You Can’t Rescue People with Drug Problems [Rehabs.com]

     I had co-workers tell me during a case conference meeting, that I had to do something about "D.....'s" problematic behavior-especially when he drank. Because I'd heard and/or overheard "D...", on a few prior occasions, say that he was of Blackfoot Sioux descent, I took a walk around the corner to our NH Indian Council's office, chatted with the staff there briefly, and came back to my office with a copy of the Health and Welfare Canada edition of "The Sacred Tree"- a good introduction to Native American spirituality [also used by "Red Road"-native american equivalent of AlcoholicsAnonymous]. I photocopied the 80 or so page book. I took the photocopied pages to "D..", and asked him for a favor. I told him I needed his opinion of the book. A few days later, he's banging on my office door saying he misplaced pages 37-38, and 39-40, and can't find them anywhere he's checked, and would I please replace them for him? I said I'd be glad to, as I wanted his opinion of the whole book. So I made copies of those two pages for him, and he left with the replacement copies. From all subsequent reports I'd gotten, after giving him the photocopied book, no one had seen him under the influence of, or smelled any alcohol on him, or observed any "problematic behavior". Finally he came by my office to report he'd finished the book. He asked where I found the book, and I told him at the Indian Council. A few weeks later, at our next staff case conference, someone asked: "What did you do to 'D....'?". I said: "I listened, Why?" They asked for clarification. I asked my co-workers: "How many of you ever heard 'D....' talk about his ethnicity/ancestry?". Discussion followed. I asked if anyone had noticed any "problematic behavior", or signs of drinking. ...  When I next saw "D...", I asked him what he'd been doing lately. He said he'd been spending time at the Indian Council, when he wasn't working.

     I had read "Recovery from Rescuing", after a therapist at a "Professional Co-Dependents Anonymous" meeting had mentioned it, a few months before that.