Hooray, Beyond Shelter!! (Beyond Rehab… ring a bell?) “Beyond Shelter is a non-profit organization founded in 1988 in response to increasing numbers of homeless families in Los Angeles and the need for a more comprehensive approach to serving them.”
That is what I’ve been saying about drug and alcohol addiction, drug and alcohol rehabs: We see an increasing number of rehabs and addicts, yet, we mechanically prescribe the same method of “help” to people struggling with addiction—clearly, there is a need for a more comprehensive approach to the problem. (I’m currently working on a project that addresses that issue, some of which dates back to the early 1980′s when drug rehabs began popping up everywhere throughout the US along with their misleading approach to recovery. Most rehab programs continue to base their treatment on that largely ineffective approach to addiction recovery. More on that in future posts.)
Beyond Shelter (…relate strategies 1, 2 & 3 to addiction in society): “Today, the mission of the agency is to develop systemic approaches to combat poverty and homelessness among families with children, and to enhance family economic security and well-being. Beyond Shelter accomplishes this mission through the following strategies: (1) responsive service delivery, (2) people-centered community development, and (3) the creation of knowledge for social change.” Beautiful.
The Housing First Project, based in Los Angeles (Skid Row), is another brilliant development which was “created as a time-limited relationship designed to empower participants and foster self-reliance, not engender dependence….” (This is an opposite approach to that of Alcoholics Anonymous, which, no matter how desperate I became or how hard I tried, never taught me to walk on my own two feet.)
I want to drop one more gem into this mix of fantastic people who truly care about people struggling with addiction. Here is a snippet of a fabulous, critical interview with My favorite M.D., Dr. Gabor Maté:
AMY GOODMAN:What do you mean, it takes people off the hook?
DR. GABOR MATÉ: Well, if people’s behaviors and dysfunctions are regulated, controlled and determined by genes, we don’t have to look at child welfare policies, we don’t have to look at the kind of support that we give to pregnant women, we don’t have to look at the kind of non-support that we give to families, so that, you know, most children in North America now have to be away from their parents from an early age on because of economic considerations. And especially in the States, because of the welfare laws, women are forced to go find low-paying jobs far away from home, often single women, and not see their kids for most of the day. Under those conditions, kids’ brains don’t develop the way they need to.
And so, if it’s all caused by genetics, we don’t have to look at those social policies; we don’t have to look at our politics that disadvantage certain minority groups, so cause them more stress, cause them more pain, in other words, more predisposition for addictions; we don’t have to look at economic inequalities. If it’s all genes, it’s all—we’re all innocent, and society doesn’t have to take a hard look at its own attitudes and policies.
I’ve been asked to take part in a new book on addiction recovery. Here is a portion of my answer to a question regarding “loss” due to addiction and also the “threat of loss” as a motivator for change.
“There are so many things I missed out on because of my past. There are also so many things I have gained on a very deep, psychological level that I would have missed out on had I lived an easy life. Because I have survived, what I have gained is what is most important today, not what I “could have done.” I would be lying if I said I never felt some sadness about things I might have lost, but that is true for most everyone as they look back on their lives, not just people who were caught up in addiction. What I aim to do now is help others who struggle as I have, by sharing what I have learned.
When I quit drinking (and smoking) this last time around, it was not just because my life was in danger. While it is true that my life was threatened by many years of substance abuse, saving my life was not by itself what explains my success this time. At the same time I was saving my life, I was also challenging life. I wanted life to prove to me that it was worth living. I wanted to know if there really was more to life than misery or the mundane daily existence I usually experienced without substances. As I say in my book: “I resolved right there to hold on to see what-if anything-is at the end of the rainbow…on the other side of the fence…across the bridge….”
There are several probing and important questions in the interview. I’ll link to the book as soon as it’s available.
Go Go Rach and Alex Crabtree invited me to Extreme Writing Now to talk about my AA Alternative self-help/memoir, From Death Do I Part: How I Freed Myself From Addiction. Listen below.
It is not enough to tell me your drug and alcohol rehab does not include AA or the 12-Steps. While my standard of a potentially long-term beneficial drug and alcohol rehab must include that very important ingredient, that is not enough to convince me that a rehab program is a good one. Not even close.
This morning I was shown the ad for a particularly well-marketed — a.k.a., well-funded — Malibu rehab facility. I’ve been aware of this place for several years now and while it does claim to run a Non-AA program, simply eliminating a noxious ingredient does not thereby create a delicious meal.
I was a patient in another luxury Malibu drug and alcohol rehab in 1997 so this is not a case of Malibu-by-the-sea envy. And it has nothing to do with the fact that the drug counselor at that facility kindly reached his oh-so-healing-hands up under my shirt when I shared my struggles. My point has to do with the less than integrity-driven treatment that is being delivered behind the doors of many (many!) drug and alcohol rehabs. The Malibu rehab program I was in — just like all the others — served not only to feed my cynicism, it left me feeling even more hopeless than when I first checked in. I think I lasted about 10 or 12 days after finishing that program before I went out and downed three large bottles of Sapporo beer and countless cups of sake and then passed out. No, the luxuriousness of a rehab is not what heals addiction. And, having been in both scuzzy rehabs and luxury rehabs, I can say that the main difference between the two is the quality of the food.
Having said that, I’ve noticed a change in rehab advertising lately. A change jumping on a trend. That’s frightening when we’re dealing with a person’s life — is it trendy or is there something truly integrity-driven and beneficial going on?
When the general public learns that a certain ingredient is unhealthy it becomes unpopular in the marketplace and people tend to avoid it. We then see businesses marketing their products as special because they lack that particular harmful ingredient. They know… if people see a product that does not contain the latest unpopular ingredient, they will automatically assume it is good for them — and their loved ones — and they will buy it.
When it comes to drug and alcohol rehab facilities it takes more than just pulling AA and the 12-Steps from the program to convince me that the program is of value to people struggling with addictive behavior. What are the ingredients the program is using — traditional psychotherapy… dig up your childhood ’til you puke therapy? Again, not good enough. It is also not enough to tell me your rehab runs longer than 30 days. While it is true that lasting transformation of this sort almost always takes longer than 30 days of practice to acquire, a mistaken approach does not lead to healing no matter how long you extend it.
I was going through some notes I took while writing my book and I was reminded how important it is to know that even in our deepest moments of despair, we are never alone. My message is always that there is hope no matter how lost in the darkness of despair a person might become.
My notes inspired me to create a Flash cartoon video called, “You Are Never Alone.” You can see the video here.
CD I gave out at the talk with the not yet released song, "Where Do You Go," which relates to my book: you're not alone, there's hope.
Thursday’s book talk is posted on youtube, www.youtube.com/user/fromdeathdoipart. Part one is me talking and reading from Chapter 1, Part 2 is talking and reading from Chapter 34, Part 3 is Q & A with the audience.
I’ll be posting a short Flash cartoon I made to the same youtube channel soon so check back (here or on youtube). It’s cute. It’s called, “You’re Never Alone.”
If you’re in the Los Angeles area, please stop by Village Books in the Pacific Palisades for a book signing and reading with me, November 4th at 7:30pm (I lived in the Palisades as a teen—this is a significant one). Details here…
Hooray, Beyond Shelter!! (Beyond Rehab… ring a bell?) “Beyond Shelter is a non-profit organization founded in 1988 in response to increasing numbers of homeless families in Los Angeles and the need for a more comprehensive approach to serving them.”
If you’re in the Los Angeles area, please stop by Village Books in the Pacific Palisades for a book signing and reading with me, November 4th at 7:30pm (I lived in the Palisades as a teen—this is a significant one). 
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