Talking about 12 Step Programs and 12 step treatment centers. How our approach at the The Foundation Clinic is different.
Here is the Transcript.
About our programme at the
Foundation Clinic and what our
how our programme is structured
and why why we've done it the
way that we have. Because We
sometimes receive a lot of
criticism that we're not a
twelve-step programme. So so in
the treatment world there are
two our programme which is the
biopsy social model versus the
Minnesota model the Minnesota
model is underpinned by the 12
step fellowships and what
happens is when people go into
a treatment facility the
treatment facility works with
the clients through the steps
and and it's been the the form
of treatment that's been around
since since the 60s when the
disease model was recognised
when alcoholism was recognized
as a disease as a result of the
success of AA and so they they
they took the twelve steps. The
spiritual principles of the
twelve steps and medicalised it
and this is where the Minnesota
model started and 12 step
treatment models being exported
around the world and many many
people have found recovery as a
result of the 12 step model.
However, science and and
addiction treatment has
progressed as we've moved away
from at the moral lens of
people that take drugs is
something there's something
morally wrong with them to the
medical model where people who
take drink and drugs that
there's something medically
wrong with them we've got a
model which is sitting in the
wellness model yes and the way
that we get people well is
through the biopsy social model
so what that means is the the
the biology of the person so
people come in and they get
detox so their body gets gets
detoxed and they get medically
cleaned out for what of a
better word. Then there's the
psychology that the people get
taught stuff while they're in
clinic and then there's a
social stuff where we create a
social environment for our
clients which we call the
therapeutic environment. And
what separates us out from the
rest of the the world I I would
say because I'm I'm I haven't
come across a programme like
ours which is continuously
changing and developing over
time. So Marilyn a clinical
psychologist in 2005 came and
spoke to us about trauma. So we
incorporated trauma into the
programme and we started to
understand the importance of
dealing with people's trauma.
Yep. So so we address that in
the programme. But our
framework, our structure is the
foundation is spiritual
principles. So if you like if
if you look at the NA
literature there's a preamble
that goes our programme is a
set of principles written so
simply we can follow them in
our daily lives and what we've
done with that is from the
twelve steps we've taken those
spiritual principles and we put
them in a framework around
people's emotions yes so the
the emotions are guilt and
shame angus atmosphere and joy
and and so the a three week
rolling programme is the first
week is spiritual principles
which is comes from twelve step
thinking and 12 step work and
we encourage our clients to go
to 12 step meetings but we have
the 12 step meetings run the
twelve step meetings by the
fellowships we don't think
philosophically we don't think
it's right to be selling
something that is is freely
given in a fellowship our
clinic. We've we've just it
feels ethically wrong to to me
personally and to to a lot of
people. Um because of the way
12 step treatment facilities
treat their clients at times.
Yep. It can be and I'm not
saying it is in every facility
but it can be quite shame
based. Or faith based in a way
that's doesn't resonate with
our philosophy. What we want is
our clients to decide works for
them. So in our treatment
facility we have fellowship
meetings that are run by the
various fellowships AANACA and
and and that should be governed
by the fellowships, hospitals
and institutions. So they
should have a a committee that
works with institutions to to
introduce the step programme as
a solution for people if they
wanted. What we do inside the
clinic is we have the twelve
steps stuck up on the on on the
walls and the reason that we do
that is people that do identify
with 12 step programmes. They
get that kind of similar
feeling should they go to
meetings anywhere in the world.
So the residents themselves in
the morning they'll have a
morning reading or something
which will be a reading from
one of the fellowship's daily
daily meditations or readings
or something and they're
encouraged to go to meetings
and to to to interact with
people in recovery. However,
there's a lot of shortcomings
that happen with within
meetings where people where
there's can be a lack of
boundaries, there can be sexual
predation, there can be all
sorts of challenges when
interacting with with mutual
aid or peer support groups. So
out there in the world it's
important that people
understand what our programme
is. We are not opposed to the
twelve step programme we
believe that the spiritual
principles are great and we
build on top of it with the the
the brain and the mind, our
thinking, metacognition,
behavioral therapy as a lot of
what are people talk about it's
about thinking about your
thinking about what's going on
so so so we integrate that into
people and what we want people
to do is when they come to the
clinic is to recognize what
their trauma was in the past
that they've been medicating to
to to over the years and to
have a look at that with sober
eye in a contained environment
just so that they can then
learn to stop using that trauma
as a justification for their
continued descent into
addiction yeah it's not our
role to kind of process all
that trauma and and to to to go
and dig dig dig there we just
want the person to kind of
recognise it and to for the
story to come out so that they
can look at it in a deeply
compassionate environment and
then the week of the programme
is community and growth and
this is what we've got here
we've got we've got a community
here we've got a community of
coaches we have the support
groups here we have the
systemic wellness practitioners
running various groups we've
got the pocket rehab meetings
we've got a whole lot of
recovery capital that can be
added to other people's
whatever works for them so some
people like to go to church.
Some people like to go to to
the mosque here. Some people
like to go to various
fellowship meetings. And we
welcome that and we encourage
that. But the boundary we have
as a clinic is we are a clinic.
And the the the word clinic
comes from French. It means
place of bedside learning. And
we have a whole lot of
professionals that are
supporting our patients and
their families. Why they are
going through the recovery
process. So we look at a
addiction as a systemic illness
which means one person's
behavior can impact a whole lot
of people so the family gets
impacted society gets impacted
so when people come to the
clinic they're taken out of
that environment and they do
pretty well in the clinic but
they then go back to those
environments that haven't
changed so part of our job is
to work with those
organizations and families to
just bring awareness and to
kind of challenge the stigma
that still sits around mental
health. So I personally get
very triggered when people
criticise our programme and say
that we're not a twelve step
programme. We're not our clinic
is **** because we don't follow
the Minnesota model. The the
and that's just not true and
and the reason I get angry is
one because it's not true. It
not there's no evidence around
supporting that and that
programmes continuously need to
adjust to the needs of the
client and their families as
opposed to so a recovery is an
emergent an emergent thing and
mental illness is something
that's that can comes and goes
so I feel very passionate about
this because families when
they're in a crisis yeah and
they don't know and somebody
talk them about recovery.
They're really open and
susceptible and they'll do
anything that anyone tells
them. Um in fact one of our
students Toby Solheim he did a
a research piece on it and and
the the the summary of his
research was that people will
do whatever they they kind of
told to do because they're
desperate. So I really wanted
to just kind of get this out to
everyone today and I hope you
watch this and understand what
our programme is about, why we
structure it the way it is and
what the recovery process is.
Our goal in treatment is to
make our clients aware of the
recovery capital that surround
them when they leave treatment
and why they're in treatment.
We're trying to enhance the
recovery capital internally for
that individual to go and
change their life. Um because
treatment believe it or not is
very traumatic for the
individuals there's a complete
break of the persona the
identity so so when people
start to to the recovery
process they start to feel
feelings that they haven't felt
for years the the the feelings
can be very high and low it's
it's it's very it's a very
tight container that we need to
contain people in that are that
are going through a traumatic
process. Trauma's like too
much, too soon, too quick,
there's a real overwhelm and
and when our clients start to
get angry, we know the process,
they're starting to get well.
They're moving out of denial.
And then we need to teach them
how to manage that anger, how
to get healthy boundaries
around it. And if you want to
relate that back to 12 steps
stuff, that would be steps one,
two and three. Yep, and which
in the spiritual principles
around that are honesty, minus
unwillingness. So do you think
you've got a a problem? Do you
want to do something about it?
And are you willing to do what
it takes? And and and that's
how we reference the twelve
step lens to our patients while
they're in treatment. So they
have the the the programme to
follow. They have the lectures
to follow. They have
therapeutic duties. They have
and that therapeutic
environment that guys start to
relate and talk to each other
around what recovery is for
them and our job as therapists
or as coaches or as
professionals is to maintain
that culture of recovery within
the clinic and within this
online community here so yeah
if you ever want to trigger me
criticize our program what
we've done we've been doing
this for like twenty 26 years
now. Just thinking and trying
to work out how best we can
support individuals and their
families. Oh hello Rasada. Wish
I could join. Look forward to
hearing this. Ah great. Well I
wish you could too Rasada. See
Rasada comes does does the
trauma stuff with our clients.
He runs groups where
constellations and trauma stuff
where he's helping the clients
look at traumatic events and to
build resilience for the
individuals. So they go out
into the outside world they can
start the process of healing
their trauma in a way that
suits them when they've got
some more resilience we just
want the person to look at it
and say oh **** okay well I was
molested as a child but I gotta
stop use stop using that as an
excuse to carry on my using to
justify my using yeah. So I'm
going to end that now. Thank
you very much. I'd love to
debate this sort of stuff. Um
I'd love to evidence it. Um and
we as an organisation or a
lived experience recovery
organisations and and what
we're trying to do here is take
people's lived experience and
to teach them how they can show
up in a professional role. And
whether that's a peer support
specialist, whether that's a
certified professional recovery
co, whether it's a systemic
wellness practitioner that's
what we're trying to do and
then we have the business
coaching which is which is
about getting relationships
right within organisations. Um
so yeah that that's my that's
my my my my rant or my
education or whatever and and
finally we have a
multidisciplinary team. So so
each person brings their
personal expertise to case
management. So doctors, medical
doctors, psychiatrists, social
worker, coaches, psychologists,
traumatologists, and and and
the the the multidisciplinary
team makes a decision around
what's going to be beneficial
for the client and what the
client is resisting and what
the family is how the family's
doing and yeah so that's what
we that's that that's our
approach and our philosophy and
our ethos. And and as community
members this is a sort of thing
that we need to maintain. Thank
you.