A Gentle Atmosphere Conducive for Healing

Addiction, whether to drugs and alcohol, is an abusive disease that takes its toll on the body, mind, and emotions of the addict. Typically, by the time one is ready to take stock of the damages and do something to arrest the disease, there is residual damage to health, brain, and psycho-social well-being. In short, it is not uncommon that when alcohol or drugs stop working for the person and enable them to continue functioning, the personality of that individual is disordered and the soul has been shattered. Recovering people often refer to the spiritual bankruptcy they experienced, even those who had embraced a religious tradition and had a strong faith commitment.

Drug and alcohol addiction takes its toll on the addict and there is residual damage to family, colleagues, and community. The "just-say-no" response to addiction does further damage because at many points in the progression of the disease, the addict would like nothing better than to stop. Many have said "no" repeatedly, daily, with heartfelt intention, only to be broken by the phenomenon of craving and the compulsion to use that baffles them and sends them back into the cycle they intended to avoid.

Consequently, effective residential treatment for substance abuse and alcoholism provides a place of healing. This requires that not only the environment offer a place of rest and a respite from the routine of the destruction, but also a therapeutic setting in which clinical and operations staff are empathetic and have developed a higher level of emotional intelligence. Clinicians don't react to "addictive thinking or behaviors"; they know how to respond and to use misconduct and inappropriate acting out as teaching moments and therapeutic dialogue.