This is a great interview with Greg Horvath. He explains the motivation behind his movie, to make critical changes in the rehab industry: Regulation, Education, and Science. Because it sadly lacks all three. This is going to be a great movie for anyone who still has faith in this faith-healing industry.
Interview starts after 4 minutes and ends in about 30 minutes (around 34:00)
If the Spotlight 2015 movie made anything clear, it is that sexual misconduct by clergy is a very real and systemic problem. Part of the problem is the power and secrecy that these priests hold over others, but another part of the problem is the same religious treatment system that constantly fails for drug treatment. Both of these facts being clear, it is amazing that pastoral trainers like Clergy and Congregation Consulting of Samaritan Counseling would 1) advocate more secrecy and diversion when sexual misconduct occurs, and 2). advocate 12-step treatment for sexual misconduct.
“Priest [12-step] treatment unfolds in costly, secretive world”
“Such treatment is typically paid for by the diocese, and has cost the church at least $50 million over the last 25 years [as of 2002], estimated A. W. Richard Sipe, a psychologist and ex-priest who treated clergy for 40 years.”
Anti-AA books freely available on morerevealed.com
More Revealed by Ken Ragge
12-Step Horror Stories edited by Rebecca Fransway
Resisting 12-Twelve Step Coercion: How to Fight Forced Participitation in AA, NA, or 12-Step Treatment by Stanton Peele and Charles Bufe with Archie Brodsky
Saints Run Mad (1934 criticism of the Oxford Group) by Marjorie Harrison
check it out…
I blogged about this problem since Feb 2015. Here’s what I’ve learned:
– Samaritan Counseling Center will not formally acknowledge any problem with or complaint about 12-step referrals made directly after complaints about 12-step coercion.
– Therapists at Samaritan, other than the Executive Director, will privately acknowledge the problem, but records show that the official position is not what either the therapist or client would reasonably conclude.
– New York State will not formally acknowledge any problem with or complaint about 12-step coercion
– Complaints are removed from medical records
– Petitions are completely ignored
– NASW social work ethics codes do not apply to two-hatters
– Complaints are passed off as personality disorders or mental retardation.
I think there are other conclusions, but this is enough for now.
I like this essay because it explains a lot of the strange dynamics of AA that destroy relationships, in particular the shunning dynamic which I find personally very odd and hurtful and seems to be more common, than in secular life, when religious cults like AA get involved. It is inevitable when you have a closed belief system that cannot accept the value of others, which is why you see it a lot where cults are involved: disowning, excommunication, disconnection, disfellowshipping are the kinds of words used to disrespect people who do not have the same beliefs or act the way you want, and in AA it happens all the time.
It is justified by saying that it preserves the integrity of the organization or relationship, but on closer examination it is often those cutting off that are being abusive, or being abused. Think of what it means to get 13th stepped: Once you’ve served your purpose, you can be called an alcoholic who’s putting others’ ‘sobriety in jeopardy’. That’s a really unhealthy way to end a relationship with someone they felt the need to bang. It leaves the person feeling sexually toxic, when in reality the 13th stepper is just moving on to a new victim.
It’s also a way that cult leaders and narcissists use to cut others out of the lives they wish to control. It is not uncommon for an abusive guru to tell someone to give up family and friends.
Shunning almost always comes from an attitude of superiority and a deep need for control: “If you don’t live your life the way we say, you’re dead to us”. There are healthy adult ways to communicate and have boundaries, and then there are the fearful and coercive ways of destructive cults.
Last Love Letter to a Stepper on AARMED with FACTS by Bruce McD
This is what David Olsen Executive Director of the non-profit Samaritan Counseling Center of the Capital Region makes as a sex therapist. He can’t be bothered to discuss his use of 12-step coercion to silence complaints, though; in fact, this is strictly forbidden.
Yes, that’s $193K/year, and he as a state-licensed therapist, can’t address a complaint with anything other than “we have a right to our preferred mode of treatment”. Actually, I should say that he said my therapist had the right to HER preferred mode of treatment. But she seemed, to me, to be required to enforce 12-step treatment as part of her job. She and the Clinical Director Jenness Clairmont both privately told me they didn’t like 12-steps.
I suspect that Samaritan Counseling of the Capital Region is “under the influence” of a religious zealot.
It was like he was passing off the responsibility to others, after directing them. I have records showing this “under the direction of David Olsen”.
It’s like I’m talking to Kim Davis or something, except with sadistic 12-step sex therapists.
I had a WTF moment when I realized I was in Alcoholics Anonymous-only therapy at Samaritan Counseling. Basically, if you don’t think 12-step religion saved your life, you are dead to these people. I don’t think they should be licensed to practice by New York State. I am never allowed to speak to anyone at Samaritan Counseling Center ever again because I suggested Alcoholics Anonymous was not helpful to me. Something is a little weird here. I was denied my FOIL request and appeal about the investigation.
I’ve been asking to speak with Samaritan Counseling about this since December 2013, and they are refusing to speak with me because I made it clear that I don’t believe in God.
“In the end, the antidote for shame is acceptance and grace.
This takes a great deal of courage and trust, but it is the only way through shame. Is it a short-term process? Absolutely not. Long-term committed relationships are the best antidote for shame if we are willing to take the risk of removing the “fig leaves” of defense mechanisms, and begin to reveal more of who we really are.” – David Olsen
“You need to cut through this” — Therapist, Samaritan Counseling LCSW
“I will not be returning phone calls” — Therapist, Samaritan Counseling LCSW
“I will not be responding to any further emails.” — David Olsen, Executive Director
“I will not be responding to any more of your emails.” — Michael Kinley, NYS Supervising Investigator
The ARISE Intervention! He must get kickbacks or something. (here’s a link about getting paid for fake drug tests)..telling people’s friends/family/therapists they need to extort someone into expensive rehab treatments and that they will fall prey to the ‘disease’ if they don’t go to treatment. I went around that block a few times…
By the way, the “-R” in LCSW-R means “the worker is approved by the New York State Insurance Department to bill health insurance companies for psychotherapy services.”
This is Samaritan Counseling’s preferred mode of treatment:
“Coercion, persuasion and mandated conditions are long held and practical referral components of substance abuse treatment. All are designed to work with a system that the substance abusers have contact with, that has some meaning in their lives, that has some leverage to motivate change and that has the potential for consequences.
“We now accept the importance of Employee Assistance Programs, Drug Courts, and Impaired Professionals Programs as successful vehicles for getting addicted individuals started in recovery.
“None of these vehicles start with the premise that the individual must want help in order to start treatment. We believe that families are another vehicle to get an individual started in recovery. Families have a long-standing relationship with the addicted individual and are invested in helping that individual get well.”
They go on to say:
“the lowest rates of successful treatment completion are with voluntary, self-referrals. These individuals might start treatment with earnest motivation and desire to stop using, but without any accountability to the treatment system those individuals fall prey to the cunning, baffling and powerful messages from the disease of addiction. The disease tells them that they are better now, they don’t need treatment and that they can use again as long as it doesn’t get out of control.”
Maybe self-motivated people don’t want to be told they are powerless, insane, selfish, defective, and dishonest for being self-motivated. Hmm?
This is the same guy who told me not to file a complaint; just write it out as a sort of catharsis. And that my drinking damaged the relationship with my therapist. He told her to label me as Axis II and keep a clear boundary with me (no contact) as I tried to complain about 12-step coercion. Convenient isolation and devaluation tactics .
I wonder how many suicides these people have blamed on this ‘spiritual disease’ of not accepting 12-step coercion. You’d probably never know, because they delete and hide that kind of feedback wherever they can.
Can you believe one of the ‘treatments’ I was suggested was to go to a sober living home?
Licensed clinical social workers either don’t know what’s going on, or they are in on the scam.
Sober living facilities are private, unregulated homes run basically by slumlords with a head full of AA. When every ‘addict’ you can pack into a bedroom equals money, guess what happens?
Presented as ‘treatment’ because that allows them to avoid paying taxes; usually not staffed by any social worker or medical doctor.
