Task Model Treatment of Chemical Dependency at the Palm Beach Institute

The Palm Beach Institute offers a break-through "task-model" of treatment for chemical dependency based on a training model for therapist certification in treating sex addiction. The four modules of training and supervision developed by Dr. Patrick Carnes use 30 tasks that indicate “performables” or indicators of understanding while initiating “Life Competency” deliverables. PBI has adapted these tasks to the discipline of substance abuse treatment and the results are considerable. You can learn more about this method of training and approach to healing at www.iitap.org. Applied in a residential drug treatment environment, the "task-model" gives clients specific action steps to take to facilitate the experience of steps one, two, and three of 12-Step recovery as outlined in Alcoholics Anonymous, the Big Book of the recovery movement.

These action steps provide an experiential initiation into the heroic task of living sober and free of dependence on drugs or alcohol. For example, step one of AA: "We admitted that we were powerless over alcohol and our lives had become unmanageable" is essentially about breaking through the denial. This first step is foundational to a life of recovery, as it requires a person to peel back the defenses and justifications that enabled and continued using; it requires a person to face reality and lay claim to the truth. Admission, like many spiritual traditions of confession, requires dialogue, and breaks through the isolation that is a common denominator in addiction. This is the reason the founders of AA began the statement of step one with "We". As many recovering people like to say, recovery turns everything upside-down. Using is a "Me" program and recovery is a "We" program.