Help to prepare friend for college.

Post Reply New Topic

So my friend applied for college in the fall. The way she's going right now she's not going to succeed in college. She's heavily into drugs and drinking and she has schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, ADD and learning disabilities. She's gone to college before so I know that she can do it, I'm just trying to help her get into the right frame of mind before school starts. She already got into the program she wants to take. We're supposed to go to the same college in the fall.

I was thinking that I'd try and be a mentor to her this summer to try and get her on the right track. I want to do more than just being there for her. I want to actually help her turn her life around and get her engaged with learning. I want to come up with a program that will benefit her and at the same time reinforce me into getting back into the whole school routine. I want to make it productive and educational yet fun. I figured I'd make an agenda for what topic we'd be concentrating each week. I was thinking the first half of the program each week we'll be focusing on mostly mental health and the second half will be mostly college prep. She's already agreed that it sounds like a good activity for us to try out and it's time better spent than spending her money on alcohol and drugs.

I was thinking that we could probably meet up one or two times a week and go over stuff. Right now I'm thinking of topics that we could do each week. I also don't know which topic I should choose for what week. Some topics that I came up with are:

-Studying different things for your field. (She's going into Vet Tech so I was thinking we could dedicate the week into researching things about animals by computer, going to library, bookstores and maybe going to the zoo)
-Me Week (We'll get pedicures, manicures, maybe go for massages and get some clothes)
-Grounding Exercises (To ground us back into reality for psychosis and anxiety)
-Memory Week (strategies to help improve the memory)
-Note Taking Week (tips on how to take notes)
-Organization Week (tips on how to organize notes, purse, binders, backpack, locker, etc.)
-Controlling anxiety
-Self-Esteem Week
-something about not letting your emotions control you

Anyway, that's what I have so far. Any ideas on different topics or ideas for implementing any of the above topics would be appreciated. Also what order should I do them? It would be especially good if anybody has any of the above mental disorders or a learning disability to give advice. I know enough advice to be able to give it to her but any tips that you've used first-hand would be appreciated. I'd be learning a lot of things at the same time as well. It's kind of like a learning experience for both of us that I want to try out.

Good for you for wanting to help your friend!

Unfortunately, the person with the most power to deal with a drug and booze user, is the person with the problem. If that person isn't ready to change their ways, then change won't happen until they are ready.

So don't be too upset if your program doesn't work. However, definitely do give it a shot. Sometimes, knowing someone cares enough to make that kind of an effort over them, can help the person make the choice to give up the drugs and booze.

As for your friend's mental health issues, she will need professional help to deal with those, and may need meds, too. However, it's best if she is off the drugs and booze before medicating, as drugs and booze can have bad reactions with the meds. This could cause serious health problems, or even death. She should still go see a psych doc, though, as there are other ways they can help her in the mean time.

And good luck with your college courses!