#enthusiasticsobriety

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Episode 114 with the insightful @general_organa_fan @ontheemmis - Jacqueline talks of her time spent involved with Enthusiastic Sobriety programmes and the institutionalised abuse they inflict on participants and the activism taking place to prevent any further harm. Available now. #troubledteens #troubledteenindustry #breakingcodesilence #breakingcodesilence2021 #breakingcodesilenceawareness #tti #enthusiastic #enthusiasticsobriety #bobmeehan #synanon #cedu #teenchallenge #monarchschool #daytop #cult #cults #abuseawareness #abusesurvivor #abuser #abuseisabuse #institutionalisedabuse #stopabuse #cultleader #podcast #podcasts #podcastshow #podcastsofinstagram #podcastsforwomen #igotout #podcaststudio https://www.instagram.com/p/CSznSl-glNb/?utm_medium=tumblr

[enthusiasticsobrietyabuse]

For parents desperate to find help for their troubled teenagers, Bob Meehan was a man with the answers.

After a visit by the controversial U.S. therapist, credited for getting actress Carol Burnett's daughter off alcohol and drugs, Breakaway, a peer-recovery group for teenagers, was formed in Burnaby and Penticton.

At the time no drop-in programs for teenagers existed in B.C. and the parents were critical of the government's drug and alcohol outpatient clinics for not providing enough services for youth.

"When Meehan came up there wasn't much help for young people," said Langley MLA Carol Gran, who met the therapist last year during a talk he gave to a group of North Vancouver parents.

"He did this thing about what a terrible person he was who finally got off drugs and alcohol," Gran said. "It was emotional - he was like an evangelical person, who had people crying."

It was through Meehan the parents were able to hire four San Diego counsellors knowledgeable in Meehan's 12-step treatment method.

The three Burnaby counsellors resigned recently after controversy that the dogged Meehan in the U.S. surfaced in B.C. The Penticton's program director is still with Breakaway.

Burnaby's day program was temporarily suspended after B.C.'s drug and alcohol programs stopped referring clients over a concern that it was "cult-like." Breakaway's board of directors said they're now restructuring the program to make it "more palatable" to government.

In 1986 in San Diego, a drop-in program called Freeway, founded by Meehan, disbanded after allegations it was a cult and a front to channel paying clients into Meehan's $5,400-a-month residential, Sober Live-In Centres.

Also in San Diego the same year, officials shut down three of Meehan's residential centres because he had operated them for three years without a license.

"He had three different locations in San Diego, none of which were ever licensed," said Tom Hersant, director of state licensing in San Diego.

"Two were uncovered after he said he only had the one." Hersant said Meehan would no be eligible for a license if he were to reapply because he "deceived" officials. "He's not a person who would respond to regulation."

San Diego lawyer Don Ceplenski said his 23-year-old daughter Jill became active with Meehan's group at age 16. He claims the group alienated Jill from her family and she now refuses to talk with them.

"The group ends up anti-social. It's telling the parents and the public one thing but, when you find out what is really going on, it's very disturbing. In San Diego the group became a gang." Ceplenski said.

"Vancouver is like we were in 1981 when Meehan came to town - there were no drug programs for teenagers. There were no people who could communicate with them."

"What is so hard is unsuspecting parents think Meehan sets it up and leaves town and has nothing to do with the group but the counsellors are in touch with Meehan. The whole operation is set up to feed his SLIC (Sober Live-In Centre) ranches."

In Phoenix, Arizona, another of Meehan's Sober Live-In Centres was ordered closed by the department of health services in 1986 for operating without a license. Meehan appealed the Arizona closure and was reissued a license, which expires this June.

But the Arizona drop-in program disbanded after a visit to its board of directors by a group of disgruntled San Diego parents who claimed it was a cult.

They were led by a 42-year-old, colorful consumer vigilante called Captain Sticky. Formerly Richard Pesta before a legal name change, Captain Sticky said he chose his new monicker 15 years ago because of the "sticky situation" he got into as a consumer advocate.

Speaking from his home in San Diego, Captain Sticky said he has been invited to B.C. to investigate the Burnaby Breakaway program by a small group of parents led by Susan Shoesmith.

Although the date of his visit is not confirmed, Captain Sticky said he will come dressed in his "full-battle regalia" of a blue jumpsuit with a gold "S" on the chest and gold cape.

"It took 19 days to shut him down (in San Diego) and some bizarre action on my part," said Captain Sticky, who is the director of a marketing company called Captain Sticky Promotions.

"I go head on head. It got into a war-like atmosphere. I try to force my opponent into a confrontation. Most parents went into denial and stood with him (Meehan) but most of them said, if Sticky is lying, Meehan should sue him, but he never did."

Meehan, who runs a consulting firm in San Diego, could not be reached for comment. His secretary said he's on a U.S. speakers' tour all this month.

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A small segment from this week’s upcoming episode with special guest Jacqueline from @ontheemmis Giving a brief summary of how problematic the TTI industry is and the changes to legislation that are needed along with what Jacqueline and her team aim do accomplish with their organisation. #breakingcodesilence #breakingcodesilence2021 #breakingcodesilenceawareness #tti #troubledteen #troubledteenindustry #troubledteens #troubledteenindustrysurvivor #enthusiasticsobriety #es #podcast #podcasts #podcastshow #podcastsofinstagram #podcastsforwomen #abuseawareness #abusesurvivor #abuseisabuse #abuserecovery #cult #cultsurvivor #cults #cultleader #synanon #cedu #teenchallenge #élan #igotout #truecrime #truecrimepodcast https://www.instagram.com/p/CSui52sAd0W/?utm_medium=tumblr

[enthusiasticsobrietyabuse]

The directors of an embattled drug-and-alcohol abuse program for teenagers in Burnaby are calling for a government investigation into charges the program is a cult and has links to a controversial therapist in the U.S. 

Ken Hick, head of the board of the Breakaway Drug Abuse Society, said an investigation is the only way to prove that the program is independent and sound. 

“The allegation that we are aligned with something dark and mysterious in the States is absolute hogwash,” said Hick, a real-estate developer whose own son has taken the Breakaway program. 

He told a news conference he has not yet received any specifics of the complaints against Breakaway. 

Parents Complain 

“An investigation will verify that we are not of a cult nature,” he said. 

The Breakaway directors called the news conference after a group of parents with teenagers in the program went public with their complaint that their children’s dependency on drugs and alcohol had been replaced with a new dependency - on the Breakaway program. 

As well, the disgruntled parents said that the program’s counsellors act as recruiters for a high-priced residential program in California founded by controversial alcohol-and-drug counsellor Bob Meehan of San Diego. 

Breakaway was started in November 1986 by a group of parents in the Lower Mainland whose teenagers were abusing alcohol and drugs, and is based on Meehan’s 12-step program using peer counsellors. 

No Formal Link 

Hick said about one-quarter of Breakaway’s 75 clients were referred to Meehan’s programs. 

He said three Breakaway counsellors with past links to Meehan have now resigned. Meehan has made unpaid visits to Breakaway on three occasions, he said, but has no formal connection to the program. 

Asked about Breakaway’s success rate, Hick said about 10 of the 75 clients have been drug and alcohol free for at least a year. 

“We don’t have statistics,” he said. “That’s one thing we will have to get for this investigation.” 

One parent at the news conference, Steve Imbach, said he almost despaired of getting help for his two sons until he found Breakaway. 

“Breakaway has given our family serenity again,” he said. “It has given us back sober kids.” 

Breakaway originally recieved a $32,000 start-up grant from B.C. government, but recently the health ministry and the provincial alcohol-and-drug programs stopped referring clients to its program after receiving about 10 complaints parents and teenagers. 

The ministry said it does not recognize the program’s counsellors, who are all recovered addicts, because they’re not academically qualified. 

Meanwhile, a report from the ministry of labor and consumer services, which runs the province’s alcohol-and-drug programs, questions some of the therapy methods used on teenagers involved in the program. 

“The Breakaway program makes no provisions for developing life skills to enable clients to live normal lives after termination of ‘therapy,’“ states the report written by University of B.C. psychologist Donald Dutton. 

The report states that two clients he interviewed describe “disturbing elements of the Breakaway program.” 

“The first has to do with the establishment of total dependency on the program. A second troubling aspect of the Breakaway program, again reported by both clients, is its tendency to isolate clients from friends and family outside the group.” 

[enthusiasticsobrietyabuse]

A Burnaby alcohol and drug program for teenagers will be restructured to make it “more palatable” to the provincial government. 

The Breakaway Alcohol and Drug Abuse Society, operating since November 1986, has temporarily suspended its day program while it tries to regain the support of B.C.’s alcohol and drug programs, Breakaway chairman Ken Hick said Thursday night. 

Breakaway’s Monday and Friday evening meetings and Saturday afternoon sessions will continue for the 60 to 75 youths in the program he said. 

B.C. referrals ended 

The government’s alcohol and drug counsellors stopped referring clients to Breakaway after a small group of parents, led by North Vancouver mother Susan Shoesmith, claimed the program was a cult and that its counsellors were recruiters for costly U.S. residential treatment programs. 

“We’ll ultimately restructure it so it might be more palatable to more people - namely the government and other community groups,” said Hick, who will be meeting tonight with Breakaway parents and teenagers to inform them of the board’s decision. 

It will be more palatable to government if someone with more academic qualifications oversees it. At this point we’re perceived as working with a bunch of people who don’t have the necessary qualifications.” 

Hick said the program’s three counsellors, originally from San Diego, Calif., with links to controversial U.S. therapist Bob Meehan, are recovered drug addicts with no academic qualifications. 

Shoesmith claimed the counsellors, only one of whom remains with the program, used Breakaway as a front to channel clients to Meehan’s $5,400 a month, residential Sober Live-In Centres in the U.S. A day program for teenager alcoholics and drug addicts, run by Meehan in San Diego, was disbanded in 1986 after similar allegations. 

Hick said between 10 and 20 youths from the program were referred to Meehan’s U.S. centres, but only because no local residential programs existed. 

“I don’t care about what happened in the U.S.,” said Hick. “To give guilt by association is not too swift a deal.” 

Hick said whether Breakaway ends or continues in a “restructured” form, he wants an official government investigation into the allegations that it is a cult primarily interested in fund-raising for Meehan. 

Breakaway sent a letter this week to B.C. Attorney-General Brian Smith for an investigation and is now awaiting a response. 

Doctor had concerns 

In the meantime, Hick said he’ll meet Tuesday with Dr. Carl Stroh, Vancouver regional manager of the government’s drug and alcohol programs, to discuss Breakaway’s future. 

Stroh has said in the past he was concerned about Breakaway’s “cult-like” characteristics. 

“We want to discuss (with Stroh) what sort of structure (Breakaway) should have that would make it compatible to both our philosophy and (the provincial government) drugs and alcohols philosophy. 

Hick said he would like Breakaway to continue to use young counsellors, who are recovered alcoholics and drug addicts, in order to “attract” teenagers to the program. 

But he’s willing to see a professional psychologist hired in order to oversee the counsellor’s work.