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To inkolb,

I don't know what rehabs are cracked up to be from where you are.

Maybe you could explain a little more please.

Also, I don't understand what you meant when you said

"a very good man was brought back in."

Was the man a counselor? Or a client? or an administrator or ?

To everyone else,

I'm very busy this week and so I might not be able to post as extensively as I'd like, but I do have to say a couple more things and hope I can elaborate later.

Rehabs work. Period. At least everyone that I've been associated with. The success rate here is very high. I think the problem might be that some people on this forum have unrealistic expectations, or are viewing treatment as a fantasy. I've read at least two different threads where a post said that treatment is 98 per cent unsuccessful or words to that effect. I would seriously challenge that.

I have no problem saying that our programs are at least 98 per cent successful.

Perhaps the discrepancy comes from how one defines success.

If one defines success as turning a drug addict into a normies, then no amount of treatment or anything else will be successful. You can't change a pickle back to being a cucumber. You can't restore virginity, and you can't make a drug addict a non-addict.

Success is measured by objective criteria that must be clearly articulated, published, reviewed, audited, monitored and evaluated from many different entities. These include Federal, State, County, and Local agencies that have responsibility to the public for the tax dollars being spent.

Success can include many things. Just a few include getting the client medical help, medication, counseling, housing, therapy, and stable adherence to relapse prevention assistance.

Success cannot, and should not be measured by some impossible goal like insuring that all clients remain drug free, establish normalized relationships with family and loved ones, get a job, pay taxes, and do all the other things that "normies" do, or all that things that drug addicts did before the addiction became activated.

Drug addiction, and particularly meth addiction is a very serious situation. Sometimes I read posts from various people over the years and see things that I find just appalling. This is not an over-night easy fix.

Success is making positive progress in a direction that includes decreasing drug use, getting proper medication, housing, and so many other things. Addiction is much more complicated than simply using a substance.

In the past I've posted about many of the typical clients that basically spend a lifetime in treatment. Are they that much different from a person who spends a lifetime in treatment for cancer, diabetes, schizophrenia, quadriplegia, or any of a thousand other difficulties.

When a schizophrenic is treated successfully, it might be said that he is improving, but he will never be "Cured." A quadriplegic can spend a lifetime getting successful physical therapy but he will never play baseball, tennis, or basketball with the "normies" Would you tell his physical therapist that his treatment doesn't work?

Treatment works.

My duties include, but are not limited to managing a "Long-term Co-op housing program" for triple diagnosed clients eligible for services under the County Department of Public Heath guidelines. I also teach some classes, and facilitate groups at our 45 day stabilization unit. I see success every day. The relapse rate in my housing program is very low. The success rate is very high. I was audited by the county in February and scored quite high in some areas, and passes in all areas. And mind you, these are ALL triple diagnosed clients.

That means they ALL are diagnosed with Chronic Substance Abuse, Major Medical Conditions, and Mental Illness.

In the stabilization unit, we get many people who are court mandated. They stay clean when they are with us for the most part. There are a few who sneak out and get loaded. We are not gods, we are not divine, but most of the people I work with are very conscientious, compassionate, caring, and sometimes professional. I chose to do this work. My pay is about one-third of what I would be making if I returned to my former profession.

Treatment works. Some of the people in treatment don't work with the treatment program.

Let me borrow a few words from the text of the AA Big Book.

"Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a way of life which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest."

This applies to treatment in the same way that it does to 12-step.