OASAS 12-step Rehabs

Did you know that New York State not only funds 12-step promotional efforts, but actually RUNS 12-step rehabs? They run 12 of them, to be exact, which is kind of cute. One of them is called Dick Van Dyke.

It’s pretty much the state religion. Now that the entire 12-step rehab industry is being exposed as fraudulent and the lack of accountability in 12-step culture is coming under heavy criticism, one starts to wonder what really is OASAS’s purpose and mission, and are they ever going to be capable of seeing outside the confines of their ‘recovery community’? Would it even be possible for this government agency to question the appropriateness of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous as ‘treatment’?

McPike (see picture with Bill W here) is the one I was supposed to go to, on the agreement that I could see my ‘non-addictions’ therapist, by the 12-step interventionist that charged me $110/session and I was required to see him and do what he said in order to potentially see my therapist again. I didn’t, because I did not want to be immersed in 12-step nonsense for 30 more days. I went instead to a one and a half hour session at SPARC (Saint Peters Addiction Recovery Center) once per week for about $165/group session (which consisted of videos or lectures), $100 dollars for a mandatory drug test (which they graciously stopped doing each week when I complained it was pointless, but then again they terminated me shortly thereafter and told my therapist that I was not compliant), and a private session (not sure how much but it was usually snuck in in about 15 minutes during the movie or session I was paying $165 for). They gave me I think 65% off in the end because they did not accept the insurance I was paying $700/mo for. Here is a tour of McPike. This is not the kind of ‘treatment’ I was looking for when I said AA didn’t work for me.

“We can accomodate a little over half of our patient population here…up to 49 folks in here. We do very forms of education here, counselors give lectures, videos, dvds. This is our large group room and we can put up to 128 people in here… and we hold the AA meetings in here.”

“If Mary Rose told me to wear a pink dress every day for the rest of my life and that would keep me sober, I hope I look good in it”
“I see miracles every day. It really is about the miracles”

“We’ve been measuring for its effectiveness and across the board we see improvement on pre and post test on the areas of acceptance of diagnosis of a mental illness. In the past we were helping people to see that they had a mental illness, and now they seem to know….We are very connected to both referral sources that refer patients to us, but also referral targets [such as halfway houses].”

“Recovery is how we act. Our values, our morals, our spirituality. I did not have many morals when I came in here.”

“One of the best things you can do is not become a part of their addiction. If you are the family member of somebody who is using I’d encourage you to find some Alanon meetings. Alanon meetings are self-help 12-step based, for people who have a significant other or someone in their life who is actively using or has in the past. In this context you can begin to understand that it’s a disease, and that you don’t want to contribute to it, and learn a concept called ‘loving detachment’.

In a rehab you realize that your very core is addiction.”