Craig,
Many thanks for the information and the way in which you have connected it.
There have already been preliminary talks with ATC & CoC, but clearly, as
you say there is room and reason for more focus.
If it's ok with you, I'll send the points which you make to the EFTC Board,
and if possible move forward with this.
Anthony Slater.
Director, Phoenix Haga.
President, E.F.T.C.
Folkenborgveien 198,
1850 Mysen, Norway.
Tel: + 47 69 89 82 50.
Fax: + 47 69 89 82 51.
e-post: [log in to unmask]
http://www.phoenixhouse.no
http://www.eftc-europe.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Therapeutic Communities
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Craig Fees
Sent: 1. februar 2006 12:21
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Totalitarian TC
ATC, of course, spawned the Community of Communities project now at
the Royal College of Psychiatrists, in part to address this issue in
a therapeutic community way:
www.rcpsych.ac.uk/cru/communityofcommunities.htm .
From that has come a publishing project, underfunded, of course, but
slowly pushing ahead, on Therapeutic Communities in Europe, as part
of a broader series of volumes on Therapeutic Community Around the
World. The basic structure is a Country-by-Country and
sector-by-sector directory/guide to therapeutic community. This would
or could be one place to work out how to indicate which "TCs" fall
where. As a term which has been around since before the Second World
War, I don't think anyone could trademark or patent or copyright
"Therapeutic Community" or its various national translations
(Therapeutische gemeinschaft; comunita terapeutica; communaute
therapeutique and so on); but there could be an agreed 'kite mark' -
a form of endorsement - used by EFTC/ATC/CoC to indicate communities
which they are prepared to recognise as fit and proper in their terms
The new TC-OF web-site won't be up and active for a while yet, but
the "Therapeutic Communities in Europe" project has an ongoing draft
list of therapeutic communities in Europe on the old site, at
http://www.tc-of.net/webex/9 . At least one of the communities listed
there has been questioned already on this list. Perhaps a more
positive approach would be for EFTC/ATC/CoC/ perhaps CHG
(Charterhouse Group of Therapeutic Communities) and others to agree a
way to indicate those it recognises. A symbol of some kind, which
could go before or after the community's name in the listing.
It would also be helpful to develop a dialogue - here or on the TC-OF
email list, or both, or somewhere else if there is some better place
- about those TCs (or places calling themselves TCs) of which you/we
don't "approve", and why. The real route forward is an informed
community of people, sharing information, which is something this new
Internet-based technology makes wildly possible. The new TC-OF
web-site, being wiki-based and therefore editable on-line, will
enable an even greater degree of sharing and communication.
Craig
At 10:09 01/02/2006, you wrote:
>Dear Salvatore,
>
>Many thanks for your message; I guess that you may well be right
>regarding "organisations" that refer to themselves as "T.C". We have
>also heard of the independent operators, who masquerade as
>therapeutic communities in the past.
>
>It would be interesting to find a way to deal with this; I must
>confess that I warm to the copyright or trademark suggestion; it
>would be a good point for discussion at the next board meeting?
>Perhaps we could also discuss the idea with the ATC and seek to join
>together about issue.
>
>Anthony Slater.
>
>Director, Phoenix Haga.
>President, E.F.T.C.
>Folkenborgveien 198,
>1850 Mysen, Norway.
>Tel: + 47 69 89 82 50.
>Fax: + 47 69 89 82 51.
>e-post:
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]
>http://www.phoenixhouse.no
><http://www.eftc-europe.com>http://www.eftc-europe.com
>
>
>From: Therapeutic Communities
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of RAIMO
SALVATORE
>Sent: 1. februar 2006 10:01
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: The Totalitarian TC
>
>dear tony,
>I don't think that the episode is impossible to happen in certain
>places which call themself TC. the fact is that "TC" has many
>meanings or representations and there exist no shared quality
>criteria about how a TC has to function.
>I think that we all know programs, which we would not necessarely
>call a TC, but they define themself TC and present themself as TC to
>the pubblic opinion. I think that TC should become a kind of
>registered trademark, and for using this term, organizations have to
>fulfill strict criterias.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>Anthony Slater
>To:
><mailto:[log in to unmask]>THERAPEUTIC-COMMUNITIES@JISC
MAIL.AC.UK
>
>Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 8:58 PM
>Subject: Re: The Totalitarian TC
>
>Rowdy & all,
>
>On a more serious note, I have looked at this old posting once
>again, and tried to discover the e-mail address (s) of the authors.
>My search (not very long I admit) took me to something called
>Addict-L, but I was not prepared to spend more time looking. If you
>or anyone else has the e-mail addresses of these people who are so
>misinformed about the quality of treatment, standards of practice
>which exist in bona fide European therapeutic communities, then
>please do send it to me.
>
>The European Federation of Therapeutic Communities has members in 20
>(now 21, new aspirant member) countries throughout the European
>continent. The codes of practice are shown on our web site at
><http://www.eftc-europe.com/>www.eftc-europe.com , we have clear
>expectations regarding resident's rights and codes of conduct, and
>we demand the highest level of professionalism from all members.
>
>I and I'm sure my colleagues are more than willing to meet with
>these persons and they can explain to me / us, and or if they would
>care to send to me the address and names of the totalitarian "vomit
>eating" therapeutic communities & directors, I would be more than
>willing to visit these places and play my part on behalf of the EFTC
>to expose this "vomit" methodology for what it is.
>
>However, if these persons are just throwing slander, so to speak,
>then this is a waste of space. In the event that the authors are
>based in the USA, then I will be available to hear something more
>than gossip, in September in New York.
>
>I cannot for one moment accept that within the 21st century, in
>regulated European therapeutic communities that this practice takes place.
>
> Anthony Slater
>
>
>----------
>From: Therapeutic Communities
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rowdy Yates
>Sent: 31 January 2006 13:41
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: The Totalitarian TC
>
>
>Hi
>
>Just come across this old posting to another list. It's mainly
>attacking me about an earlier posting to that list regarding the
>roots of TCs. For some rewason, I don't think i saw it at the
>time. I think it's quite interesting though (even if he is a bit
>rude to me!). Deiner, the author is apparently that rare beast in
>the USA, a Marxist. He clearly doesn't know I'm an ex-Communist
>Party member myself! If nothing else, it tells us something about
>where the opposition positions us:
>
> Maia criticizes the European-model TC, and reports a case of
>'vomit-eating therapy'. Yates casts doubt on the truth of this anecdote,
>and points to inaccuracy in Maia's account. But he promises to check the
>facts.
>
> Tabloid-journalistic controversies of this sort are reactionary in
>nature, regardless of how the facts check out.
>
> True or false (and it would not be the first time that an angry
>ex-patient had exaggerated the abuse he/she was subjected to), National
>Enquirer-type exposes only lead to the conclusion that EXCESSES should be
>prevented.
>
> But Yates does not approve of excesses. (At least, 'vomit-eating
>therapy' is not listed in the index of his book, co-edited with Barbara
>Rawlings, Therapeutic Communities for the Treatment of Drug Users).
>
> Like Geraldo, Maia makes a big splash that signifies very little.
Yates
>and others are willingly to denounce such abuses, and we end up with joint
>approval for 'responsible' TCs. Sensationalism always has this status-quo
>endorsing effect. By criticizing 'extremists', yellow-journalism endorses
>the mainstream. The National Enquirer, like Maia, is really reactionary.
>
> The real issue isn't 'abuse' in a few TCs. The issue is the nature
of
>the GOOD TC. What is this movement all about? What are its cultural
>origins? What social and economic interests does it represent?
>
> In the U.S., the early tie of Synanon to the broader TC movement is
>interesting, NOT because of specific abuses, but rather because this tie
>reveals the underlying cultural values and assumptions of the whole TC
>movement. The widespread, early admiration for Synanon shows the
>TOTALITARIAN potential inherent in all TCs. Synanon indicates where TC
>values can lead.
>
> Yates denies that Synanon was the original model for the European TC.
>True enough. But he errs when he claims that the AMERICAN TC movement
>originated with Synanon. Though Synanon was influential in the U.S. fairly
>early on, the real origin of the American TC was the BRITISH
>military-psychiatry example. That is, American TCs and British TCS grow
out
>of the same cultural roots.
>
> Yates dissembles, surely intentionally, when he claims that the
European
>TC had a "democratic" origin.. This is pure bullshit, and Yates must know
>it. His own book is part of a series which includes Tom Harrison's Bion,
>Rickman, Foulkes and the Northfield Experiments: Advancing on a Different
>Front (1999, Jessica Kingsley Publishers), and also the edited volume by
>Penelope Campling and Rex Haigh (1999), Therapeutic Communities: Past,
>Present and Future, which contains an historical-summary article by Tom
>Harrison.
>
> I feel sure Yates knows this material.
>
> The European TC had its roots in BRITISH MILITARY psychiatry, during
WW
>II. The TC model was part of a 'war against mental illness', which itself
>was thought of as an integral part of the larger war effort. The goal was
>NEVER a democratic one. Instead, the goal was always to indoctrinate with
>patriotic, traditional values those youths who had failed to 'do their
>duty'. The goal was to shore up, and juice up, the cannon fodder, and get
>it back out on the front lines. 'Democracy'??? Pshaw!
>
> Today, the 'community unity/productive work/moral values' rhetoric
of
>Yates, and his TC buddies, is part of a broader neo-conservative upsurge in
>the U.K. This is the rhetoric of the reborn British right, with its call
>for 'spiritual values' and 'cultural unity' (imposed by neo-totalitarian
>means, such as the TC). E.g.:
>
> "Mrs. Thatcher wants her grandson Michael to grow up in a world
where
>'people accept their responsibilities to others. After all you are here to
>use your talents and abilities, and you really only use them as part of a
>community' [she said]."
>
> "Thatcher said. . . that she yearned for the return of traditional
>values of fairness, integrity, honesty and courtesy. She was particularly
>worried about young people, who were 'crying out' for a code of behaviour
by
>which they could live their lives."
>
> (both quotations from P. Heelas, 1991, "Reforming the Self:
>Enterprise and the Character of Thatcherism," in Enterprise Culture, ed. by
>R. Keat and N. Abercrombie, London, Routledge).
>
> Neo-conservative politicians and paymasters are wanting a mechanism
by
>which to teach the youth a 'code of conduct'. This code must conform to
>neo-conservative values. Yates and his buddies have a 'code of conduct',
>and a mechanism for inculcating the code into restive youths, to sell.
>
> Of course, the TC advocates in the U.K. are in competition with others
>moral entrepreneurs. And some of the others promise more 'bang for the
>Pound'.
>
> TC indoctrination centers have to compete with punishment advocates,
>with short-term 'therapy' afficiandos, with the 'drug-'em-up' crowd, and
>even with the New Religious Right. Each 'therapeutic alternative' tries to
>capture market share. Government-corporate money and support decides who
>wins, who loses. This jockeying for political-economic influence is not
>'democracy at work'.
>
> The decay of the British economy, and the dismantling of the British
>welfare state, has resulted in a massive fallout of 'mental health
>problems'. 'Addiction' is one such problem. The TC is a totalitarian
>means of indoctrinating reactionary values into disaffected persons, as a
>means of overcoming resistance to reactionary social changes.
>
> TC indoctrination, drugging the poor, jails and punishments, and
other
>mechanisms of social control all form part of a SINGLE process. The
British
>rush to join the U.S. in its global 'War on Drugs/Terrorism' is part of
this
>same process. And 'addiction' is a core myth at the heart of this upsurge
>in international political reaction.
>
> To understand this complex cultural and political event requires
more
>than a yellow-journalistic rants about 'vomit-eating therapy'. What is
>needed is a serious and careful inquiry into the historical, cultural, and
>political-economic bases of the 'anti-addiction' crusade.
>
> Cultural-historical inquiry has much to tell us about where we are
>today, and where our societies are headed. Unfortunately, on Addict-L,
>there seems to be little interest in where the anti-addiction crusade, or
>the TC, has come from.
>
>
>
>Rowdy Yates
>Senior Research Fellow
>Scottish Addiction Studies
>Department of Applied Social Science
>University of Stirling
>
>E: [log in to unmask]
>
>T: 01786 - 467737
>
>W:
><http://www.dass.stir.ac.uk/sections/scot-ad/>http://www.dass.stir.ac.uk/se
ctions/scot-ad/
>
>--
>
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Dr. Craig Fees
Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre
Church Lane
Toddington
near Cheltenham
Glos. GL54 5DQ
United Kingdom
Phone/fax 01242 620125
Email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.pettarchiv.org.uk
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