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The Beacon House Association of San Pedro (Beacon House) has adopted the following set of principles and concepts as the basis of its approach to promoting recovery from alcoholism, drug addiction, and alcohol or drug related problems at the Beacon House.
1.) At Beacon House, alcohol and drug problems are viewed as being interactive in nature. While this idea was best stated by Joseph Kellerman in 1969 in his book, Alcoholism, A Merry-Go-Round Named Denial, Beacon House considers the idea to be pertinent to both alcoholism and drug addiction. Kellerman states, "A person must have the help of at least one other person to become an alcoholic (addict). He cannot become one by himself. Alcoholism (and drug addiction) cannot appear in a person apart from others, get worse without the help of others, or continue in isolation from other people." Alcoholism and drug addiction is viewed as being centered in the reciprocal relationship between the individual and the surrounding social unit, rather than within the individual himself. Thus, these problems are considered to be problems of families, communities and society, rather than simply individual problems.
If the problem is considered relational in nature (always involving the drinker/user and the surrounding environment) changing the surrounding environment and changing the relationships between the individual and the surrounding social unit become primary concerns. Therefore, a major goal of Beacon House is to change the overall societal environment. Examples of such change are public policy initiatives such as increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages to lower the consumption rate, providing warning labels on alcoholic beverages to warn against dangers of drinking during pregnancy, or including dual diagnosis in recovery events, recognizing the intertwining of the two in the recovery community.
2.) A positive sober and clean environment is considered a critical part of program operations and is viewed as a primary "service" at Beacon House. Beacon House recognizes there are many factors in our environment which encourage problem drinking and drug use, and inhibit recovery from these diseases. We live in a society which places a high public value on the consumption of alcoholic beverages as an element of being normal, and perhaps as high or higher a private value on the use of licit and illicit drugs. Beacon House turns this societal norm upside down and places a strong emphasis on abstinence from alcohol, illicit drugs, and self-medication of licit drugs. The person who drinks, uses or self-medicates at Beacon House is considered so abnormal that he will be asked to leave. Thus the provision of an appropriate environment is in itself a service which promotes recovery. In an appropriate abstinent environment many alcoholics and addicts find that it is relatively easy to stay clean and sober.
3.) Recovery services at Beacon House are natural in style. This trait is easy to recognize but hard to define. In a clinical setting, services are clearly delineated and easily identified because they are a departure from ordinary behavior. A group therapy session, for example, will start at a particular time, end at a particular time, and follow a certain set of fairly rigid practices. Observers of Beacon House activities sometimes walk away with the feeling that there is "nothing really happening" other than groups of people sitting around drinking coffee and chatting. However, a sociologist or anthropologist may point out that many of these people’s lives are improving in a very dramatic way, and that there are activities and interactions going on that transcend casual social conversation. Additionally, we believe that group activities in which people plan and implement an event or project (such as a block party or alumni reunion) are more important in promoting recovery from alcoholism or drug addiction than conventional group counseling sessions or assertiveness training.
4.) The primary therapeutic relationship is between the individual and the program, not between the individual and a particular therapist. In most clinically oriented programs, a new patient or client will be assigned to an individual therapist who will have primary responsibility for managing that patient’s case and helping develop a treatment plan. At Beacon House the individual’s primary relationship is with the group as a whole. A recovering alcoholic or addict is encouraged to discuss his problems with any member of the staff or with other program participants and volunteers. Beacon House recognizes that the relationships individual participants have with each other will be stronger and more important then relationships between individual participants and staff members.
5.)The basis of authority is experiential knowledge. Beacon House emphasizes the importance of living life clean and sober on a day by day basis, as the only real way to learn to recover from alcoholism and/or drug addiction. Thus Beacon House, as well as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and other mutual self-help groups, emphasizes experiential learning and considers the people with the most positive experience in recovering from alcoholism or drug addiction as being the real leaders of the group or program.
6.) Everyone is expected to both give and receive help. In a clinical setting, the roles of the clinical staff and the roles of the patient are clearly delineated. Staff is there to provide help; patients are there to receive help. At Beacon House, staff is there because working in the program provides strength in one’s own life. Additionally, new participants at Beacon House are expected to contribute toward program operations. In the beginning this contribution may be relatively simple such as helping out in the kitchen or helping with routine cleaning chores. However, as the participant proceeds with his personal recovery, he is expected to assume more responsibility regarding program operations.
7.) Individual participants are accepted as being mentally competent. Beacon House views alcoholics and addicts who are not drinking or using as competent adults. People are considered responsible for their own lives and must accept the consequences of their actions. Therefore, staff at Beacon House does not develop treatment plans. Staff is available to provide advice when asked, but will not presume to tell a person how to live his life. An important implication of this principle is that services are based on attraction, not diagnosis (Reynolds, 1988). If there is no diagnosis, there is no need for psychosocial histories, treatment plan, or progress notes. Each individual is considered responsible for choosing recovery activities appropriate for his own personal recovery.
8.) The goal of Beacon House is to promote recovery, not to provide treatment. There is a difference between recovery from alcoholism/drug addiction and the treatment of alcoholism/drug addiction. Many people receive years of treatment and never recover; many others recover from alcoholism without treatment. This distinction is sometimes lost, and "providing treatment" becomes an end in itself. Beacon House does not provide treatment in the traditional sense. Instead, we provide opportunities for recovery. This distinction helps make clear the principle that each individual is personally responsible for staying clean and sober. This idea was expressed by George Valiant in The Natural History of Alcoholism when he said, "Alcoholics (and addicts) recover not because we treat them, but because they heal themselves".
At Beacon House many supportive services needed by some but not all participants are provided through referral. The program tries to avoid doing anything for an individual that the person can do for himself. We also try to avoid providing anything the individual needs that can be provided by some other agency. Many participants at Beacon House have problems other than alcohol and drugs: mental health problems, housing problems and dental problems, to mention a few. It is the job of the staff to be knowledgeable about available community resources and to be sophisticated about strategies to develop those resources when they are not in fact available. Staff should serve as advocates or guides for the participants in the use of community resources outside the program.
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