Category Archives: Government / Law

Alcoholics Anonymous, Government / Law, Social Work Ethics

More Misuse of OASAS Money to Promote 12-Step Goals

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If you follow OASAS’ Facebook feed, you’ll see that they are constantly promoting and funding Alcoholics Anonymous-based rehabs and “outreach” programs. This is most likely illegal and the public needs to know that OASAS is suppressing informed consent when they do this, not to mention violating the First Amendment by using government funds to establish religion.

Impact of Federal Court Decision Concerning Alcoholics Anonymous On Government Funded Providers

Here’s a recent one: NEW YORK OASAS LAUNCHES NEW INITIATIVE TO HELP CONNECT MORE NEW YORKERS TO ADDICTION SERVICES IN NEW YORK CITY

What they don’t mention is that this is going to promote this 12-step agenda. Notice “favorable outcomes, such as increased participation in 12-step meetings”, as if that is the REAL goal via abstinence. This proves that it is Twelve Step Facilitation with 2 goals: acceptance of powerlessness, and surrender to God (the stated goals of TSF)

“There isn’t a lot of research in the field of recovery, Provet admitted. But there is still evidence that promoting some of its components is effective in preventing relapse. “Although quantitative research on the overall efficacy of recovery coaching and personal recovery plans is sparse, many of its components and effects have been researched and supports using this approach with our target population,” said Provet, citing in particular the work of Bill White. “Recovery coaches, 12-step programs, spirituality, and social and community support are integral to sustaining recovery. Increased goal-oriented thinking was positively correlated to length of time abstinent, quality of life, and self-efficacy,” he said. Maintaining motivation and self-efficacy for abstinence and increasing active coping post treatment were predictive of more favorable outcomes, such as increased participation in 12-step meetings.

“Asked how long people will stay in the recovery support program, Provet said the goal will be for each mentee to receive services over a period of six to 12 months to accomplish the goals set forth in the individual recovery plan. “Accomplishing each goal will, over time, build each mentee’s recovery capital to help sustain their recovery,” he said. “Our goal is also to provide each mentee, based on their progress in their recovery, with the opportunity to become mentors in the OHROCS program further sustaining their recovery support, this time through their mentoring of others in early recovery.”

Alcoholics Anonymous, Destructive Cults, Fraud / Malpractice, Government / Law, Social Work Ethics

Gamblers Anonymous meetings, NYCPG Funded by the State

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“Problem gambling education also will be provided to patients at these six ATCs [Addiction Treatment Centers]. Several ATCs also have established connections with local Gambler’s Anonymous (GA) chapters, who will provide GA meetings on site at the ATCs.”

You can now go in to ‘treatment’ for substance use disorder and come out powerless over gambling, or at least telling everybody you know that they might be.

NYS OASAS ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF SERVICES FOR NEW YORKERS STRUGGLING WITH PROBLEM GAMBLING

Here’s why that’s probably illegal Impact of Federal Court Decision Concerning Alcoholics Anonymous On Government Funded Providers

Alcoholics Anonymous, Destructive Cults, Fraud / Malpractice, Government / Law, Social Work Ethics

HHS Office for Civil Rights Policy loses its “religion” — or — This is is not the kind of “oversight” the rehab industry needs

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Hello,

In Surgeon General Murthy’s report on Facing Addiction, I noticed that the word “religion” was not used in OCR’s notice.

or religion

The word “sex” WAS in this notice, but not “religion”, so the decision to leave “religion” out might be slightly more certain than:

last year after having no luck in getting New York state *at any level* to acknowledge precedented Establishment Clause violations (religious coercion) in 12-step treatment, I received a similar response from Sarah Brown, Deputy Director, where the wording was changed to “under certain circumstances, sex and religion“ [are protected].

This was not the response I expected, because on the OCR website where I initially filed my complaint, it says “religion” on the complaint form.

My question is: Under what circumstances is discrimination based on religion allowable, and is “addiction treatment” one of those circumstances? It does seem to be, based on the notice in the Facing Addiction report. If so, why?

Does it have anything to do with the 12-step programs, which the same notice says are not specifically endorsed by HHS?

http://notpowerless.com/new-york-state-education-department-investigator-admits-policy-of-willful-negligence/

—-

“Thank you for contacting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Please note that OCR has limited jurisdiction to investigate complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of religion. This jurisdiction depends on the particular program and the funding source to pay for the program.”

Me: “Thank you for your response. Are there any documents I can read regarding OCR’s jurisdiction, such as which funding sources prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion and which ‘particular programs’ might be exempt from investigation? “

“This information is not on OCR’s website and is not available to the public. It is information that is used in OCR’s investigation process.”

Me: “Is it available via a FOIL request?”

“You can request anything under FOIA, but it is likely that the request would be denied because it is part of OCR’s investigative process.”

Me: “Thank you. Perhaps you could answer about a specific situation with NYS OASAS funding Gamblers Anonymous indoctrination in the course of substance abuse treatment, or using Gamblers Anonymous meetings on site, or funding the non-profit organization called the Council for Problem Gambling which promotes GA meetings and OASAS state-run GA-based rehab.”

“I don’t investigate complaints or have access to the information to make this determination. If you have further questions regarding your complaint, it should be directed to OCR’s Central Intake Unit which investigate your complaint.”

Alcoholics Anonymous, Destructive Cults, Fraud / Malpractice, Government / Law, Hypocrisy, Social Work Ethics

Plausible deniability

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Alcoholics Anonymous lives in a state of ‘plausible denial’.

AA is not ‘technically’ responsible for anything, most especially the unfortunate circumstances or deaths of tradition violators.

AA isn’t a person; how can AA be responsible? No individual technically speaks for AA. AA is technically not the Big Book, technically not the meetings, not technically its members or its board, not technically the 12-steps, technically not a religion, technically not ‘treatment’, while also technically not medical fraud, and the Surgeon General technically doesn’t promote it, Twelve-Step Facilitation is technically not AA, the Oxford Houses and 90% of the rehab industry is not technically AA. The New Recovery Advocacy Movement is not technically AA either, and NYS OASAS technically is not an AA front group.

“Plausible deniability is the ability for persons (typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command) to deny knowledge of or responsibility for any damnable actions committed by others (usually subordinates in an organizational hierarchy) because of a lack of evidence that can confirm their participation, even if they were personally involved in or at least willfully ignorant of the actions. In the case that illegal or otherwise disreputable and unpopular activities become public, high-ranking officials may deny any awareness of such acts in order to insulate themselves and shift blame onto the agents who carried out the acts, as they are confident that their doubters will be unable to prove otherwise. The lack of evidence to the contrary ostensibly makes the denial plausible, that is, credible, although sometimes it merely makes it unactionable. The term typically implies forethought, such as intentionally setting up the conditions to plausibly avoid responsibility for one’s (future) actions or knowledge. In some organizations, legal doctrines such as command responsibility exist to hold major parties responsible for the actions of subordinates involved in heinous acts and nullify any legal protection that their denial of involvement would carry.”

-wikipedia

Alcoholics Anonymous, Fraud / Malpractice, Government / Law, Sexual Misconduct, Social Work Ethics

Two Hope House Employees in Albany New York Arrested for Allegedly Having Sex with Drug Rehab Clients

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mutual

recovery

Well… It’s good to hear from an insider that it happens all the time! :-/

Two Hope House employees were arrested and charged with raping clients last week. In response to these articles, I came across a chemical dependency services worker claiming that this is very normal in the chemical dependency field. This is not surprising; there have been two movies detailing serious ethical concerns (PDF) about the industry in just this last year: The 13th Step and The Business of Recovery. It’s even more complicated, she says, because “addicts are con artists”, suggesting that any ‘mutual’ sex between an addict and a professional is the “addict’s” own plot to destroy the professional. The New York State Supreme Court seems to agree with this view that an OASAS worker accused of serial sexual misconduct is probably an innocent victim of clients’ and co-workers’ symptomatic behavior.

But anybody looking at the laws and her reasoning behind why this woman said it’s pretty normal to have sex with a client — they “go to meetings together” and have “that bond” and it’s “mutual” — would say that it’s insane that someone who’s worked in this field for a long time would have never even heard of the idea that this is illegal, or that it is her duty to be concerned about it.

It would seem pretty crazy, unless, of course, they knew that Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services employees traditionally lack required basic social work training and education, and that OASAS likes it that way. That being the case, it’s not much of a stretch to think that organizations accredited by OASAS, like Hope House, would have a pretty low bar for training of employees.

You can sign the petition to make health workers aware of the problems with the culture of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Alcoholics Anonymous, Fraud / Malpractice, Government / Law, Social Work Ethics

How deep does this corruption go?

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no

Counselor (CASAC, LCSW-R James Garrett) accused of faking drug test results

Did David Olsen, Oona Edmands, and Jenness Clairmont of Samaritan Counseling know about five felony charges against their ‘preferred treatment’ provider in January-May 2014?

Would they have done anything differently if they had known about it? Were they deliberately ignoring repeated attempts to report criminal fraudulent practices by reframing the very act of complaining as ‘Axis 2 (harassing, fixated)’ behavior — ‘confirmed’ by James Garrett, the accused felon who was advising them to ignore me!?

Would acknowledging my similar complaint have helped prevent these charges from being seen as baseless (and apparently dropped)? Might acknowledging the problem prevent this same fraud from happening over and over again in the future?

Among everyone (including but not limited to David Olsen, Jenness Clairmont, and Oona Edmands) made aware of this at Samaritan Counseling, was not even their Clinical Director (on the Office of Professions) a mandated reporter according to the NYS Justice Center?

How do five felonies slip through the cracks and disappear, while highly related complaints are suppressed, censored, and medicated into oblivion?

reportable

who

reporter

incident

agencies

significant

neglect

abuse

Alcoholics Anonymous, Destructive Cults, Government / Law, Hypocrisy, Social Work Ethics

Surgeon General’s Addiction Report

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I noticed a few things about FACING ADDICTION IN AMERICA, The Surgeon General’s Report on
Alcohol, Drugs, and Health.

or religion

1. The non-discrimination notice (page 4) from the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights leaves out the word ‘religion’. On the OCR’s website, religion is mentioned, but in this report, they strangely leave that word out. “HHS complies with applicable federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. HHS does not exclude people or treat them differently because of race, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex. ”

You can still file a complaint about religious coercion or discrimination here, even if you are led to believe from this report that the Department of Health and Human Services is exempt from complaints about religious coercion or discrimination.

2. The very relevant issue of religiosity in Alcoholics Anonymous (and all 12-step programs) is completely avoided. The report only has this to say, which most state Supreme Courts have disagreed with: “Within some communities, recovery is seen as being aligned with a particular religion, yet in other communities such as the AA fellowship, recovery is explicitly not religious but is instead considered spiritual.”

This is blatantly disregarding a very serious and very public issue with 12-step programs, which is that they are religious activities even while they continue to deny being religious activities. This is not the only thing that 12-step programs lie about…

3. The report includes blatant misrepresentation of statistics, such as: “About 50 percent of adults who begin participation in a 12-step program after participating in a treatment program are still attending 3 years later. Rates of continued attendance for individuals who seek AA directly without first going to treatment are also high, with 41.6 percent of those who start going to meetings still attending 9 to 16 years later.”

If this were true, then there would be a lot more than ~1.3 million people in AA, because every year around 1 million people are forced into AA through ‘treatment’ programs like drug court, rehab, mental health professionals, EAP programs. In fact, the dropout rate is extremely high, and also, the people that are in AA are not necessarily getting better. They may not even want to be there, in many cases, and attendance does not equal sobriety.

4. The report tries to make the ‘recovery movement’ a collection of shared values and beliefs, saying: “Some people who have had severe substance use disorders in the past but no longer meet criteria for a substance use disorder do not think of themselves as operating from a recovery perspective or consider themselves part of a recovery movement, even if they endorse some or all of the beliefs and values associated with recovery.” This is like how the movie The Anonymous People makes the 12-step community look much bigger than it is, by speaking for the vast majority of people who reject AA but do not reject ‘getting better’. Getting better often involves deprogramming from AA cult brainwashing and extricating themselves from abusive or controlling sponsors or treatment rackets. The values and beliefs are described as:

* People who suffer from substance use disorders (recovering or not) have essential worth and dignity.

This is not actually how the recovery movement works. People who are not ‘in recovery’ (in AA, according to AA traditions, or who deny being part of the ‘recovery movement’) are regularly shunned and insulted by AA members. It’s Tradition Three, in fact. You can see clear examples of this by the refusal of 12-step communities (and AA World Services itself) to acknowledge the worth and dignity of documentaries clearly concerned with helping people even if it means criticizing AA, such as The Business of Recovery and The 13th Step.

* The shame and discrimination that prevents many individuals from seeking help must be vigorously combated.

A whole lot of people *have* been to treatment and don’t want to be converted to the 12-step religious movement (Twelve Step Facilitation involves two goals: “Acceptance and Surrender” see the Project MATCH PDF manual for TSF.)

* Recovery can be achieved through diverse pathways and should be celebrated.

The ‘recovery movement’ has a very specific definition of what Recovery is. It always means acceptance of AA (as rejection of AA is seen as ‘misunderstanding’, ‘negativity’, ‘whining’ rather than informed decision-making). People who do not consider themselves as part of the ‘recovery movement’ do not accept that it is ‘many paths leading to AA’. In practice, the ‘recovery movement’ (NRAM), is about creating a culture of abstinence and growing more and more 12-step organizations that ‘facilitate’ 12-step involvement.

* Access to high-quality treatment is a human right, although recovery is more than treatment.

Again, this assumes that there is broad agreement that addiction is a lifelong disease which needs a lifetime of the 12-Step Program of Recovery to manage. There is NOT.

* People in recovery and their families have valuable experiences and encouragement to offer others who are struggling with substance use.

This is not necessarily true. There may be no value to what a person ‘in recovery’ has to offer someone who is struggling. The person ‘in recovery’ may never have really had a problem and may just like to control sponsees. A lot of families of people ‘in recovery’ have been discarded for the new AA family, and they may not encourage others to become born-again Christians shunning ‘enablers'; or they may actually have a grim prognosis for anyone using drugs, based on their dead family member who went through dozens of treatment programs.

5. One more example of misrepresentation (there are many): “A leading example of recovery-supportive houses is Oxford Houses, which are peer-run, self-sustaining, substance-free residences that host 6 to 10 recovering individuals per house and require that all members maintain abstinence. They encourage, but do not require, participation in 12-step mutual aid groups.”

Again, this is basically dishonest. The fourth tradition of Oxford Houses is: ” Oxford House is not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, organizationally or financially, but Oxford House members realize that only active participation in Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous offers assurance of continued sobriety. further … “Every Oxford House member attributes his sobriety to Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous. Each Oxford House member, as an individual, considers himself a member of AA and/or NA. Without that, sobriety would be short-lived.“. You also lose basic human rights at an Oxford House; you can be immediately evicted for any ‘slip’ (which you’ve been learning is a disease you have no control over…). The first time I went to a psychiatric hospital, I roomed with a man who was just kicked out of his sober home for getting drunk.

“It is not in the rules,” McGuire says, “but we all accept that the only way to stay sober is through a 12-step program, and we hold one another accountable. If someone is not going to meetings, they will be confronted.”

Alcoholics Anonymous, Government / Law, Social Work Ethics

James Garrett LCSW-R — It ‘Works’ if You’re Paying Him, He Makes You Pay if You Don’t

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UPDATE 10/31/18: This is new information that Samaritan Counseling should have been aware of (and possibly were) during the years they have spent censoring and ignoring my concerns…

CR-00249-13 – James A. Garrett – plead guilty to Offer File False Instrument 2nd, a class A misdemeanor in full satisfaction. On 7/21/14 a sentence of $500 fine was imposed. Mandatory surcharges and fine were paid in full.

During the time James Garrett was arrested on felony charges and plead guilty to a reduced ‘misdemeanor’ crime involving lying about his treatment, Samaritan Counseling insisted I continue ‘treatment’ with him, completely refused to hear my complaints on multiple occasions, and finally terminate-referred me to James Garrett. Samaritan Counseling has still not acknowledged any of these facts.

—–

Samaritan Counseling (a ‘faith-based’ organization of state licensed social workers) forced me into ‘addiction treatment’, forcing me to pay for more and more treatment and to say that it was helpful to me even if it wasn’t.

Samaritan Counseling continued to insist I engage in treatment with this fraudulent provider even after he was charged with five felonies by state police for falsely reporting treatment success for money. I wasn’t on probation, but I was in a similar situation. They kind of manufactured a ‘probation’ for me by making me feel I had done something wrong by rejecting 12-step rehab, by shunning me from ‘non-addictions’ therapy until I was re-indoctrinated and compliant. When I made it clear that I was never going to become an Alcoholics Anonymous member after this nightmare, I was permanently banned from communications with Samaritan Counseling — the ‘natural consequence‘ of not ‘following all of [Jim Garrett’s] recommendations’ (which include not filing any complaints because that indicates ‘resentment’).

James Garrett is the co-author (with Judith Landau) of the 12-step interventionist’s manual Invitational Intervention (the ARISE method, which is like an extended Johnson intervention except that it denies it is coercive).

David Olsen, Oona Edmands, and Jenness Clairmont of Samaritan Counseling fell for this false equivalence of ‘treatment engagement’ with ‘sobriety’ — hook, line, and sinker. Or, they knew exactly what was going on and were used to getting away with it…

How is it that the State Police thought something was seriously criminally wrong here, but nobody in New York State Education Department or the Justice Center see any problem at all?

Jan 15 2014:

“SCHENECTADY — A certified substance abuse service provider has been accused of faking the results of drug tests that were supposed to be conducted on a Schenectady County probationer.

James A. Garrett, 65, of Averill Park, was charged this week with five felony counts of offering a false instrument for filing. He’s accused of providing the false information on five separate dates between August and December, according to papers filed in court.

In the documents, Garrett is accused of falsely certifying the probationer “was attending individual sessions, maintaining abstinence from alcohol and testing negative for drugs,” according to court papers.

The case was investigated by state police.

“Essentially, he was providing documentation that urine samples were submitted and OK when he wasn’t in fact performing that service,” state police spokesman Trooper Mark Cepiel said.

Garrett is accused of then receiving compensation for the fake results.

Garrett appeared Monday in Schenectady City Court and pleaded not guilty. He is being represented by attorney John Della Ratta. Della Ratta could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Garrett is on the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services list of “Providers of Clinical Screening and Assessment Services for the Impaired Driving Offender,” according to a spokeswoman for the agency. He did that work on his own, not for a larger company, police said.

Schenectady County spokesman Joe McQueen said Tuesday county Probation Department officials checked and no other county probationers used Garrett, who was based outside of Schenectady County. The probationer is responsible for arranging for the services.

Garrett is also listed with the state Department of Education as a licensed clinical social worker. He has been a certified social worker since 1979, records show, and he is registered through 2016.

The alleged scheme was revealed by the probationer himself, prosecutors said. It was unclear what led to the revelation.

The probationer is identified in papers as Alan Cuomo. Cuomo, then 47, of Rotterdam, was arrested in 2012 in Guilderland and charged with driving while intoxicated. He pleaded guilty to felony driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to five years of probation, records show. His probation was then transferred to Schenectady County.

Schenectady County prosecutor William Sanderson said Tuesday that Cuomo is not expected to face separate criminal charges since the activity would likely still be going on if he hadn’t come forward. But Cuomo is expected to face a violation of his probation, which could result in jail time.”

James A. Garrett, Averill Park, NY
Profession: Certified Social Worker; Lic. No. 020876; Cal. No. 17669
Regents Action Date: November 9, 2001
Action: Application for consent order granted; Penalty agreed upon: 2 year suspension, execution of suspension stayed, probation 2 years.
Summary: Licensee admitted to charge of having been convicted of Criminal Facilitation in the Fourth Degree, a Class A Misdemeanor.

CR-00249-13 – James A. Garrett – plead guilty to Offer File False Instrument 2nd, a class A misdemeanor in full satisfaction. On 7/21/14 a sentence of $500 fine was imposed. Mandatory surcharges and fine were paid in full.

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