Ok, let's go phase by phase starting with 2.
What is provided in this phase?
This is induction. The student's day starts with breakfast, then a time for personal devotion, wher students read tehir bibles to themselves for 15 minutes and then they quietly pray for 15 minutes(or sleep as often is the case at his stage.) Once the interns wake them up from their prayer time, they have a morning work call that last about an hour to clean up the dorms, facility and breakfast mess. After work call their is a one hour chapel service--typical church stuff, sing hymns and then a staff member presents a sermon. After a 10 minute break class begins. At this stage class material focuses on personal responsibility, developing healthy personal realtionships, treating others with respect and earning their respect, how to deal with and control anger. Let give a minute to explain this:
Teen Challenge's method of "treatment" is to consider drug addiction a symptom of other problems. To the church they say it's a sin problem, but in the program they take a much more practical approach. What are some of the most common reasons people who try to stay clean fall back into drugs?
Anger--they get frustrated, it overwhelms them and they give up.
Unhealthy personal relationships: every addict can point to that single person who was a bad influence, or at elast the two of them together were bad influences on each other.
personal responsibility: a victim mentality is a very personally destructive one. It keeps a person down, takes their motivation away and leaves them feeling that someone else is keeping them that way. This class teaches how to take responsibility for the decisions you've made and their consequences ( good and bad) and then takes it to the next level of teaching how to take responsibility for your own life, take the reins and control your own destiny( with the help of God, of course)
These classes last 1 to two weeks. Format is a typical classroom setting, where a teacher lectures and then students interact with the teacher--just like school.
That takes us to lunch, after which afternoon work call begins. What happens here varies from center. At LATC many of the oldre students who had been there longer than a month would go to the thrift store and help out. Newer students still facing physical cravings or dependencies would stay at the center and work
Then there is dinner and it varies from night to night. Wednesday they go to a church service, monday the have a nhour of intercessory prayer and then free time. sometimes there is a short studfy hall. If the rec center is open some of the more mature students may be allowed to go out and help the rec center staff, which is a big treat. They end the day with a little quiet time for those who want to pray and then sleep---8 to 9 hours a night.
What rules & responsibilities do clients have to abide by?
Typical dormitory living rules of course. Students can not go wandering off into the neighborhood, no smoking allowed. Swearing is not allowed. Students are typically segregated and are not allowd to fraternize with the opposite sex at this point---it's not a time to focus on sex or women. This rule actually didn't always exist, but severe dropout rates and a booming Teen Challenge baby population resulted in this approach. Hormones have a way of taking your focus off of recovery. Television is kept to a minimum, mostly news, sports and family-oriented movies. Students have full access to exercise and recreation facilities. stuff like that. Violation ofthe rules gets a write-up and can result in disciplinary action, typically a week of extra work calls while everyone else has free time. Severe violations, like drug use can result in dismissal. This is reviewed per case, tho. Some guys, the fakers, have no remorse and are asked to leave. If it's a case of someone who slipped, then they will be workd with. Transfer to a different center is on option, removal from daily program and placement on a special program where staffmembers can work closely with and monitor teh student is another. It's really on a per case basis.
What criteria is used to determine success, Checklist Counselor's whim?
Students are reviewed by the staff before advancement to the next phase. The criteria considered are counselling notes from sessions with their advisors, performance in their studies( basically their GPA), disciplinary history, and basic general attitude. A student may be held back two weeks if they are not at the level the staff deems needed for advancement. Conversely if an opening comes up and a student is performing exceptionally well, they may advance as much a month earlier.
How does that affect paroles?
In a word..it doesn't. Some parole officers require monthly progress reports, some still insist on seeing the student. Now if you mean court ordered students, typically the courts take a hands off approach and just deal with whether or not the student is in the program. Court committals to TC do not make up a very large percentage of students. I had never seen more than one or two at any given time over 5 years as a staff and 2 and 1/2 as a student. That may have changed with California's drug rehab law that requires courts to send first time drug offenders to rehab first, but probably not significantly, simply because it is the student who chooses TC, not the courts.
What medical care is provided in regards to withdrawal and who(credentials) provides it?
TC does not provide medical care. Potential students are required to take a full physical and bring the results before entry. Students who are on a family health plan will keep their insurance info on file in case it is needed. Many TC students have no longer have familial relations by the time they come to TC and those students if they need medical care are sent to local county hospital facilities with a staff member. Family members are allowed to come get students with special needs and take them to a doctor. However, there are students who lie to staff just to get away for a day so proof of a doctor's actual visit is required.
Is mail phone contact monitored or censored?
phone--no. calls are 15 minutes long to allow others to use the phone. Mail is monitored only so much as who they are sending letters to. TC does not want students communicating with that friend or girlfriend who they were shooting meth with before they came in the program, for obvious reasons. A problem student may actually have his mail monitored more closely, but typically no one reads anyone's mail.
There is another dynamic at work in TC and that is the "as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" dynamic. Dorm living produces all kinds of entanglements and heads clash on a regular basis. TC staff use this as a teaching opportunity. At no time do they instigate this, but when it happens they use it as an opportunity to teach the students how they should practically apply the principles they have been learning in class. This is actually a large part of the growth process, an unintended one, but one noentheless.
Oh, also, every TC I was ever involved with had weekly staff meetings and either weekly or monthly meetings between the students and the Dean of Men. There was always a suggestion box where students could anonymously express their concerns over certain rules or other concerns. The Dean of Men would meet with the entire student body and go over those suggestions/concerns, explaining why some things are as they are and then implementing some rule changes if a student brings up a good suggestion or point. Staff meetings were similar, but also included any issues with staff treatment of students.
