Pathways to care: Narratives of American Indian adolescents entering substance abuse treatment

► Mixed methods study of pathways to care narratives described by American Indian adolescents in substance abuse treatment. ► How adolescents understand their entry into treatment has important implications for their experiences in treatment. ► When adolescents describe their pathway to care as one that they agreed to, they report a greater readiness for treatment. ► The inability of adolescents to articulate their pathway to care reduced the likelihood of completing treatment. ► A focus on encouraging adolescents to reflect on and understand how they got to treatment may have therapeutic benefits.