through,” said Tellier. “If we under-treat someone, I like to use the metaphor of putting a band-aid where we should put a tourniquet. If I give you outpatient treatment when I think you need 30 days residential, that’s not going to meet your needs. It’s not as intensive; it’s not as supportive of an environment, because here, it’s kind of hard to open up. We’re very busy. We’re isolated from home. It’s hard to get the self-care and relaxation time after treatment that one would get if they were back in the states or anywhere that’s not on a floating warship.”

Regarding command concern referrals, one common misperception is that treatment follows some kind of punitive measure, when in reality, commands are able to authorize treatment for very little.

“I’d love to see more command concern referrals that aren’t AIs. I’ve been doing this about six or seven years, and I’ve only seen one referral that wasn’t an incident,” said Tellier. “When you read the criteria of it, it just says ‘hearsay,’ which could mean anything. Worst-case scenario, I see someone for two or three hours, and I’ll let you know if I think they need an education course or that they need to go to treatment. Most people don’t need to go to what they think is rehab on TV and be admitted for 30 days. Here, about half my people get a 20-hour education course and get sent on their way. Refer them to me, and we’ll go from there.”

• Date Taken: 09.10.2023
• Date Posted: 12.22.2023 11:57
• Story ID: 460674
• Location: PACIFIC OCEAN