ASAP

Adolescent Substance Abuse Programme

Substance abuse is a growing problem among South Africa’s teens but early intervention has the potential to prevent substance use and abuse from turning into full-blown addiction.

About ASAP

Changes Rehab, Johannesburg launched the Adolescent Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP) in September 2022.

All Too Often…

By the time the families, our justice system and schools intervene the problem has unfortunately progressed beyond experimentation and casual use. If there is even a hint of substance abuse in a young person you know, this includes alcohol, please act swiftly. The alternative is a long road of addiction and its dire consequences to be faced ahead. Importantly, both alcohol and cannabis abuse have the potential to cause dangerous consequences and long-term problems.

What is ASAP?

Changes Rehab’s ASAP initiative is an outpatient, educational and life skills programme for thirteen to eighteen-year-old substance abusers. It is designed as a repeatable and individualised four-week course to assist teens so that they can avoid their substance abuse progressing into a full-blown addiction that can derail their lives.

What To Expect From Joining the ASAP Programme

Clients Questions

How does teen substance use look different from adult addiction?

Teens may still be in school and living at home, but when marks crash, friends change, moods swing violently and there is secrecy around money and devices, you are not dealing with normal teenage behaviour, you are watching early addiction patterns form.

When is teen rehab necessary and not just a phase?

If your teenager is using regularly, taking real risks, ignoring consequences and cannot cut back even when scared, waiting to see if they grow out of it is a gamble that often ends in trauma, expulsion or law trouble.

How do school, exams and social media complicate teen treatment?

Teens juggle pressure from school, peers and online spaces, so treatment must tackle bullying, anxiety, identity and digital access alongside substances, not pretend the only problem lives in a bottle or a pipe.

How do parents accidentally make things worse even while trying to help?

Parents swing between harsh punishment and total rescue, lie for their child at school, ignore mental health and sometimes avoid their own drinking or conflict, which teaches the teen that the whole system will bend to protect the secret.

What should we insist on from any teen rehab programme?

Insist on age appropriate groups, proper safeguarding, mental health assessment, school liaison and real family work, because simply parking a teenager in an adult ward or generic programme is lazy and often harmful.

Safe, Medically Managed Detox

24/7 nursing and doctor oversight helps prevent complications and keeps withdrawal controlled.