There are multiple advantages to facilitating a treatment and recovery program right in the community rather than continuing to send community members to outside treatment programs. It appears far too many outside facilities have not proven themselves to be very effective in helping to resolve the multiple issues that have been so instrumental in causing the peoples addictions in the first place, as a result of the failure rate of many outside treatment programs, the individual, their family and the community itself continues to suffer from the ravages of addiction and addictions related issues. The best way to help the community members realize sobriety and to ultimately succeed in their ongoing sobriety is by giving them the opportunity to look at all aspects of their substance use, misuse, and addictions. The main concern that we have with many outside treatment programs is the fact they only deal with a small part of the problem, they get the client sober and somewhat stable while they are in a treatment facility but all too often little is being done to prepare the client for their return to the community and the challenges they will ultimately face, and, little is being done for the family to help them better understand the role(s) they will ultimately play in the individuals ongoing sobriety or failure to stay sober. Here is what we conclude to be the biggest major problem with many outside treatment programs; they only treat one part of the problem and ignore the other two very critical parts that need effective treatment as well. The individuals problem becomes the family’s problem, the family’s problem then becomes the community’s problem; naturally in order to have an effective treatment and recovery program all three aspects need to be treated at the same time. There are of course additional issues regarding outside treatment programs; many individuals don’t want to leave their family for a 28 day to six-weeks or longer program, many outside treatment programs only have the time and resources to deal with the basics of recovery, thus the client has very little chance of actually succeeding at long term sobriety. This is evident by the number of times people have returned to a treatment center, some people we have met over the many years we have worked in the addictions field had attended outside treatment programs as many as 10 times and were still drinking and still trapped in their addictions. This makes it very obvious that something is terribly wrong with the programs in many of the treatment facilities that are currently operating.

Following is a brief description of services that can be provided over a 6-month period based on our recovery team facilitating an in-community healing, recovery, training and empowerment program in your community.

Home visit program
The home visit program will be ongoing throughout each of the early components of community treatment to educate and encourage community members to attend the various sessions. All community members will receive supportive counseling, guidance and direction regarding personal and family issues to help them realize the impact their substance use is having on them, their family and their community. They will also learn how to recover from the issues that are fueling their substance abuse. We will also provide community members with personal assessments and profiles to help them understand where their pain and anger is coming from and what level their addictions are at. The profiles will also help them move beyond the blocked state of acceptance many of them may be in. This is a psychological profile to get them involved in a solutions based healing and empowerment program for themselves and their families. The focus of course is on healing their core issues, this will ultimately lead them to long-term sobriety.

Detoxification program
Because there are a variety of substances the people are abusing there will be a variety of detox programs offered within the community. Most people will be offered the means to detox within the community based on their level of addiction. We will be using natural medicines and vitamins whenever possible to assist them with detoxification and only those needing more intense detox will be required to attend a supervised withdrawal program. In most cases we will work in concert with the community health representative, doctors and nurses. If by chance there are no supportive health services available within the community and any community members require outside detox we will negotiate an agreement with any available detoxification facilities for priority admittance for these particular community clients.

Group therapy circles
The group therapy sessions will be kept in the beginning stages to individual groups of
• Adult males
• Adult females
• Male youth
• Female youth
Group therapy will help individuals with recovery empowerment circles and help them begin to feel comfortable enough to share their issues with others in their respective circle. This process will be similar to the highly successful program Lee Mason directed when providing counseling services in various supportive recovery facilities. This component teaches participants all aspects of recovery and treatment including the newcomers group concept and the newcomers early stage recovery education, changing patterns and behaviors, what is a 12 step program, daily group therapy sessions, individual counseling sessions, relapse prevention education, support circles with other clients in recovery, changing playgrounds and playmates, in other words learning healthier living skills and networking with others in recovery. Clients moving through second stage recovery will be assisted to walk through the pain that led them to take up the substances in the first place. Almost all addictions are shame based addictions, in other words it is the shame inflicted by neglect and various forms of abuse including physical, sexual, emotional and Spiritual abuse that have fueled the addiction in the first place, so it only makes sense that in order for the client to truly experience ongoing recovery they must also have the opportunity to learn how to walk through their pain and deeply rooted issues while they are in a supportive recovery program. One of the greatest detriments to persons seeking recovery are treatment and/or recovery programs that are shame based, We have witnessed through clients that are now experiencing long term wellness that the best way to help clients truly experience happiness in recovery is with supportive recovery programming rather than shame based therapy programs, thus we use and teach supportive recovery techniques only. The supportive recovery program taking place in the community will also provide an ongoing support network among clients that have graduated through various stages of the program, thus the chances of relapse and any ongoing need for continued treatment programs are further minimized.

Mixed group therapy circles
Over time the individual groups will be brought together to share their recovery together. This will allow a natural development of ongoing empowerment support groups.

Alcohol and drug educational video nights
These ongoing sessions will help everyone learn more about the effects of alcohol, drugs, solvents and inhalants on individuals and their families. We have a very extensive video library that covers a wide array of solvents, drugs, alcohol and addictions related issues. The video sessions provide clients with a clearer insight into substance use, misuse and addiction, which naturally leads them to the conclusion that recovery from substance abuse is in their best interests.

Co-dependency group
This component helps women and young girls gain an understanding about co-dependent behaviors and how to break the cycle of co-dependency. Women and young girls learn the differences between being co-dependent, independent, and interdependent. The focus is on helping them become interdependent in a healthy manner. These sessions are enlightening, empowering, and participants enjoy doing the exercises and sharing laughter together about the many topics that come up. This is not a man-bashing group; it is about gaining a healthier respect for self and bringing a healthier female balance back into their families and the community. As the community healing program advances there will be sessions where the men are invited to attend the co-dependency group to learn more about healthier communication with the women of the community.

Couples counseling including guidance and direction
It is very important to have couples counseling available to members so we will be providing educational videos combined with one to one plus pairs counseling. Once again this program is not about blame or shame, it is about understanding and respect, opening the lines of communication between couples and giving them a forum to safely address their issues and concerns.

Couples group
Eventually the couples will be invited to join a couples group where they will be able to share their strengths together and also provide ongoing support to others entering relationships or those that may be experiencing difficulties in child rearing and other important relationship issues. The objective is to get a solid group of couples together to act in the best interests of the community at large, in other words, couples leading by example.

Family counseling including guidance and direction
This is a two-part process including education combined with one to one and family counseling components to help people understand the effects of alcoholism, drug abuse and addiction on the entire family, and other related problems in families. Participants will learn more about family development and functioning, family systems interactions, the characteristics and stages of addiction as a family problem, we will also be doing Genograms to help everyone see how alcohol and its related problems have affected their family and their community. People like using this process for two reasons; it shows them the devastating impact substances have had on their entire family and how interconnected we really are as people. It’s also a very good tool to bring an end to the infighting we see in so many communities today; it also teaches in a very natural way that we can begin to focus on our similarities rather than our differences. People will also learn the characteristics of a functioning family and a non-functioning family, learn better ways people can deal with differences in their families, gain an understanding of treatment and recovery for the family, focusing on healing the family and reuniting the family as a healthier system. One of the biggest flaws in most treatment and recovery programs is the lack of a family wellness component, the reason relapse rates are so high is due in a majority of cases to the fact the clients are sent back to a non-functioning family unit and in many cases a non-functioning community. The concept of supportive recovery within the community is to provide a full range of addictions recovery services within the community itself thereby leading directly to individual, family and community wellness. Participants also learn and experience the inter-relatedness of individual treatment and community healing, helping the family and ultimately the community to experience long term sobriety, happier and healthier families provide the stability that enhances ongoing community wellness.

Family group
Eventually the families will be invited to join a family group where they will be able to share their strengths together and also provide ongoing support to others entering relationships that may be experiencing difficulties in child rearing and other important family issues. The objective is to get a solid group of families together to act in the best interests of the community at large, in other words, families leading by example.

Children’s counseling including guidance and direction
A continuing program focusing on art therapy and one to one counseling dealing with anger issues, abandonment and loss issues the children are experiencing. We will also be bringing them into a talking circle that will lead to the development of a children’s wellness circle.

Healthy youth group
Open topic talking circles will focus on youth issues and youth influences, what is needed by the community youth to ensure they have a better future. It is only a very short period of time before many of the youth in the community are going to become young adults. It is important that we start preparing them now to become the healthy young adults the community will need in order to continue along a path of wellness. Helping the youth develop healthy communication skills among themselves is a critical component of this youth group. Learning to resolve issues in a healthy manner, learning to speak with respect and understanding for the feelings of others. Learning to be a healthy role model and a healthy leader to the younger community members. Learning the importance of making positive lifestyle choices or having to live with the consequences of making poor choices. The healthy youth group can ultimately have a select group of their own peers selected as a youth chief and council that will become the healthy spokespersons for community youth. Youth concerns and youth issues can then be presented to leadership by the youth chief and council. What we are doing with this approach is starting to prepare our future leaders today and giving them an understanding of the responsibilities they will be facing in the future. There is also great emphasis placed on the importance of the youth completing their education and how getting involved in alcohol and drug abuse will impede their personal growth and the growth of our communities in the future. We are very focused on preparing a healthy youth movement today, this is a very empowering group for youth to take part in, designed to put a good sense of self in their lives.

Grief and trauma recovery program
This will be an ongoing program across all age groups and available to all families. There will be a total of 6 one week sessions focused on deep trauma healing throughout the 24-week community treatment program. The main focus of this program is healing the underlying issues that have been so instrumental in creating substance misuse and the resultant addictions and other self destructive and self defeating behaviors we see in so many of our communities where the lives of people are impacted by unresolved traumas and a wide variety of additional unresolved issues.
Healing core issues is the key factor in helping people escape their addictions, this is where some treatment centers often fail clients so miserably, core issues are overlooked and it simply sets the client up for ongoing relapses and the need to return to the treatment facility for additional treatment. There are numerous situations that have happened in communities that have created a deep emotional pain in it’s people, unresolved losses due to accidental deaths, natural deaths, homicides, suicides and, abuses people have experienced including sexual, emotional, physical, psychological and spiritual abuses. Many people have not had a real opportunity to grieve their losses or heal from their abuses in a healthy manner, this has created a sense of ongoing sadness in their lives and in most cases a sense of deep shame, many believe they have no other way to cover up this sadness and sense of shame other than by turning to alcohol and drugs for comfort. Many people have gone through multiple forms of abuse and neglect in their life, this has created a deeply rooted sense of anger and resentment and shame, these have played and continue to play a significant and often very destructive role in their personal relationships, their family relationships and their interpersonal relationships with the other members of their community. It is these unresolved issues that are the cause of almost all forms of addictions and, until these issues are properly treated, the people experiencing addictions and addictions related problems in their lives will unfortunately remain trapped in a downward spiral of self defeating and self destructive behavior patterns and, will experience ongoing difficulties trying to escape their addictions. Part of the peer development program included in this community treatment program also provides grief recovery training for select community members so they can provide ongoing healing services for their people, including providing services to other communities.

Anger management and healthy communication groups
Separate groups will be available for adult males, adult females, male youth, female youth, and children. Various age groups will explore different issues such as: where does our anger come from, the role stress plays in anger, what are we really angry about, where has our anger gotten us so far, alcohol and rage – a deadly combination, how to express yourself without doing so in a damaging way, what role does alcohol and drugs play in your fights, learning healthier ways to communicate with friends and family. Open sharing takes place in a circle of healthy communication based upon respect for self and for each other, respect for spouses, partners, children, parents, teachers and the community at large is openly discussed and all participants learn about their responsibilities toward becoming a part of the overall health and wellness of their families and the community. Participants learn that they have choices, they can continue to be part of the problem or they can use these new skills to change their behaviors and become part of the solution. Participants learn more about lateral violence and how devastating an effect it is having on us as a people and as a community. This component has been designed to empower people toward positive lifestyle roles in their communities, leading by example and understanding the importance of being healthy role models for their children, their community and others entering recovery.

Sexual abuse recovery program for victims
One of the most destructive elements in communities is the sexual abuse problem. Why is it happening? Alcohol, drugs, lack of parental guidance, lack of protection being given to the children and because in many cases the parents are emotionally unavailable to care for their children. The longer people choose to ignore that there may be a problem the bigger the problem will get. The reason we need to focus attention on this very important matter is this, if we do not focus on healing those affected by abuse we will all be faced with another generation of children that will continue to abuse alcohol and drugs in order to hide the pain and degradation they have gone through. Trauma healing will be available to the victims of all ages and will begin with educational support circles, the participants of these circles will then be invited to attend recovery circles where they can realize healing through the trauma recovery process that will be taking place in the grief and trauma components of this treatment program. We as a community will have to strive to break this cycle of silence and begin dealing with the problem as a community in the form of healing programs for victim and victimizer, otherwise significant change will never be realized. We have witnessed the greatest success when the community tackles the problem from a perspective that focuses on accountability being placed upon the victimizer but it is also combined with healing for the victim and victimizer alike.

Sexual abuse recovery program for victimizers
We do not condemn the abuser nor do we condone their behavior, but we cannot go on continuing to ignore the fact they need help as well because in the vast majority of cases they were abused themselves. Many professionals conclude the dynamics of abuse to be; the victimizer creates a victim, the victims power is taken away by the victimiser and, the victim reclaims their power in many cases by creating another victim, thus the cycle continues to grow to the devastating proportions we are witnessing today. Childhood trauma and grief and loss work is beneficial to the victimizer as well as the victim. A special circle will be available to the victimizers and we will develop a healthy working relationship with the police and courts and probation services on behalf of the community to provide recovery services to all persons that may be facing charges as well as those that have committed offences in the past. It is interesting to note that the many victims we have worked with over the years have also expressed a desire to see the victimizer get some help. We have also had great success with helping offenders break the cycle of abuse. This program will be called ‘Breaking the silence – Breaking the cycle – Entering a place of healing’.

Court support
We will build a solid working relationship with the RCMP, the Courts and Probation services so any community members facing addictions related charges can have the option of recovery rather than fines or jail. This approach works much better than court ordered treatment programs. SASSI profiles will show us the clients most likely to succeed in recovery, a support letter combined with the clients SASSI profile will be provided to the court with a recommended treatment program, the client can complete the program and return to court for a review of their charge(s). Probated clients will receive full support from us and, the courts and probation will be provided with progress reports for each client. Clients that fail to follow the healing program set out for them will ultimately have to answer to the courts. However, while directing and facilitating a similar program for a supportive recovery house we witnessed great success and most of those clients are now experiencing long-term sobriety.

Healthy relationships
How can we expect our children to form healthy relationships when they sometimes see such poor modeling of behaviors in their community? These sessions explore what forms a healthy relationship, love, kindness, understanding and respect. Learning to communicate with each other in a healthy manner. The program is designed to help participants become more aware of the self-defeating and self destructive behavior patterns they have been experiencing in their relationships and it is done in a very non shaming and non blaming manner, further helping the people by providing them with the knowledge of how to overcome these self-defeating and self destructive behaviors and understanding how they have been affecting their relationships in a negative manner. This program ties in with the family-counseling program whereby healthy families will play a significant role in creating a healthier community. This is open to all age groups and covers all types of relationships.

Healthy living skills
This program focuses on changing behavior patterns that have been self-defeating and self- destructive. Participants are taught to apply the medicine wheel teachings to their life and to keep an even balance in the physical, emotional, social and spiritual segments of their being. This entire treatment program uses a holistic approach to recovery, in other words treating the whole person; so it is only natural that the full scope of the medicine wheel teachings be a very important part of living in a completely healthy way. Participants will also learn the importance of maintaining a relapse prevention program in their life and in their family, changing the attitudes and behaviors that could lead a person to relapse.

12 Step support groups
It has been said by some that the greatest invention of the 20th Century is the Alcoholics Anonymous program. Any community that expects to realize long-term recovery needs to have solid 12 step support groups in place. It is important that there be groups for adults and groups for youth that focus on applying the 12 steps and principles of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous as a tool to assist them in their ongoing sobriety. We apply the Native 12 Steps to recovery and they are very similar to the 12 steps of AA and NA but are in terminology that has a deeper meaning to Native Peoples. Since most people today are addicted to alcohol and drugs we have a new 12 Step program in place called DA, Dual Addictions. A 12 Step program offers many benefits to community members, a fellowship of others that are staying sober, a place to feel safe to share feelings, a support network of others in recovery and something to do that doesn’t involve drinking and drugging. The 12 Step support groups will be set up so the community members can maintain the groups themselves, it’s a very meaningful program and there can be many benefits including your community hosting it’s own Annual Recovery Roundups. As well as 12 Step support groups for persons escaping their addictions it is also important to have support groups for those living with a person in an active addiction. Alanon and Naranon provide support for adults, while Alateen and Narateen provide support for youth. These too are based on 12 Steps and they will be set up so community members themselves can easily maintain them.

Peer counselor training for youth and adults
The peer counselor training program develops a skilled and solid volunteer network in the community to help others that may be struggling with addictions and other life altering issues. This program gives the community members the benefit of having their own people to turn to for assistance with any recovery difficulties they may be experiencing. There will be two groups of peer counselors consisting of 20 persons per group, a youth group and an adult group, they will receive ongoing training throughout each component of the community treatment program.

Call or email us for complete details and how to bring this program to your community.