Social Model Recovery

We believe that everyone contributes to providing a safe and nurturing environment; we treat each other with consistency, predictability, and respect.

At the very foundation of a social model program is the environment that is created to support each participant. Change best occurs when participants feel nurtured in a safe, stable and enriched setting. This environment is predicated on communicating with one another in an open, honest and clear manner.
Everyone is expected to role model healthy behaviors. We are all examples to others; our actions influence those around us. We role model healthy behaviors through encouraging positive self-esteem and understanding appropriate boundaries. We strive to conduct ourselves in a responsible manner that demonstrates growth and change.
Each person is treated with respect. We are able to respect and appreciate the individual's uniqueness. It is our differences that make our communities strong. Members within our communities are acknowledged, as each individual potentially offers a positive contribution.
Everyone advocates for individual growth and community change. Advocacy is the process of learning more about oneself and the communities that surround us whilst, at the same time, promoting mutual change. As we learn more about our relationships with the communities we serve, we are better able to contribute to growth and change.
Everyone's life experience is valued. Staff and participants contribute by bringing their strengths and weaknesses into their interactions with one another. Although some have many years of education, some have not finished the ninth grade; some come from wealth, and some come from homeless shelters; education and life experiences are equally valued. We think as individuals and succeed collectively. We see the individual as an integral part of our social system. Social model is the unique interaction of individuals and their experiences.
Self-disclosure, when appropriate, is beneficial. Self-disclosure may play an important role in developing trust or understanding and instilling hope. Trust is the stepping stone that allows an individual to contemplate making changes. Self disclosure can establish and maintain an empathic relationship that gives the participant the sense of being understood. Staff must exercise discretion when contemplating self-disclosure. Appropriateness is best tested if all three of the following questions are answered as "yes":
a. Is the intent of the self-disclosure to enable positive change in others?
b. Will it create an environment that fosters trust and hope for the participant?
c. Are the appropriate professional boundaries being maintained?
The primary relationship is between the participant and the program community rather than with an individual staff member.In our social model settings, the emphasis of recovery is based upon the relationship between the participant and his or her environment (including other participants and staff as a whole) whereas, in a medical model of treatment, the emphasis of treatment is based upon the partnership of the patient and his or her doctor.

It is the collective and integrated team of employees and participants, more than one individual member, which creates the ideal social model environment. It is the healing created by everyone's accumulated knowledge, collective experiences and cohesiveness that make the social model process work. Although individual interactions between single staff and participants are supportive, it is the group interactions which prove to be of greater benefit.
We seek to understand and accept our own limitations. We remain open to the views, truths and experiences of others; it is humility which allows us to listen to what they can offer. When we concede that we do not have the answer to every question, trust can begin. We can then seek out others who may provide additional insight.
Our responsibility is to provide an environment in which participants discover their personal choices; we believe that only the participants have the ability to choose to recover. We create an environment which promotes trust, advocates change and allows individuals to develop hope. The power of recovery lies within each participant. We provide the tools (i.e. strategies, shared experiences, etc.) to the participants, so that they are able to discover their personal choices.
We offer resources for both the individual and communities to develop and implement change. We share information between individuals and communities. We challenge systemic conditions and social disparities which threaten a healthy environment. We encourage and facilitate the on-going collective effort of a dynamic staff, willing participants and the community.
We seek to create meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with the community. We pursue opportunities that develop helpful and healthy relationships with both communities and individuals. Relationships of support, assistance and encouragement within the community create partnerships that benefit each person, as well as the community as a whole.
Recovery is an individual choice and an ongoing process; it is demonstrated, measured and strengthened by community involvement. Recovery requires a change in lifestyle; the rate of change for each individual and community varies. Community involvement may include family, peers, neighbors or any other group.

Social Model Recovery

A Best Practice Treatment Approach to Alcohol and Drug Addiction

Alcohol and other drug addictions cut across economic class, gender, race and nationality. At Lake Arrowhead, we provide an entire array of services to assist individuals with alcohol and other drug problems. This array of services includes prevention, non-medical detoxification, residential and non-residential treatment, recovery services for adults and court-mandated services such as drug court programs. This article will explore the social model approach to alcohol and drug addiction recovery and how it differs from the disease model.

When dealing with alcohol or drug addiction, some individuals change on their own, others decide to seek professional help (a psychological or medical perspective), whilst still others rely on the support from family, friends and the community (a sociological perspective). Nationally, in 2001, 3.1 million people entered some kind of treatment for alcohol and/or drug addiction. Of these, 1.6 million received help for their addiction and subsequent recovery at self-help type groups and 1.2 million received treatment at an outpatient rehabilitation facility. Both choices yielded positive results.

A widely accepted description of addiction, by treatment professionals, is that it is a disease. Adherents to this concept describe the disease as a 'bio-psycho-social' illness suffered by the addicted individual. Belief in the disease concept is viewed among many addiction professionals as the only acceptable addiction model. This belief is so strongly held that any challenge to the disease model is interpreted as an attack on the reality of addiction. According to this model, addicted individuals require professional treatment in order to recover. Treatment methods may include psychotherapy, group and individual counseling in residential and non-residential settings, narcotic replacement and/or various approaches using medication.

Adherents of the social model approach see the environment of the individual as the primary influence that causes the condition known as addiction. Individuals receive cues from the environment in which they exist and interpret these cues through their understanding of themselves, others and the world that influences their behavior. Social model adherents view the process in which one recovers as that of altering the relationship between the individual and his/her surrounding environment.

Social model recovery seeks to change the environment in which the individual lives, rather than the person. It is achieved and sustained by peer interaction and mutual self-help. In contrast, the disease model is based on treatment, where the primary method for recovery is the relationship between the professional therapist (the well person) and the client (the sick person). Recovery is a do-it-yourself plan: here are the tools; here is a safe and supportive environment; now it's up to you to learn to live without alcohol. An individual learns and sustains personal recovery by 'living it' and 'sharing it' - holding the belief that "if I hear, I will forget; if I see, I will remember; if I do, I will learn; if I teach, I will believe." A slogan that one can associate with social model recovery is: "I alone must do it, but I can not do it alone."

In the social model approach, the process is known as recovery. The recovering individual becomes engaged in a 'recovery' environment, whether residential (including detoxification programs) or non-residential, where the culture constantly reinforces an alternative set of values and beliefs. The core beliefs or values generally include mutual respect and help, teamwork and belonging to a group that supports recovery. Recovery is a lifelong process and requires a positive attitude. Participants come to believe that individuals can accomplish almost anything by working together as a group. In practice, social model recovery presents a clear expectation that each person is responsible to the others by helping to maintain the recovery environment.

Both the disease and social models usually support continued attendance in mutual self-help organizations, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA). However, supporters of the two philosophies may view the relationship of these organizations with the alcoholic or addict quite differently. Disease model supporters tend to see self-help groups as 'aftercare' or recovery maintenance because they view the individual as still sick. Social model proponents see self-help groups as the primary means to engage in recovery and personal growth by gaining, then reinforcing and sustaining a lifestyle in which abstinence is the means to achieve personal fulfillment. The social model theory, maintains that,- the mutual self-help groups are the platform where healthy recovery is presented to newcomers, all of whom have an opportunity to positively engage with others.

To summarize:

Social model emphasizes the process of learning through 'doing', 'experiencing' and providing positive role models.
Social model philosophy ensures that programs are cost effective and outcome effective because of their ability to build strong and lasting social support systems.
The social model approach is a recognized, effective approach to treatment and recovery from which countless individuals benefit.