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Within a structured and respectful environment, the goals and intention of Richard Clark, through the Green Room Lectures, is to promote healing knowledge with a commitment to compassion and personal, spiritual responsibility. |
Addiction is the illness of relationship. It is complicated.
It is worthy of note that valid studies of modern recovery protocols have shown that the present and dominant model of intervention, the traditional "AA God-Forgiveness" model, is only 5 - 7% effective. We know that for every 100 people that go to traditional "treatment" 93 - 95 people fail. We know this, and yet near 95% of all referrals to addiction treatment are to this ineffective, outdated system of failure. The remaining 5% of treatment facilities are a very expensive "feel-good rehab experience" with the same failure rate, 97 - 95%. Present "recovery treatment" isn't treatment, it's indoctrination into repetitive inadequacy, dislocation, later cognitive dissonance, and in some cases outright religious proselytization. This gross failure of treatment is one seriously contributing factor to the high increase in addictions.
(Resource for failure rate is The Sober Truth, Lance Dodes, 2014)
The Green Room Lectures and long-term therapy endeavors to provide:
Part 1: A well understood overview of all of the above is the first part of training—comprehensive psychological knowledge.
Part 2: Develop knowledge and skills of facilitating transformation in the untrusting, self-destructive mindset of addicts. This is the dynamic of counseling—knowledge and skill in in the discipline of therapy that creates healthy relationship. My approach has consistently shown to be at least 75% effective for establishing long-term recovery. Yes, it's anecdotal, but it is my experience.
It is worthy of note that valid studies of modern recovery protocols have shown that the present and dominant model of intervention, the traditional "AA God-Forgiveness" model, is only 5 - 7% effective. We know that for every 100 people that go to traditional "treatment" 93 - 95 people fail. We know this, and yet near 95% of all referrals to addiction treatment are to this ineffective, outdated system of failure. The remaining 5% of treatment facilities are a very expensive "feel-good rehab experience" with the same failure rate, 97 - 95%. Present "recovery treatment" isn't treatment, it's indoctrination into repetitive inadequacy, dislocation, later cognitive dissonance, and in some cases outright religious proselytization. This gross failure of treatment is one seriously contributing factor to the high increase in addictions.
(Resource for failure rate is The Sober Truth, Lance Dodes, 2014)
The Green Room Lectures and long-term therapy endeavors to provide:
- Ethical and respectful education for counsellors, other professionals, and especially my clients regarding the broad scope of addiction, social dislocation, relationship conflict, cultural persecution of addicts, repetitive inadequacy, gender equality, and defeating theist and social beliefs that jeopardize or prohibit compassion in long-term recovery.
- An understanding of spiritual health that is without theism or deism. Actually, the presence of prayer and forgiveness is a detriment to integrity in addiction recovery.
- An understanding of what "spiritual psychology" is and identifying the several cultural hindrances that prevent recovery.
- To allow access to and to enable relationship health that is personal, applicable, and relevant to each individual.
- Authentic recovery is definitely NOT indoctrination into God beliefs, prayer and forgiveness which will most often often defeat the recovery process. The goal is to understand the deeper requirements of spiritual-psychology and the most effective way to embrace that. "God" may be important to a person's private beliefs, but is not necessary in addiction recovery.
- Knowledge about addiction, whether acting out or in stable recovery. To be addicted or not is always a function of relationship. Knowledge and insight about personality and its development, responsibility, trauma, and childhood influences create governing vows and perceptions. These must understood and often-times challenged and altered.
- An explanation of addiction and poly-addictions in its two main classifications within the two categories of symptoms, and an over-view of the destructive historical and cultural dynamics of religious, social, and political persecution from 1840. This is necessary to stabilize and focus all recovery efforts.
- In its simplest form, "all of this" is education regarding the dynamics of applied problem solving in inner-personal relationships and communication. It all, eventually, leads to compassion and a sense of unity.
Part 1: A well understood overview of all of the above is the first part of training—comprehensive psychological knowledge.
Part 2: Develop knowledge and skills of facilitating transformation in the untrusting, self-destructive mindset of addicts. This is the dynamic of counseling—knowledge and skill in in the discipline of therapy that creates healthy relationship. My approach has consistently shown to be at least 75% effective for establishing long-term recovery. Yes, it's anecdotal, but it is my experience.
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Equality, respect, and dignity are the basis of all Green Room Lectures. |
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Education is the key
The 1939 AA model of "God-prayer-forgiveness" as treatment overwhelmingly dominates the services available to addicted persons. That isn't treatment, it's indoctrination into cultural and religious persecution. This defeats treatment and promotes failure. It is especially true when recovery services are offered to addicts in a single-addiction focus. Other active, socially-approved addictions are ignored and left undiagnosed which is the gateway to guaranteed relapse. These intervention strategies create many long-term complications with a decidedly dismal outlook for stable, long term recovery. These complications are, at the minimum, an intensified relationship conflict, cognitive dissonance, repetitive inadequacy, an entrenchment of distrust, and blaming of the client for the failure (which blame is quickly internalized as self-deprecation).
General ignorance (meaning lack of insight or awareness, not rudeness) of the nuances of addiction and treatment by service providers, counsellors, clients, and those in traditional recovery, is harmful. What has been clearly demonstrated is that prior to any recovery effort being successful, addicts and the people who help them, must be thoroughly educated about the underlying truth of alienation and dissonance in relationships and society… this is easily represented in the psychology of self destruction we call addiction. There is:
Much of this is covered at an introductory level in my most recent book, THE ADDICTION RECOVERY HANDBOOK, Third Edition (www.friesenpress.com/bookstore)
My seminars provide opportunities for insight that are not usually available to recovering addicts or those who help them. They address a need that exists for anyone who wants to go beyond inaccurate and biased knowledge about addiction and thereby defeat the alienation that underlies the social condemnation and self-destruction in addict-conflicted relationships.
The Stigma of Addiction and Therapy
In this culture “therapy” carries a sly connotation of a person being sick or weak-willed. Addiction carries an obvious stigma of social belligerence and moral corruption which is the source for social and religious persecution. Being an addict is a "horrible" thing. These perceptions and persecution greatly hinder any personal motivation towards recovery. People who need to address addiction(s) will respond better to an educational atmosphere rather than a character defect—mental illness-disease model. This truth was realized in a similar model I developed for family violence in the late 1980s.
Granted, in the fine print, therapy is a certain style of education, and therapy of some description is necessary to succeed in recovery. But… the imposition of unnecessary demands (there are many), having a wrong focus for interventions, and the implied requirements of faith, prayer and forgiveness, are a significant influence in defeating recovery success.
It was often heard, decades ago, regarding traditional education, that student failure was the student's fault. Blame the kids. The same terrible dynamic is present in recovery. Since 1980 or so, when the clearly outdated model of god-forgiveness "treatment” failed (as it does 95% of the time), it is often accompanied by blaming of the addict. "They" didn't try hard enough or "they" didn't pray or have enough faith. This is a Blame the Addict game and the purveyors of poor treatment and paltry investment excuse the perpetrators.
Addiction is the self-destructive illness out of broken and and dislocated relationships. Abuse and neglect is manifest when addicts are referred to any treatment that has a known 95% failure rate and then accused of not trying hard enough when they fail. It borders on financial fraud and gross deceit when treatment centers misrepresent their viability and charge tens-of-thousands of dollars for a plan that has proven itself ineffective. There is an urgent need for for care-givers to admit their failure and up-date their methods. This failure to be responsive to unique client needs borders on criminal neglect. Care-givers of any level, politicians, must challenge all of this and stop this general malpractice.
We have to address the extremely low rates of success in recovery and this failure rate is across the spectrum, whether for poor folks who can only afford free AA meetings or $150,000 a-month treatment for the rich. All are a reflection of the lack of knowledge, the religious shaming, the shallow psychology, the greed, and the gross neglect of people with severe addictions. It is a telling reflection of the stubborn professionals and institutions (including twelve-step programs), that refuse to acknowledge the ineffectiveness of the programs they offer.
Proper education about addiction and treatment removes much of the hit-and-miss factor from recovery “failures.” An educational environment that is credible and thorough removes the prevailing stigma of therapy or the prevailing view of "moral corruption" that surrounds addiction.
Atheists, humanists, agnostics, deists, and theists are all entitled to an addiction-free, spiritually fulfilled life. Achieving this through a spiritual psychology is how, as a society, we present personal options and choices beyond the prejudices of culture since 1840. Open-minded inquiry and specific psychological addiction education are the solution. Thank you for taking time to look over this site.
The 1939 AA model of "God-prayer-forgiveness" as treatment overwhelmingly dominates the services available to addicted persons. That isn't treatment, it's indoctrination into cultural and religious persecution. This defeats treatment and promotes failure. It is especially true when recovery services are offered to addicts in a single-addiction focus. Other active, socially-approved addictions are ignored and left undiagnosed which is the gateway to guaranteed relapse. These intervention strategies create many long-term complications with a decidedly dismal outlook for stable, long term recovery. These complications are, at the minimum, an intensified relationship conflict, cognitive dissonance, repetitive inadequacy, an entrenchment of distrust, and blaming of the client for the failure (which blame is quickly internalized as self-deprecation).
General ignorance (meaning lack of insight or awareness, not rudeness) of the nuances of addiction and treatment by service providers, counsellors, clients, and those in traditional recovery, is harmful. What has been clearly demonstrated is that prior to any recovery effort being successful, addicts and the people who help them, must be thoroughly educated about the underlying truth of alienation and dissonance in relationships and society… this is easily represented in the psychology of self destruction we call addiction. There is:
- The illness phenomenon of addictions. It is a mental illness and definitely not a 'disease'.
- The dire consequences of blame, irresponsibility, and indoctrination into prayer-forgiveness.
- The constellations of social symptoms (which are tragically called character defects) that sit on top of a deeper, broken psychology and are evidence or religious and social persecution.
- The unaddressed psychological symptoms, especially alienation through shame and dislocation.
- The significant differences between abstinence available and not-available addictions.
- The practical requirements for recovery, which should not include prayer or forgiveness.
Much of this is covered at an introductory level in my most recent book, THE ADDICTION RECOVERY HANDBOOK, Third Edition (www.friesenpress.com/bookstore)
My seminars provide opportunities for insight that are not usually available to recovering addicts or those who help them. They address a need that exists for anyone who wants to go beyond inaccurate and biased knowledge about addiction and thereby defeat the alienation that underlies the social condemnation and self-destruction in addict-conflicted relationships.
The Stigma of Addiction and Therapy
In this culture “therapy” carries a sly connotation of a person being sick or weak-willed. Addiction carries an obvious stigma of social belligerence and moral corruption which is the source for social and religious persecution. Being an addict is a "horrible" thing. These perceptions and persecution greatly hinder any personal motivation towards recovery. People who need to address addiction(s) will respond better to an educational atmosphere rather than a character defect—mental illness-disease model. This truth was realized in a similar model I developed for family violence in the late 1980s.
Granted, in the fine print, therapy is a certain style of education, and therapy of some description is necessary to succeed in recovery. But… the imposition of unnecessary demands (there are many), having a wrong focus for interventions, and the implied requirements of faith, prayer and forgiveness, are a significant influence in defeating recovery success.
It was often heard, decades ago, regarding traditional education, that student failure was the student's fault. Blame the kids. The same terrible dynamic is present in recovery. Since 1980 or so, when the clearly outdated model of god-forgiveness "treatment” failed (as it does 95% of the time), it is often accompanied by blaming of the addict. "They" didn't try hard enough or "they" didn't pray or have enough faith. This is a Blame the Addict game and the purveyors of poor treatment and paltry investment excuse the perpetrators.
Addiction is the self-destructive illness out of broken and and dislocated relationships. Abuse and neglect is manifest when addicts are referred to any treatment that has a known 95% failure rate and then accused of not trying hard enough when they fail. It borders on financial fraud and gross deceit when treatment centers misrepresent their viability and charge tens-of-thousands of dollars for a plan that has proven itself ineffective. There is an urgent need for for care-givers to admit their failure and up-date their methods. This failure to be responsive to unique client needs borders on criminal neglect. Care-givers of any level, politicians, must challenge all of this and stop this general malpractice.
We have to address the extremely low rates of success in recovery and this failure rate is across the spectrum, whether for poor folks who can only afford free AA meetings or $150,000 a-month treatment for the rich. All are a reflection of the lack of knowledge, the religious shaming, the shallow psychology, the greed, and the gross neglect of people with severe addictions. It is a telling reflection of the stubborn professionals and institutions (including twelve-step programs), that refuse to acknowledge the ineffectiveness of the programs they offer.
Proper education about addiction and treatment removes much of the hit-and-miss factor from recovery “failures.” An educational environment that is credible and thorough removes the prevailing stigma of therapy or the prevailing view of "moral corruption" that surrounds addiction.
Atheists, humanists, agnostics, deists, and theists are all entitled to an addiction-free, spiritually fulfilled life. Achieving this through a spiritual psychology is how, as a society, we present personal options and choices beyond the prejudices of culture since 1840. Open-minded inquiry and specific psychological addiction education are the solution. Thank you for taking time to look over this site.
Kind regards...
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 Richard Clark
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Fees for private consultation and for seminars are negotiated on a per-case basis. These will be established after an assessment can be made. What you are given lasts for the rest of your life; what I am given lasts until the end of the month.
On-line sessions are available.
