Okay, from the top, once more....
If you are addicted to prescription medication and/or illegal substances then you need help. Help is such a broad term. What kind of help do you need? I am not a counselor or therapist and this ain't legal stuff but
Door #1. You need treatment to save your life and get you started on the road to sobriety and recovery;
Door #2. You need counseling to help you figure out how and why;
Door #3. You need legal advice and counseling (and maybe representation) if you are a licensed nurse. Period. No conditions such as if, but or maybe. You need legal advice. To obtain legal advice usually means you need to hire a lawyer. No conditions such as if, but or maybe.
Now how you proceed after you are intervened upon by:
a. friends;
b. friends and/or family;
c. your nursing sup. and HR;
d. your unit manager and HR;
e. your nursing sup., DON, and administrator,
f. your nursing manager and an investigator from the Board of Nursing; and/or
g. your manager, an investigator from the Board, and a detective from the county drug diversion task force
is totally your choice.
Do you proceed with Door # 1, then Door # 2 and then Door #3, Door #2 and then Door #1 and maybe Door #3, Door #1 and then taking a wait and see approach with Door #3 and only do #2 if your significant other threatens you with divorce, Door #1 and Door #2 together, etc.
I can tell you this. Friends, family, and others (this includes the "medical" folks involved with you who give you "legal" advice) mean the best and I don't think anyone intentionally steers you towards Door #4 while meaning to steer you towards Door #1 and/or Door #2 but trying to tell you what will happen behind Door #3 (but trying to save you the cost of retaining a lawyer) but it happens.
Now you are probably asking LaTonia wt* is behind Door #4? I don't know wt* is behind Door #4 but that's what you will find out and when you find out what's behind Door #4 let me know:) I watched several vampire movies last week and I am scared to open Door #4.
Chemical dependency counselors are not lawyers and lawyers are not CD counselors. I have a typed sign on our one of our back doors which says I am counselor of law not a mental health counselor or therapist. The sign also politely asks you to keep your problems to yourself. (but that's another post. Remind me to tell you about my mother and her handwritten notes).
If you want medical treatment to fight your addiction, seek treatment.
If you want counseling and therapy, seek it.
If you want legitimate advice and counseling on your legal options when you have an addiction, seek out a nurse license defense attorney in your state. Really, you are treatment in Arizona and your Arizona based CD counselor is telling you what's going to happen in the short and long-term with your state nursing licenses in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, Michigan, and New York? Really. You can get better advice by allowing a toddler to pick the proposed answers (given to you by the "medical" person and written on sheets of paper) out of a hat.
Also I am going to tell you what I want for Christmas this year.
Dear Santa:
My Christmas wish this year is as follows: I really wish licensed healthcare professionals who medically treat nurses (who are BTW licensed healthcare professionals also) would function within their job description provided to them by their employer and stick to the "medical" and not try to do the "legal." Santa, please grant me my wish because I have been "good" this year in a general and broad sense of the word like for example "help."
Seriously. There isn't a horn book, cliff notes or a book titled "License Defense for Nurses with Substance Abuse & Use Disorders in all 50 States for Dummies" when a nurse has a substance use and abuse disorder and there are licensing, employment, career, regulatory, educational, return to work, tort, and/or criminal issues. No sir re Bobbie Jr.
If you are a nurse and you are depending upon your CD counselor, therapists, and others involved in your treatment and recovery to provide you with counsel and advice regarding licensure, legal, and regulatory issues, slap yourself in face and wake up now because "Hey Dorothy, you are no longer in Kansas anymore."
http://www.amazon.com/Hey-Dorothy-Youre-Kansas-Anymore/dp/1589392388.
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