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Life can be a whopper of a ride!

2010
02.26

By: Cookie Guerrero

FAM MEMBER

Have you ever felt the desire to say “Stop! I want to get off!” when riding a roller coaster? Of course you never say it out loud because: first, it would be foolish (no one ever gets off the roller coaster); second, it would be too embarrassing (after all, no one forced you to ride).

Life can be a roller coaster ride, and sometimes it is a whopper of a ride! I had been on this up and down ride for many years … ever since my son started to take drugs. I was coasting pretty well when it all began, thinking the ride was a bit bumpy at times, but pretty bearable. Of course I was going to get off at some point and the ride was going to be over … Well not quite.
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Three Pillars of Success in Recovery

2010
02.21

By: MARTIN R. INFANTE

President, SELF

November 2008

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article is a paper Martin presented at the Plenary Scientific Session entitled From Sobriety to Success at the 3rd Asian Recovery Symposium held at Taal View Hotel in Tagaytay City, Philippines on November 4-6, 2008

Over the last two decades, much has been discussed about how to make treatment programs a more effective tool in getting drug dependents to reach their goal of sobriety. Programs have been developed and redeveloped over the years and, in some cases, new and unique forms of intervention have also been added to improve the delivery of rehab services worldwide. It has been my privilege to be a part of some of these developments and an honor to have worked closely with many experts in this field.

One such great development that has been added to the rehab process was the concept of Aftercare, which was developed to support the recovering drug dependent’s new found sobriety. I remember, it was in the 90s when this took center stage in the discussions in many international fora. I say “great” because 20 years onward, all of us here are living testaments to the way Aftercare has boosted a dependent’s chances of sustaining success.
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TC Challenges in the New Millennium

2010
02.21

By: MARTIN R. INFANTE

President, SELF

December 2006

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an excerpt of the paper Martin presented at the 23rd World Federation of Therapeutic Communities (WFTC) conference held in New York on September 1-5, 2006. It discusses the challenges TC’s face regarding the preservation of Professional Integrity in the work place. Martin is the Vice-Chairman of the Standards & Goals Committee of the WFTC Executive Council.

Professional Integrity

…In today’s world of drug rehabilitation and treatment, there exist numerous modes of intervention that have been developed over time and have provided hope to thousands of drug users worldwide. Perhaps the most important challenge that centers face is how to sustain professional integrity in the administration of their rehab program.

As with many other TC programs worldwide, we at SELF have become accustomed to training residents to run the program and eventually hiring those who demonstrate the requisite willingness and potential to become staff. As it has been said that the “addict knows the addict best”, he/she would be the best teacher and role model. We do know that TCs around the world have practiced this for years and, for all practical purposes, it has worked well for some time.
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Spotting drug addiction in the family

2010
02.21

By: MARTIN R. INFANTE

President, SELF

December 2005

As with a number of other juvenile problems, family members are usually the last to know that a son, daughter, or sibling is hooked on drugs. Young people experimenting with prohibited substances will always attempt to hide such activities, and parents often find out about them only by accident, like when a youngster fails random drug testing at school and they get informed about it.

After 13 years of dealing with juvenile and chronic users, SELF has identified a number of telltale signs that can warn parents about the presence of a serious situation. The primary indicator of this is the loss of focus on or interest in studies or work. Other symptoms include lying and manipulative behavior, abnormal schedules, low frustration tolerance, impulsiveness, and withdrawal from family activities. In more advanced levels of drug dependence, the family can experience the loss of household valuables, unwholesome and troubled friends, and even violent behavior.

When a youngster exhibits a number of these symptoms, the parents must seek help early. Parents often hold back hoping they have made a wrong assessment, but their gut-feel is seldom wrong. A good way to start is finding out all they can about addiction. Even if their suspicion turns out to be unfounded, they would have gained valuable knowledge about this social menace.

The involvement of the entire family in this type of intervention is ideal. But much too often the parents themselves do not agree with each other about their child’s drug-taking condition. However, all it takes is for one parent or any adult member of the family to confront the problem and set the ball rolling.
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Systems That Check Systems

2010
02.21

How to prevent your TC from falling apart

By: MARTIN R. INFANTE

President, SELF

May 2008

It just dawned on me the other day that this coming June, I will have achieved 17 solid years of sobriety. With all these years spent in Therapeutic Community (TC) development, I felt it was time that I contributed some of my experience towards the cause of the TC. This article is dedicated to all my colleagues who are either starting a TC program or have been running one for some time now. I hope that you will be able to relate to some of my experiences and I trust that it will help validate your noble endeavors.

The TC Phenomenon

Establishing a new TC program is the easy part. Sustaining its culture through the years, however, is another story. During its initial years, the program structure can get refined and systems undergo improvement. Within the first few years, one can claim that a program’s culture is finally working well. The trouble is, down the road, things can change radically if you’re not careful.

If you’ve been running your TC program for some time now and you’re noticing that it doesn’t feel like the one you’ve set up a long time ago, you might want to look into some of the areas described below.

Over time, TC systems and rules have a way of getting altered without you knowing about it when you don’t have a systems check program. When this happens, you can lose the very heart of your TC and the integrity of your program could be put in question. The thing is these developments have a way of creeping up on you without warning and one day, you’ll just wake up and wonder what happened.

This retrogressive process is something you’ll notice you can’t hang on anybody. By the time you discover this, you’ll find out it’s been there for months or even years. Its so ghostly that I’ve decided to call it a TC phenomenon.

We at SELF have had to face this predicament at least three times over the last 16 years. We have had to review our organization’s culture repeatedly to maintain the goodness of the program. Though our efforts were rewarding, they were time consuming and we decided it was time to develop a system that checks systems.
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