WHO WE HAVE HELPED

Our son has been struggling with substance use disorder for more than a decade. He has been to multiple residential treatments and has a few relatively long periods of recovery. Despite it all, he has continued to relapse. Since working with Shirley, our son has found a new approach to addressing his struggles; one that relies on daily work identifying the whys of his drug use and a means to change those long worn-in behaviors. Although he has had some success with AA, he’s finding his work with Shirley empowering and enlightening. Rather than feeling that he has no real control, he is learning that by identifying those long worn-in thought patterns, he does have control and is choosing positive responses. As his parents, we’ve also lived with our son’s disorder for over a decade. We were ready for something different and we’re very happy with the work our son is doing with Shirley. We appreciate the candid conversations we’ve had with her as well as her weekly updates, and believe her approach in working with our son is innovative and may be the foundation he needs to move forward in life. We are hopeful!

I first met Shirley with Recovery Consultants in 2020 at the lowest point in my life. My once-secretive struggles with alcohol dependency had reached staggering proportions during the Covid pandemic, and they were now jeopardizing my health, my relationships, and every aspect of my life. My family—desperate for help and unsure where to turn—reached out to Recovery Consultants. My admitting that I needed help and agreeing to attend residential treatment were terrifying steps, especially as a wife and mother who felt like she was abandoning her family and had fundamentally failed in life. The uncertainties around where to go and which residential program would be the best fit only heightened my fears. From my very first encounter with Shirley, I immediately recognized her as someone who had my back and knew her stuff. Shirley was warm, compassionate, non-judgmental,and deeply informed about all my options. She treated me with respect and concern, and she seemed to believe that a better life through recovery was not only possible but likely for me. Shirley made my family feel heard and important with their concerns, too. She offered guidance and information, but ultimately she empowered me to make the best decision for myself. We continued to keep in touch after I’d entered treatment to make sure all was going well, and she has remained a cheerleader for me ever since. I am now 18 months into my recovery, and my life is one of freedom, joy and health. I truly cannot say enough about Shirley and Recovery Consultants—I would recommend them in a heartbeat to anyone stuck at a similar crossroads as I’d been who is ready to get help and reclaim their life.

As a family member involved in seeking treatment for my grandchild with comorbidity issues, our family research indicated a better result in treatment success if a professional could be found with knowledge of the residential treatment landscape that exists across the country. We were fortunate to find Shirley Wantland of Recovery Consultants. Ms. Wantland had the experience and mental health counseling relationships with various treatment centers to recommend those professionals most suited to address both addiction and mental health issues stemming from a variety of bi-polar and personality disorders exacerbated by alcohol and drug addiction. This treatment was critical and required levels of therapy for learning to cope with trauma suffered at an earlier age and only recently discovered. Recovery Consultants provided recommendations based on past successes and familiarity with the issues at hand. As a result, our granddaughter’s treatment involved the need for both wilderness and residential therapy. Wilderness and Residential Treatments became part of the healing and coping process as we trusted the experience and relationship developed with Ms. Wantland’s endorsement of best practices and results prior to placing our teenager in post-trauma therapy. The facilities identified and recommended by Recovery Consultants have been vetted by Ms. Wantland, and this knowledge provided us much needed confidence in finding the right treatment center(s). Our granddaughter now has been through wilderness and academy treatments offering multiple types of appropriate therapy. She began these treatments at 17 and is now nearing completion at 19 as she finishes her residential treatment in SoCal at OPI. Recovery Consultants have done the due diligence and met with the therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and staff at the various facilities available across the U.S. We are grateful for her ongoing guidance and for the support made readily available to us through Shirley’s company. While the costs of dealing with mental illness are difficult, the best advice I could give is to work with a mental health professional with ground level knowledge of the facilities that offer these types of treatments. Without it, the “hit and miss” approach is both expensive and inefficient in reaching the desired goals. Recovery Consultants offers all of these invaluable services. We are grateful for the friendship, professionalism, and thorough knowledge that Shirley Wantland has provided as a professional recovery consultant.