I read this recently: – ‘A treatment centre is where you go and pay $ to find out that AA meetings are free’. Ok, so it’s funny and all, but once we’re all done laughing I’m left thinking about the relationship between fellowships and treatment in the UK.
I am a fan of the fellowships; they are an accessible and inspiring resource that is in my opinion vital for a person to gain a sustainable recovery. But akin to the kind of disapproval in the fellowships 20 years ago when someone was on anti depressants (an opinion that is now thankfully outmoded), I have found a culture of animosity in the rooms towards treatment. Its a kind of snobbery that insinuates that those in treatment are being ripped off, or that somehow they have failed to work a proper programme or the rooms would have worked. I believe that what works works – treatment, therapy, fellowship, service – and who are any of us to criticise?
In my experience those who benefit from treatment are people with multiple addictions and fractured lives who don’t know who to believe any more; those who have lost any sense of valuable self and need holding until they quiet enough to hear themselves again; those who are shy and have no voice; those who have some form of PTSD or trauma; people who persistently relapse or simply need the support. Treatment is a powerful experience to help someone get completely clean and from there with the support and experience of a dedicated clinical team, gain valuable insight and understanding of themselves, their priming and of addiction in a relatively short space of time. Sadly this does come at a price in the UK that is not widely affordable, but it remains an incredibly valuable service that deserves due recognition.
I have been in recovery some time now. gone and going to a lot of meetings. yes, i have heard the saying and if i think carefully i am sure i even said it myself. i have met hundreds of members and i honestly have to say all of them would have gladly given a limb to be accepted in a rehab. some of us make the big mistake of mentioning rehabs by name even if in some of our meetings we expressly ask not to. this is because in na, the most easy going fellowship of the whole lot, we say ‘recovery is possible in the rooms’. is it true? not in my experience but i am just a member and do not represent na. did i benefit enormously in my three stints in the same now bankrupt place in kent? yes. did i benefit enormously for my six months spent in secondary in its london south west house? yes. the point is how many of us could have attended a rehab that charged £5000 a week? and stay there 6 months in between the two levels? very, very few. this is why people get angry. not at me, lucky enough to be able to go there, but at the fact that a rehab could charge these rates to anyone. bear in mind mine wasn’t even one of the most expensives. i know of another day care like yours, run by people we both know very well, that two years ago were charging a grand a day! now, please forgive my petulance, but how on earth could anybody explain such a cost? what sort of meter was used to quantify such an expense? my rehab was no exception. clients were surrounded by beautiful scenery, tended gardens, ponds, badmington courts, tennis courts, hotbaths, gym, cooks and maids. and it went bankrupt. how many times do you think i had the time or mindset to use any of these facilities? at the end of the day’s work i was always so knackered i simply craved my bed and maybe all i did was a quick game of ping pong. this is what make people angry. i think rehab shouldn’t be comfortable. should not have luxuries or hotbaths. should be hard graft, not in a punishing way but in a educational way. personally, as a drug addict, if you offer me a easy way to go through life i will take it. most so if i am fresh from using. the quicker i learn life without drugs will be very very hard the better. and this takes me to the anti-depressants point. once, doing the helpline, i asked an old timer what did he think about them. he said to me ‘enrico, would you like to have a spiritual awakening on anti-depressants? i had my answer.