When a DWI Arrest Catalyzes Change

 Posted on May 05, 2021 in Uncategorized

Those who endure DWI arrest usually see it as a disaster far better to have avoided. What possible good can come from a DWI, with all its cost, loss, and embarrassment? Yet experience shows that sometimes a DWI can be a catalyst to badly needed change. In the best case, the crisis intervention and professional support that accompanies a well-managed DWI can reset one's life on its proper flourishing course.

That career-saving and life-saving reset may be exactly what happened in the recently reported story of a Texas state representative arrested on a DWI. The story reports that the representative failed a roadside sobriety test after he crashed his vehicle into another vehicle on the representative's way home from the state capitol, causing minor injuries to the van's occupants.

Within days, the representative had publicly admitted that he is an alcoholic, to the cheers of his state-house colleagues appreciating the personal and public value, and courage and boldness, of the healthy self-disclosure. The story reports that the representative, who had long worked with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, had already sought alcohol-abuse treatment, completing the first three steps of the traditional twelve-step program.

Resources for Lasting Change

Too many who successfully navigate DWI charges do so with only temporary bandages placed over the larger personal problem that led to the DWI, rather than by making needed deeper changes. Some DWI charges are also anomalous, when the defendant has no addiction issue whatsoever and just had the poor fortune of getting caught on a one-time thing. And DWI charges can also be wrong, erroneous, mistaken, exaggerated, and unjust.

Yet a DWI can also be exactly the sort of crisis to reveal deep-seated personal problems. Recognizing those problems, though, is one thing, while addressing those problems is another. Addressing alcoholism, drug abuse, or other personal problems leading to a DWI is hard to do alone. Big personal change typically takes the willingness to admit the problem to others and then to get others' help, just as the representative in the above story appears to have done.

Fortunately, twelve-step recovery programs like the one that this representative pursued are widely available in Texas. One resource site lists Texas twelve-step programs county by county, for both alcoholism and drug-abuse rehabilitation. The same site even lists twelve-step and other rehab programs for which Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurers will pay. Accessibility probably isn't the big issue. Willingness to admit the need and get help is more likely the big issue. Good for the representative in the above story who has taken those steps.

Get Help Making the Best of a Bad DWI Situation

Personal change isn't the only thing to address when arrested on a DWI. One must also deal straight-up with the DWI charge. The best one can do when arrested on a Houston-area DWI charge is to retain Board Certified DWI Specialist Doug Murphy. Attorney Murphy not only has the reputation, skills, and standing to effectively assert the defendant's constitutional and other rights, to beat the DWI charge. He also knows how to help clients recognize and get the help to address addiction and other personal issues contributing to the DWI. Trust 2021 Houston DWI Lawyer of the Year Doug Murphy with your DWI defense. He is one of only two Texas lawyers holding both DWI Board Certification and Criminal Law Certification. Contact Murphy & McKinney Law Firm, P.C. online or at 713-229-8333 to discuss your case today.