Need desperate help please. My wife back in UK is at her wits end as my 25 year old son has been on Heroin for 10 years. Its a long story but he holds down a job as a scaffolders aprentice to feed his adiction but over the last year has become suicidal. Once and forall I need to help him out. Can anyone recomend a rehab center here in Thailand. I have lived here for 3 years in Pattaya. Thankyou..

Need desperate help please. My wife back in UK is at her wits end as my 25 year old son has been on Heroin for 10 years. Its a long story but he holds down a job as a scaffolders aprentice to feed his adiction but over the last year has become suicidal. Once and forall I need to help him out. Can anyone recomend a rehab center here in Thailand. I have lived here for 3 years in Pattaya. Thankyou..

Very sorry to hear that.

http://www.thamkrabok.org/

Check out these threads on ThaiVisa.com, lots of info here on Wat Tham Krabok:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...p;hl=thamkrabok

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...p;hl=thamkrabok

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...p;hl=thamkrabok

Drive up to meet with the black American monk, Gordon, who's been at the temple for 30 years.  Good guy.

The wat area has a new gateway entrance, drive in, take a couple of turns, then the right had turn up by the open air restaurant and the rehab center.  Gordon is usually there in the mornings stoking the fire for the sauna.

Take the road to Lop Buri Hwy 1, a bit NW of Saraburi, the turn off to the wat is right after the Km 132 marker.

Need to understand, tho, that the program there is voluntary, it's not a prison, so the "patient" need to want to be there.  There's often a lot of foreigners there, U.S., EU, Ozzie, etc.

Mac

Lots of NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings and AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings in Thailand where your son could meet folks with exactly the same problem as he has that have recovered. As with Wat Tham Krabok, involvement in these 12-step programs is voluntary and the person has to want to stop and accept help. He might try meetings in London first before coming to Thailand.

Thanks guys that temple sounds just the job, many thanks for the time you took to reply.

Please don't take this as being negative, but if your son is in the UK and you want to bring him here for treatment it will be a very difficult undertaking. If your son has a criminal record of any sort particularly associated with drugs and it shows up in the immigration computer, he won't be let in without a special visa. Trying to get a special visa for this sort of treatment is difficult now. I know the NHS has problems in the UK, but there are programs there that can deal with this just as well and the costs are covered. Long term addition carries with it other health issues that can erupt once the patient is in recovery. Suicdal tendancies are not well addressed by the various temple programs due to the voluntary treatment format.

My other concern is that the Thai authorities do not accomodate relapses as generously as they do in the west. Chances are that your son will fall off the wagon somewhere along the way, as that is par for the course. If he does fall off in Thailand, he'll be in a horrible mess.

Every family has a member with a problem like this in some shape or form, including mine. I know you are going through hel_l and the toll it is taking on you. Please don't neglect your own well being. I mentioned the above paragraph because I don't want to see you having more grief than you expected. Before you spend alot of money, you might want to invest in a chat with the local public health officer in Pattaya. These people generally know where the resources are and can be helpful just because they have seen and heard it before, and most have families of their own, so they can understand where you are coming from.

I hope that this works out for you and apologies if this reads as too negative.

Could you let us know where he is located. If he is in the UK, then I will be able to give you some information as to what services you can access and how to access them.

As mentiioned earlier, I wouldn't suggest relocating him to Thailand if he is still in the UK.

Wish you the nest of luck.

Need desperate help please. My wife back in UK is at her wits end as my 25 year old son has been on Heroin for 10 years. Its a long story but he holds down a job as a scaffolders aprentice to feed his adiction but over the last year has become suicidal. Once and forall I need to help him out. Can anyone recomend a rehab center here in Thailand. I have lived here for 3 years in Pattaya. Thankyou..

Has he said he wants to stop?

Need desperate help please. My wife back in UK is at her wits end as my 25 year old son has been on Heroin for 10 years. Its a long story but he holds down a job as a scaffolders aprentice to feed his adiction but over the last year has become suicidal. Once and forall I need to help him out. Can anyone recomend a rehab center here in Thailand. I have lived here for 3 years in Pattaya. Thankyou..

Has he said he wants to stop?

An extremely valid question.

hey i feel your pain, we have had a few problems in our family. i cant recommend you send him to asia for aforementioned reasons but also the man has to bottom out. hel_l skip out of rehab, hit the bars, fall in with the wrong sort here and then you have a bigger problem.

in the end the family just had to turn our backs. no amount of love and offer for help would matter. we are all there when the time comes to turn themselves around but until then they are just liars and beggars and thieves. so your son has a job - thats good start, shows hes hanging on and still has responsibility.

if i were to give one bit of advice he needs to go somewhere that there are no drugs for about a year and not to return to his old haunts (and mates).

he has to want to stop - nae norn loy percent ~!

Some good advice above.

Bringing you son to Thailand can create a new set of problems. You can't say that the cure will be nearer to yourself. Your son as said above needs to admit he has hit the bottom and want to do something about it.

I worked in a rehab in Oz that has a good reputation. We got a call from a young guy in Singapore, followed by his mum. We were able to accommodate the young man but two or three days latter he left. The main purpose was to start hitting mum and dad up for more money.

The big problem is that in Thailand drug addicts are usually given long prison sentences or worse. For this reason alone I would not bring him to Thailand. It would be great to offer your son the opportunity when he is say 2-3 years clean off all drugs.

Your wife is in a hard position. Has she seen a drug and alcohol councilor that can give her some strategies to deal with your son behaviour. As said above he is more than likely better off at home and dealing with the problem there.

I have read some of the posts that have been made about the temple in Thailand, but those posts are buy people that made the decision to go there themselves. It might be a good idea to talk to someone working there for your self to understand the strategies you need to adopt for your son.

Heroin addiction is a hard battle not only for the addict but also for the people that care.

Take care.