Erica and Joseph are good friends. THey don’t go to the same high school, but they came together because of one reason addictions.They each are addicted to something different, and it’s something that can happen easily to all teenagers. Let’s go back 6 months and show how they all got to the Smith Recovery Center. . 

Erica feels like she is ugly and the girls are always picking on her. She walks down the halls and constantly thinks that people are talking about her. She is always trying to get as many likes as she can on her stories. She doesn’t sleep because she has to keep checking for notifications.SHe carries her phone with her all the time and keeps checking and checking. At home she stays locked in her room constantly flipping back and forth between instagram and Snapchat

Girls at school became jealous of her because she was actually pretty and smart. They started some nasty rumors about her. The rumors at school got too bad so she started skipping class and hiding out in the bathroom so she could check her phone. A month later she stopped going to school all together. She was exhausted from being up all night and afraid to be at school because the girls were saying untrue, nasty things about her

The truancy officer came to her house but she wouldn’t go. The next day her mom met with the principal and guidance counselor. She kept refusing to go back and her anxiety was so high, so the guidance counselor recommended time at the Recovery Center for the remainder of the semester. They suggested that she stay there because that was the only way she would be screen free.   



Joseph is a soccer player. He’s been on the varsity team since he was a freshman. Soccer is his life and he is trying to get a scholarship to college. He is very well liked on the team as their goalie. At the state finals he was trying to block a goal when tragedy happened. Another player kicked him instead of the ball. He fell hard on his knee and partially ripped his ACL. That happened the end of his sophomore year. He didn’t have to have surgery but he had to do months of physical therapy. The doctor first prescribed him pain medication. He took that in the beginning and it helped ease the pain. He found he could do the therapy better after taking the pills.

Then he started training that summer. His knee killed. He would take more of the pills and his pain would go away and he could train harder. He had to train harder because he was so out of shape and he had to get back in shape to keep his spot on varsity and keep his chance for a scholarship. His prescription bottle soon became empty but a friend on the team told him to just check his parents’ medicine cabinet for more. He found more pills and kept taking them before practice.