The Bradenton Drug Treatment Community (BDTC) subjects drug addicts to tough residential treatment, educational training and thorough supervision by treatment professionals. BDTC has received $2.47 million from the Bureau of Justice Assistance and is considered to be a drug treatment program model for young offenders. Its main focus is on offenders aged 16-24. It recognizes that the issues of employment, education and home environment need to be addressed aside from substance abuse treatment. (Castellano, 1995)
Community-based programs are going far beyond the model developed nearly a quarter of a century ago. Under this model, addicts were placed in a residential environment under the supervision of former addicts. In these programs, addicts' personalities were, in effect, torn down and then rebuilt. Addicts share one thing in common: They know, deep down, how tough it is to quit or curtail drug use. But addicts differ, too, which is why this model did not work for everyone. For this reason, modalities have changed and evolved over the past 25 years--and are continuing to change and evolve.
Treatment professionals know that most substance abusers will require a combination of modalities to achieve long-term stability The programs examined in this article--in Florida, Illinois, Connecticut and Arizona--utilize, in some way, most of the following elements developed by the National Consortium of Treatment Assessment Screening Center (TASC) Programs in Silver Spring, Md.:
- Detoxification--this element is essential to end immediate drug use and cope with the physical symptoms of withdrawal.
- Therapeutic communities and long-term residential treatment--these are residential facilities where treatment involves personality restructuring. Participants are made to accept responsibility for their actions and change their attitudes and behaviors.
- Short-term residential treatment--most short-term residential treatment programs focus on the 12-step model, which includes the admission of addiction and the......
