Real Life: 3 Girls in Rehab - Page 5

TAYLOR, CHRISTI, AND KAREN

The three girls have become best friends. They go to group therapy sessions together, eat together, and share a room together. And it’s together that they’ve learned to deal with their problems with alcohol and drugs.

"I’ve learned to see what caused my alcohol problem," Taylor says. "I didn’t think I was getting enough attention from my parents. All I wanted was for them to love me and notice me, which they never seemed to do."

Taylor’s parents now attend counseling sessions with her to help them work better together as a family. "It wasn’t easy at first," Taylor claims, "but they eventually saw what they were doing had affected me and they’re now changing some of their behavior too."

As for Christi, she’ll be in rehab for a bit longer. Her mom comes to visit her every day. "My mom and I now hang out and really talk," Christi says. "She knows what is going on in my life and I know what’s going on with her."

Christi hopes she will never resort to using drugs. "I know that I don’t want to," she says, "I feel I am strong enough to say no and get on with my life. But I also know I will definitely try to help them. No one should have to go through what I did."

Karen is still in rehab. She will be at the facility for another month. "Taylor and Christi promised me they will come visit me every day while I’m here. They want to be sure I’ll be okay without them. I know I will, but if it wasn’t for them, I would never have come this far in such a short time." Karen knows that she still has a while to go before she’ll be ready to leave the rehab center. Her parents are very supportive and visit her as often as they can.

"I know I will be going back to the little white house with the perfect little family," Karen says. "But this time, I will be looking forward to it. I want to get back to school and study hard so that I can go on to college. That’s very important to me."

The three girls all have the same advice: "Don’t do drugs. Don’t drink alcohol. You may think that it’s an escape, but it’s not. You’re just running away from your problems."