Sorry I'm coming to this debate a little late. But, Rowdy is correct in his description of the rebirth of interest in residential recovery services that are largely congregated around the 12-step fellowships and it certainly does look very much like an emerging UK version of the US Oxford House movement. Here are some examples http://www.parkviewproject.co.uk/ http://www.eastcoastrecovery.co.uk/ http://www.trusttheprocess.org/ http://www.thomasonline.org.uk/index.php?/Programmes/residential-rehabilitation-witton-bank.html http://acorntreatment.org/ http://www.nta.nhs.uk/news-ils-newsletter.aspx http://www.bacandoconnor.co.uk/ http://www.providenceproject.org/
And there are more emerging all the time. In turn, these developments are seeing more focus on Assertive Linkage to Mutual Aid in the shape of SMART Recovery and Twelve Step Facilitation (TSF).
For me, one of the most interesting features of all this activity is how the recovery communities come together in the face of relapse. There is growing practical interest in developing a UK version of 'Warrior Down' http://www.whitebison.org/welbriety-training-programs/documents/WarriorDown.pdf
We (in the North West Recovery Communities that Rowdy and I have written about elsewhere) came across 'Warrior Down' as a result of our close working relationship with Phil Valentine and CCAR http://www.ccar.us/ as ever we were wrestling with recovery not just being about getting off drugs and drink "...vbut as a way of experiencing life through new eyes, new thoughts, and indeed a new spirit". That working class addicts in the North of England should have so much in common with Native Americans is at first baffling. But, on closer examination, we know that "...re-establishing one's life following treatment for alcohol or substance abuse, or following incarceration requires a community effort. Without the support of a knowledgeable family and community, many who try return to healthy, productive lives find themselves frustrated by the need for job, training, education, housing, transportation, mental health care or medical support, social services, spiritual and cultural support or connections with others who value sobriety and healthy life ways."
So, there will be hundreds of heads on pillows in beds up and down the UK tonight. Most will have spent the evening at a 12 step fellowship meeting and many will go to another tomorrow night maybe after playing a game of NA rounders or a CA picnic or an AA fishing trip during the day. So, a new TC movement? Looks like it from here in sunny Manchester
Best regards
Mark Gilman
National Strategic Recovery Lead
[log in to unmask]
Mobile 07867538111
-----Original Message-----
From: Therapeutic Communities [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rowdy Yates
Sent: 24 May 2012 11:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [EFTC] Back to Basic - A New TC Movement?
Martin
I agree with the sentiment, I simply think that the European TC movement has probably gone too far down the professionalism route to turn back now and that what would be required would be some sort of new movement. In the UK, there is a rebirth of interest in recovery (after years of MMT being the principle treatment offered) and this has largely congregated around the 12-step fellowship (principally AA/NA) - mainly, I think because there was little else visibly on offer. This is because TCs and residential rehabilitation in general, have become marginalised (and thus, much less visible) in the past 2 decades.
Whbat might be required is something entirely new. In the USA, the Oxford House movement (http://www.oxfordhouse.org/userfiles/file/index.php) is a very extensive chain of self-managed sober houses lying entirely (or almost entirely) outside the normal state funding systems. Most Oxford Houses in the USA are 12-step oriented, but since the movement has yet to be established in Europe, there may be possibilities to encourage the growth of TC-oriented Oxford Houses, perhaps using the many TC-related after-care houses which already exist. Since I do want to maintain the integrity of our discussion thread around our potential campaign to save Phoenix Haga, I have re-named this message so that it will form a separate thread on the list. I do think this is something that might be worth discussing further and the EFTC list would be the place to do it. Leonard Jason and colleagues at De Paul University have studied the Oxford House movement for some years now and ight be able to offer interesting insights on this issue. Leonard is not a member of the EFTC list so I will forward this message to him and relay back any comments he is able to offer. But George De Leon IS a member of the list and I'm sure that he would have interesting perspectives to share (no pressure there then George!!).
Anyway, I think Martin has raised an interesting issue that we might like to discuss further - and of course that is precisely what this list is for.
Rowdy Yates
Senior Research Fellow
Scottish Addiction Studies
School of Applied Social Science
University of Stirling
Scotland
T: +44 (0) 1786-467737
F: +44 (0) 1786-466299
W: http://www.dass.stir.ac.uk/sections/showsection.php?id=4 (home)
W: http://www.drugslibrary.stir.ac.uk/ (online library)
________________________________________
From: Therapeutic Communities [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martin Lutterjohann [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 24 May 2012 04:41
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [EFTC] Sad News from Norway.
Rowdy,
of course you are principally right. We have that German "Synanon" which proved for decades that it does work, although this is a special case as it had been heavily supported by the Berlin Senate. We shall try here - maybe one last time - to convince the funding institutions that they can have the same success for much less money. We only need a few professional "coaches" as David Kerr puts it. As a psychologist I also profited from the present system. But too many different professionals tend to spoil the soup. We have developed TCs for chronic alcohol and substance abusers, some already dement and with Korsakoff syndrome, but they do not have a single doctor or psychologist on board. Anyway, it is again an interesting thread.
Cheers,
Martin
-------- Original-Nachricht --------
> Datum: Wed, 23 May 2012 15:07:11 +0100
> Von: Rowdy Yates <[log in to unmask]>
> An: [log in to unmask]
> Betreff: Re: [EFTC] Sad News from Norway.
> Martin
>
> Actually, it's an attractive idea. But I'm not sure the clock can be
> turned back. In order to get our hands on all that lovely Government
> money, we made a series of compromises long ago. Most significant
> amongst these was to move away from a totally self-help model to one
> which included professional staff. To go back to the original model
> would almost inevitably mean giving up all that official funding. I
> don't see many in the modern TC movement clamouring for that.
>
>
>
> Rowdy Yates
> Snr. Research Fellow
> Scottish Addiction Studies
> School of Applied Social Science
> University of Stirling.
>
> W: http://www.dass.stir.ac.uk/groups/showgroup.php?id=4 (home)
> http://www.drugslibrary.stir.ac.uk/ (library)
> T: +44 (0) 1786-467737
> M: +44 (0) 7894-864897
> F: +44 (0) 1786-466299
> E: [log in to unmask]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Therapeutic Communities
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martin
> Lutterjohann
> Sent: 22 May 2012 17:57
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [EFTC] Sad News from Norway.
>
> excellent proposal, Rowdy,
> but we should also fight for the right or chance to wind down
> therapeutic communities from what they typically are today to their
> true basics. I do not mean that we have to return to the TCs of the
> pioneering days in the 1960s and 1970s, but to a development of modern
> TCs that contain all the effective elements as we know them today but
> consequently stick to cost-effectiveness. If we compare David Kerrīs
> "Ten Competencies of the Therapeutic Community (TC)" that you sent
> around last week, especially competence 3 & 4, with the reality in
> many present-day therapeutic communities, we can see why TCs appear so expensive.
>
> Addiction treatment & rehabilitation in Germany is usually financed by
> social insurance and social welfare, while health insurance pays for
> detoxification. The social insurance institutions put very high
> demands on the staff composition of a "Fachklinik" (specialized
> residential addiction treatment and rehabilitation centers most of
> which are convinced they incorporate TC elements). To give you an
> example of staff composition at a Fachklinik for
> 100 residents where I worked in Southern Germany: 1 psychiatrist + 2
> additional medical doctors, 4 psychological psychotherapists (clinical
> psychologists)and about the same number of social workers, 3-4
> ergotherapists, only one of them a recovering alcohol addict, 2 sport
> therapists. I may have ommitted one or two more professionals apart
> from administrative staff. Hard to avoid TC counter-productive dynamics with so many professionals.
> The cost of TCs in Scandinavia has traditionally even been much more
> expensive than in Germany I believe. I was amazed at the daily rate
> per resident in Swedish TCs, say 2 decades ago, but within a short
> period they disappeared one by one. I had always considered Phoenix
> House Haga a lucky exception in Scandinavia, possibly because of
> wealthy Norway that still could afford "the luxury of a TC". But obviously this is not the case any more.
>
> Martin Lutterjohann
>
> Hon.Vicepresident EFTC
>
--
The Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2009/2010 The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159.
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