The First Step: The Phone Call

So you don't want to tell your family or friends you have a problem with misusing substances or medication...OK. It's your life, but if you want to take that next step towards a BETTER life, then you need to talk to professionals who can help you with tackling this disease and head towards recovery. So it is a matter of making that first phone call. NOT always a  simple task!  You might feel a rush of all kinds of feelings that are very uncomfortable. Feelings you have numbed and shoved back inside of you all this time. One way to help minimize this experience is to have someone with you when you make that first call. It can be someone from a recovery group or local community service. Heck it can be a firefighter or a social worker or nurse in the local Emergency Room. All public service professionals will be willing to sit with you for a few minutes as support while you make your first phone call for help with your disease. If you have someone in your personal life with you at the time of the phone call, make sure they are stable, sober, not impaired and have your best interest at heart. FYI:  The first phone call will 1) give you basic info on the service,  2) info on insurances accepted or cash payment and either 3). make your first appointment for an Intake or put your name on a wait list. ***This phone call, entire conversation and any info given is completely confidential.  NO ONE can call and see if you called, NO ONE can check to see if you have appt or are on the wait list. NO ONE, period. Not even your mom! This is the law! A violation of this law can get a person jail time. So congratulations if you made your first phone call :)  I will talk about the first Intake appointment in another section with the word Intake in the title.