I’ve visited this site many times but never acted on seeking out help with this program. I do S.I. and I have been on the fence as to whether or not to request an assessment. Being numb to what I do helps me to escape and helps me to avoid or deflect responsibility. It’s like if I do this program and learn how to be with my feelings and how to express them in a healthier way means that I have to acknowledge what I’m doing isn’t working.
I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. I suppose I will know when I am really ready to let go of this negative way of coping but I am afraid that I will continue to push that away. My job is really flexible and my employer understanding. I have over 3 weeks of vacation accrued and I am thinking about seeing if I can get in the SAFE Intensive. That I think will be the best for me so I can submerse myself to face the things I’ve been avoiding while in a safe environment and with the support of others struggling too.
I called once to ask about admission and now I’m writing my first post so this is bringing me closer to getting the help I do need but still deny. I don’t know why I’m afraid of letting go of S.I. as an option. Maybe it’s a false sense of control.
Anyway, thanks for having this blog here so I could post my thoughts.
Just give them a call! The admission team is fabulous and they will answer all of your questions. They will collect your insurance information and ask you lots of questions. Be honest with them and remember, you are not going to surprise them with anything you have to say!
If you have been at your job for over 1yr, check into FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) – as you might qualify. This will be a way to SECURE your job while you are gone to treatment. There might also be the option of taking Medical Leave of Absence, which is usually 30days. You don’t have to disclose details to your employer and SAFE will help you get documentation, at least they promised to help me get it when I am ready to go. Do you have AFLAC? If so, get your information ready — as SAFE can also fill out information or give you the information you would need to send to them.
I haven’t gone to SAFE yet, but I have applied and I plan to go as soon as I can get the rest of the money together. I, too, plan to do the Adult Intensive program.
Just give them a call. Their staff is incredible!!! It’s okay to be scared on the phone too, I know I was, but they were patient and let me ask all of my “silly questions.”
I was at the Adult Intensive program from early May until early June. Basically, it’s extraordinarily difficult, and you’ll probably hate it at first, since you’ll be confronted right away with very painful issues. However, now that it’s over, and I’ve been home (and self-injury free) for six weeks, I have to say that going to S.A.F.E. was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and the program was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me. I still get impulses, but with the tools I learned and rediscovered there, I know how to handle them, that I can handle them, and the fact that I even want to handle them.
So basically, it’s not a cure all- but it did help way more than anything else I’ve ever tried before, and I’ve tried a lot. And it was totally worth it, and you should totally go.
Thank you so much for the encouragement. I expect it to be difficult in the beginning but also believe it will be like a rising phoenix – you have to go through the fire to be purified or reborn or to rise up from the ashes.
I really hope that financially I will be able to do this and that my employer will agree to short-term disability. This is a scary thing for me but I’m 39 and still doing the same behaviors and I’m tired of not really coping. Things have got to change for me so I can live my life!
Thanks again!