Jesses Problem

My older brother Jesse has always been the black sheep in the family. He was the typical rebellious teen-ager who cut class and drank, did drugs, and was in and out of Juvenile Hall all the time.
He cost my parents thousands of dollars in court fees, and civil lawsuits. He stole cars, and vandalized property, and even set a small fire in the boys locker room, causing him to be expelled from school. Jesse ran away when he was 15 and was living on the streets of Birmingham. Every time my mom and dad would bring him home he would just leave again.
The last time he left, my dad and him got into a fist fight. I being only 13 at the time didn’t fully understand my parents reaction to Jesse wanting to leave, and why they were always yelling at him. It wasn’t until some time later that I learnt of how serious the situation was.

When I was 28 Jesse surprised us by coming home for Christmas. My mom tearfully greeted him, while my father sat on the couch silently. I almost didn’t recognize him. The drugs had completely changed his appearance. We awkwardly fumbled through Christmas Dinner. He looked like a hobo, with his black finger nails, dirty dreadlocked hair, and unshaven face.
He said that he had come home to ask for help, that he was tired of living in the streets and being a junkie.

My parents suggest that he check himself into a drug abuse rehab center. He held his head low and said that he would do what ever was expected of him this time. My parents looked all around for a local rehab center until they came across Birmingham rehab center. Their facilities were nice, and they had a residential inpatient program which allowed him to stay onsite to receive treatment. They enrolled him in a six week treatment class, where he received a multidisciplinary assessment to help him treat is addiction. They even offered us family counseling.

The rehab center even offered a gym where he could work out and regain some of his weight loss with healthy exercise. Throughout the six weeks we could visibly notice the change in Jesses appearance and the attitude that he had. He is now doing much better, and is in out patient treatment. He has started attending school for addiction counseling. If it weren’t for the Bradford Health Services in Birmingham, I don’t know where my brother would be now. It was because of their caring and knowledgeable staff that he is back in our lives.