- [Narrator] This is a special presentation of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Support for At Risk is generously provided by Pinch A Penny, the Bernard F and Maryanne Powell foundation, Central Florida Behavioral Health Network, Inc, and Publix Super Markets Charities.

- Over 40%, that's how many teens have recently reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless, according to the CDC.

This decline in mental health among young people is a growing crisis made worse due to the pandemic over the past few years.

How does this decline in mental health impact alcohol and substance use among youth in west central Florida?

We head to The Insight Program to learn more about the interconnection between mental health and addiction among adolescents, coming up next.

(gentle music) Hi, I'm Dalia Colon, and this is At Risk.

We're here to take a deep dive into the factors affecting teen drug and alcohol use, and explore some resources available in our community for tackling this growing problem among our young people.

Today, we're on location at The Insight Program in Tampa.

I'm joined by program director, Adam Schwartz, and Peter Bibawy, nearly four years sober, and a former client of The Insight Program.

He now works as a peer support counselor at Insight.

Thank you both for being with us.

- Thank you.

- Of course, thank you.

- And Peter, congratulations, four years sober.

I mean, that's really something to be proud of.

- Absolutely.

- Okay, so let's dive into a couple of facts here.

70% of students have had alcohol by the time they reach their senior year of high school, 50% of students will have used an illicit drug by that same time, and students who drink alcohol before they're 15 are four times more likely to become alcohol dependent later in life.

Peter, this is not new information for you.

So tell me a little bit about your story and how you became addicted to these substances.

- Well, I remember as early as middle school, honestly, think I was about 12 years old, going over to a girl's house with a couple of buddies.

And the first thing I ever did was drink, you know?

It wasn't like it was the plan that was intended, but it's just kinda what it turned into, you know?

And it was cool at first, you know?

But then very quickly it turned into, Oh, you know?

Every weekend into, Oh, you know, they're bringing it to school.

And the next thing you know, it's every other day, then every day, and it's just get went on and on and on and on, so.

- So you said the first thing you did was drink.

Was it just a boredom thing or were you trying to sort of escape something?

- I was just tryna fit in, honestly.

It was, I mean, there was a little bit of curiosity, you know?

But more than anything, I just wanted to just be cool, you know?

I wanted to fit in, so.

- Where did you get the alcohol?

- Her mom had a bar in the basement that was fully loaded, and her mom, honestly, surprisingly enough, just didn't care.

So we just drank in the basement.

- Wow, okay.

Was there anything you were going through at the time, now that you look back as an adult, that maybe you were trying to escape from?

I know you mentioned just trying to fit in.

- Yeah, I mean, at the time personally, my dad had just moved to California and I did not have much of a relationship with him beforehand, and that just made it even worse.

So that could have been some underlying issue, so.

- Okay, and we'll get into how you turned things around, shortly, and I know that The Insight Program was a big part of that.

So we definitely wanna hear from Adam as well.

On top of all the traditional struggles that youth such as Peter had faced, the past few years have had multiple challenges for just youth in our area, increased isolation due to the pandemic, loneliness, parents also being at home and consuming more alcohol themselves, increased anxiety due to these abrupt changes in routine, and less interaction with their peers.

These have all contributed to teens experimenting with alcohol and drugs at a higher rate than before the pandemic began.

Now, we are all hoping that the worst of the COVID 19 pandemic is behind us, but the aftermath for students on social, academic, and mental health levels has an impact far beyond the initial health threats or school closures.

Let's explore that now.

- When COVID first started up, I was doing online school, which was a little difficult for me because there was wasn't teacher really teaching anything.

So it was hard to really stay connected with the class and feel like we were socializing and really being taught.

And then when we went back to school a year later, we had to wear masks, which was uncomfortable and just really didn't seem normal.

And now that things are back to normal, somewhat, it still feels a little off because of the little while of us not really socializing with anyone.

Everyone's kinda grown more distant from people.

- My friend, Sarah, I think she was just like super sad that she couldn't see her friends and just a lot of stress going on in her house that just drugs and alcohol are her way of getting out of it.

- These kids have been home a lot since COVID.

They spent a lotta time home alone.

I do my best to keep track of her, keep tabs on each other.

We have family group texts, we watch each other on GPS for safety wise.

These are things that we didn't have to grow up with when I was in high school.

We didn't have the cell phones, we didn't have social media.

The world that they're living in is just very quick.

There's a lot of pressure for parties.

There's a lotta pressure for drugs and alcohol.

It's gonna be there.

I can't avoid it.

I just have to hope that I've raised her in a way that she's gonna make the right decisions.

- My family knows everything.

I tell them everything, like, they are my biggest supporters, my biggest friends.

It's very nice to have such like an open family I can talk to.

- We just want her to know we're there.

Whatever decision she makes, she's gonna make mistakes, but what I do hope is that she is going to learn from those mistakes and ask for help when she's in those situations.

She knows if she's at in a situation at a friend's house and there's alcohol and drugs and she wants outta there, she can call me, I will be there, I will pick her up, and she knows that.

It's a scary world out there, so communication is very important.

- I feel extremely disconnected and I have social anxiety, so when people don't talk to you and just really just stay away from you, it does give me a bit of anxiety and makes me feel like there's something that I've done.

- I would say to really be open with your kids, and if they need a time that they need to talk to you and that you kinda just need to take it.

Being more open, it feels that more that we can trust you and you'll be there for us.

- I feel like the adults should really know that students are not the same as they were before COVID.

We're all a little more sensitive and take things a little more personally now that there are so many opinions floating around and people are so easily influenced by the smallest things.

(gentle music) - Adam, I want you to address some of the mental health issues that we've seen, and that includes everything from increased solitary substance abuse.

Tell me about what that is and why you think it's increased?

- So that's actually a great question.

And I liked everything you talked about with the pandemic because we would talk about the perfect breeding ground for addiction is isolation and fear.

And that was at an all time high for the entire globe.

You know, I was talking to a kid before the pandemic and I'd asked him, you know, what was the first time you got high?

Were you with people?

And he told me, "Well, yeah, I was talking online with my buddy from, "you know, South America."

And in his mind, that was with people.

So that was pre-pandemic.

So we're already in a situation where there's a lotta isolation, and the teenagers aren't even aware of how much they're not socializing.

So then you add the fear and isolation and it blows up.

- Right, because to them, this is normal.

- [Adam] Mm Hmm.

- This is a normal part of their high school or middle school experience, which it definitely shouldn't be.

Okay, now, tell me about some groups in particular that may be at higher risk.

- So, I mean, as far as the pandemic's concerned, you know, anybody that was already at risk for mental health, you know, we looked at this study at a New York state and it was on resilience to trauma, and one of the tenants of resilience to trauma to encourage that is essentially connection, you know?

So we're in this phase where connection is being ripped away and already struggling on the front end.

So we've gotta build that back up.

So, you know, that's exactly what The Insight Program does a lot of is, it's a community.

It's not only a community of teenagers and young adults, 'cause for me getting sober, for Peter, I think anybody that's been in our program, having a place that's loving, supportive, and attractive in terms of staying sober, I had no idea what that looked like before.

That made the huge difference.

Teenagers have different motivations than adults do to get sober or to deal with mental health issues.

Typically, consequences aren't the motivator, so it's gotta be different.

The same is true for the parents.

They need the same amount of connection and support from other family members that are going through that.

So the community aspect is so important for those that are at risk for mental health issues or are already, you know, further than that.

- How do you make it attractive?

And I would love to hear from you Peter as well, having worked here.

How do you make something attractive for a teen?

It's so hard to even like plan a birthday party for a teen 'cause you don't know what they like and what they're into.

How do you motivate them to even wanna change, and then keep them on track?

- So I'll go quickly.

The first thing is the majority of the staff have been where these teenagers have been, even though it's a different timeframe, we relate.

And so there's a relatability that you can't articulate.

It's experiential and the teenager can pick up on that.

So there's an understanding that is unspoken.

The other part is there's a lotta fun activities on Friday and Saturday night that we're always, we do a hundred events a year, and that's the motivation is, you know, this weekend we're going to the beach, there's gonna be 60 other teens, and you know, the guys here, I mean they're thrilled.

That's the look forward to, that's the motivation they wanna stick around and stay sober, but.

- Well, I also just think about, you know, at least from my own experience and then from what I've seen from other people as well is that when I came in, it was, what's gonna be fun, you know?

Like, if this is fun, you know, I'll give it a shot.

And people were able to just bring me into an area where I just was able to have more fun instead of just using drugs, you know?

And I think that's where it really does hit for a lotta teenagers and young adults just because like, well, I mean, if it's not more fun than getting high, then like why would I do it, you know?

And I think that is a really big part of our success rate, so.

- I think it's really interesting that you talked about teens having different motivations than adults because an adult might be motivated by I don't wanna lose my job or my kids or get arrested, but maybe the teens aren't really worried about those things.

What is your personal story?

Why are you so passionate about this program?

- Same as Peter, I got sober.

I started same journey around middle school, and I had gone to a treatment center at 18 here in Jacksonville, actually.

I was, I grew up in North Carolina.

My motivation to go was to save a girlfriend.

It wasn't necessarily 'cause I thought I had a problem, and I definitely had a problem at that point, but I couldn't see it and I wasn't interested.

It was a fine program, but it was mostly for adults.

And I came home, tried to stay sober for a little bit, but I had nowhere to do that, you know?

Not somewhere that was attractive and fun.

And so a few years later, I found a program similar to ours in Colorado, and that's where everything changed.

I mean, the moment I walked up and met the other kids in the program that were having fun and wanted me to be successful and sober, everything changed.

- [Dalia] Okay.

- So being able to give that back, there's not a better honor that I can find out there.

So that's my passion.

- Wow, what an amazing story you both have.

Okay, I wanna get a little bit more into the story of The Insight Program.

The Insight Program is a drug and alcohol treatment center for young people ages 13 to 25.

This 12 step program offers support groups in counseling for the child and family members affected by addiction.

Since 1987, The Insight Program has been successful in helping teens and young adults overcome addiction through its focus on family and a philosophy they call enthusiastic sobriety.

I like that.

Peter, what is enthusiastic sobriety?

- Enthusiastic sobriety, I mean, it kinda ties into what I was talking about earlier, is just being able to find a way of life that is more fun than anything you've ever experienced, you know?

And real deal, it's like, even before the meetings, like, we'll get together and play music and like, play ping pong or like dance, you know?

It's just one of those things where it's kind of impossible to not have a good time.

- Okay, sounds like they keep you busy - Yeah.

- having fun.

Anything you wanna add to that?

- I mean, you know, we offer treatment, so that's an important part of the initial process, but the longevity of the program is critical, you know?

'Cause like I said, you can get some good movement, but you know, if I don't have the right support around me, it's not sustainable, you know?

And it's definitely the fun.

I mean a lotta these guys, you know, looking back like you asked Peter, you can find like, okay, there's some underlying issues that create someone to go down the rabbit hole as far as using substances rather than just I tried it and I'm moving on.

To me, it was, I had to be shown.

I wasn't gonna figure out on my own.

I had to be shown a different way of life that I was attracted to.

- Okay, we're here at the Insight office in Tampa's west chase neighborhood.

You also have locations in Atlanta, Peachtree city, Charlotte, and Raleigh.

You're new to the Tampa bay area.

So how long has Insight been here, and why did Insight come to Tampa bay?

- Okay, so my family and I moved down actually a couple years ago to start breaking ground and build the program up until we opened.

We officially opened here in April.

Why Tampa?

You know, there was a couple, you know, we always talk about you could throw a dart at a board on a map and we would probably be beneficial to the community.

So we had a couple ideas.

Part of what led us to that is we were working with a lotta families from this area.

There was a family in Tampa, we had some families in Winter Haven.

so it caught our attention.

So, you know, the director and owner came down from Atlanta and met with the community, you know?

Whether that was churches, psychiatrist.

And it was clear that there was a need here.

- So what's going on here that there's such a need?

- What we found when we were down here is there's limited services, and you can kinda argue across the country, that's true too, but there was clearly a lack of services for teenagers and young adults in the Tampa bay area.

- What is unique about teenagers?

Because obviously, alcoholics anonymous has been around for a long time and groups like that, and they've got the 12 steps, but Insight has the 12 steps of enthusiastic sobriety and has this focus on teens and young adults.

So why does that group need special care?

- I think about even before the 12 steps that we do here is that I went to treatment before this, you know?

And they followed the 12 steps, like, the traditional ones.

And I mean, I can see how it would work for some people, but I just couldn't relate to them, you know?

And I couldn't relate to the people that went there or even worked there either.

And coming here where I did have like, this specialized area where I was surrounded by the counselors who understood me and related to me, you know?

And people around me who understood and related, as well as like just the fact that they wanted to work the steps, you know?

I think that's what really motivated me and really motivates other people.

- So what does counseling look like here at Insight?

I mean, you have this beautiful facility.

It feels very homey.

If I were to attend, you know, after the beach day and all the fun games, it sounds kinda like my church youth group.

That's what it kinda makes me think of from when I was a kid.

What would the actual program content contain?

- So we have an intensive outpatient program.

What that looks like is teenagers and young adults would attend group therapy five days a week, Monday through Friday.

In conjunction with that, we have the support group.

So right now in Tampa, it's three nights a week.

Typically, we'll move into four nights a week where Tuesdays and Thursday nights, we would do a 12 step meeting where we talk about topics for recovery.

They get access to other kids in the program that have gone through treatment, halftime sober, and our models.

I learned more on how to stay sober and how to work the 12 steps through watching people.

It wasn't even as much talking.

I mean, we had to talk and discuss it, but again, adults could get some book workout and go through it.

But if I watched my buddy, he was going to work and he was staying sober and he was happy.

I was like, I could follow that.

So we go through a period of treatment that lasts about eight to 12 weeks, and then afterwards, they have access to that 12 step support group for up to a year and a half.

- You don't have to run through all 12 steps.

This is not a quiz, but are there one or two that really clicked for you?

- Yes, actually, the step two here, which is we found it necessary to stick with winners in order to grow.

- Wait, say that again slower.

I wanna write this down.

- We found it necessary to stick with winners in order to grow.

Being that, you know, early on, you know, I wanted to just kinda do my own thing, you know?

But very quickly, that just led me into disastrous situations.

And when I would see all these people around me who were happy and had a job, kinda like what Adam was talking about, you know?

And I wanted that 'cause it was so attractive, you know?

And those people were winners for me.

And the more that I hung out with them, the more I was able to kinda reap the benefits of what they had, you know?

And of course, there was like conversations that had to be had, you know?

But I think I just needed to surround myself with the right people.

And I've seen it happen with so many other people as well, where it has worked that way for them as well.

So that's why I think it's very effective.

- Stick with winners in order to grow.

That's such great advice for life for all of us.

It's kinda like that quote, show me your friends and I'll show you your future?

- [Peter] Mm hmm.

- You gotta surround yourself with the people you wanna become like.

- [Peter] Mm hmm.

- And part of the community that you would surround yourself with could include your family.

So what role did your family play in your recovery, or did they hinder it?

- Question.

- My mom played a huge role in my recovery 'cause as soon as I came in, she jumped right in, ready to support me however possible.

Of course, she had to put up walls and boundaries where needed, of course, you know?

Like, just like anyone, but I know very well that if my mom did not support me very early on, I don't even know if I would've made it at the beginning, you know?

Of course, I still struggled, you know?

But being able to come home at night and like, just decompress and having a mom who supported me and went to the parent meetings, you know?

And like, understood what I was going through, it just made it that much better.

- Well, we learned more about the importance of involvement by family and the community in this healing process.

- So there's a really crucial role that community plays in these guys' recovery and treatment and healing.

We have a support group which is arguably our biggest asset as a program because they get to have people on their peer level, showing them and helping them, and also people to spend time with and have fun with, and so much of what benefits their recovery is.

Not even necessarily the outpatient treatment and the 12 step meetings, it's all the time in between that they spend together.

- One of the things that we loved about The Insight Program was that their sense of belonging in the community that it provides for young people so that they still have fun things that they can go do, sober functions on a Friday and Saturday night.

- With that, the home environment and the community among the family is really important, which is why we incorporate a parent support group into our treatment and our program.

We put a lotta emphasis on it's a family disease.

If one person in the family's sick, the rest of the family's sick too.

So they get their support group also to heal and grow together and getting to do all that together, enhances their community.

- Peter was a very active child.

He loved sports and video games and friends and school, and has always been a very friendly child.

I think when you're faced with this, the first thing is it's very easy to go into a state of denial.

And the statistics for kids that go through the program whose parents are, you know, really involved and participate in everything, have over an 80% success rate versus children whose parents have minimal involvement.

It drops to a little less than 50%.

And I remember thinking then my involvement's key here.

I'm fighting for the survival of my son and his success.

Of course, he has to do his part, but I'm gonna do everything within my power to do my part.

And so I went to parent meetings every single week.

I still go, I went last night to a meeting here.

- We talk a lot about faith in, we're not religious, but we do really encourage these guys to come up with their version of a higher power.

And the only thing that really needs to be is something other than them.

They can no longer be the ones running the show.

And so, oftentimes, what people will start with is the peer group around me is a stronger force than me on my own.

- Peter really grew up in The Insight Program.

You know, we put him in intensive outpatient when he was 15 years old.

And I look at him today and he's 19 years old, he's a happy, healthy, productive, young adult, and we're incredibly proud of everything that he's accomplished, right?

We've come a long way in four years.

- I continue to do this because I was one of these kids, and I got to find a better way to live through the 12 steps.

And in order for me to continue to stay sober and grow, I have to be willing to give it back, and service is a huge aspect and kinda make sense of why I went through what I went through so that I'm here today to be able to share that experience with somebody else.

- I wanna get into some solutions because as a parent, you guys are kinda scaring me a little bit.

I'm thinking, Oh my gosh, my kid have something going on that I don't know about?

So Peter, what are some signs that a teen might be dealing with a mental health and or substance abuse issue?

- At least for my own experience, like, when I was younger, I would always hang out with my family, you know?

And I think that once I started getting involved with the wrong people, started taking these drugs or partaking in alcohol, I just kinda started leaning away from my family.

And I get some of that's just natural as a teenager, you know?

You wanna rebel, you don't wanna spend as much time with your family, but I think real deal, like, there'd be binges where I'd be in my room for probably about 15 hours a day, 14 hours a day.

I'd like, wake up, take drugs, drink alcohol, do whatever I was doing in my room, then go to sleep.

And there'd be days where I'd go without seeing my family.

And obviously, that's a very big red flag, you know?

And it may not be that extreme for some people, but I think that just a very quick decline, and you know, just being involved, whether that be in school, extracurricular activities, even family events.

I think that could be one of the main things.

- Okay, I wanna end on a good note here.

I've got a 10 year old at home.

- Mm hmm.

- So I'm like, if this was a roller coaster, I'm like heading up to the top and we're getting ready to go over that cliff.

What advice do you have for students?

I mean, they do have a lot on their plate, even more, especially now with social media.

- [Peter] Mm hmm.

- I can't even imagine being a kid today.

So what do you say to a 10 year old or a 15 year old?

- Similar to the parents, you know?

I was scared to ask for help.

I didn't know how to ask for help.

So I would encourage, you know, students to reach out and speak up and talk about it.

This promotes a lot of things that people wanna keep hidden, whether it's mental health or substance abuse.

And I think more and more important that they're speaking up.

And again, there's hope and there's help.

You know, more and more we've seen over the last, you know, 10, 15 years, it's more common that someone comes in with dual diagnosis.

They have a substance abuse issue as well as mental health.

And it's really tough 'cause, you know, rarely do they live in a vacuum of themselves and they influence each other.

What we have seen a lot of though is if, you know, there's substances involved, it's really difficult to attack the mental health problem.

So I'll add that.

- Ah, that's such a good point.

Any other words of advice for parents or for the students themselves?

- I think about even parents who have given different places a shot, like, do not give up, you know?

That is my biggest thing.

Like, do not give hope on, give up hope on your kid, is I've seen countless times where people have made it out, you know?

And I think the last thing a kid needs is a parent giving up on them.

- Mm, well, I can't think of a better place to end than that.

Peter and Adam, thank you so much for being here.

- My pleasure, thank you.

- Sharing your stories and all this great information, and for more information and resources, visit theinsightprogram.com I'm Dalia Colon.

Thanks so much for joining us.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Support for At Risk is generously provided by Pinch A Penny, the Bernard F and Maryanne Powell Foundation, Central Florida Behavioral Health Network Inc, and Publix Super Markets Charities.

(bright music)