AA, AARC, 12 Steps

I was watching The Fifth Estate tonight and they were doing a story on an alcohol and drug treatment facility in Calgary called the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre (AARC) and certain allegations of abuse and questionable ethics going on within it's walls. This lead me to thinking about a number of things in regards to substance abuse and I wanted to vocalize my opinions (and gather those of others) here on this board in regards not only to AARC but also to AA and their "12 step program" as a whole.

First off I'll list the twelve step program here for those who don't know what it is.

These are the original Twelve Steps as published by Alcoholics Anonymous:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His Will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

At the core of it all I have two main issues with the program. First and foremost is the obvious mention of requiring to submit yourself to god (or as I've heard it called by AA supporters a "higher power") which in my eyes only works to instill a sense of inability to conquer your own problems on your own. This feeling is further reinforced by my second issue with the program, and that is that alcoholics must assume themselves literally powerless to do anything about their addiction.

This sense of absolute powerlessness has been taken to it's utter limit by the AARC centre here in Calgary. As I mentioned above, it has come under some scrutinizing because of allegations made by former members. Some of these allegations (as said in the program I watched) include:

Raping members to show powerlessness, then calling them liars if they bring it up.

Putting feces into a "treated" persons mouth, then punishing them for not being powerless when they spit it out.

Limiting members vocabulary to "nothing longer than the word marmalade" as intelligence is contrary to powerlessness.

Forcing members into treatment even though they are clearly not addicts, and causing them to have no contact with anyone outside of the facility.

There are a number of other situations presented in the documentary and I recommend that everyone check it out.

Beyond all of this however, not only is the centre still active and running (a relative of mine who was in the ADAC program [a thankfully more secular approach to alcoholism] told me stories of members of her group being at the AARC very recently) but it receives government funding and is not government mandated in any way.

So my main question to all of you is this. How do you feel about AA, the 12 step program, ect? Should it be left the way it is, or changed?

The following are links for information on the 12 step program, AARC's homepage, and the link for the aforementioned television show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-ste ... elve_Steps
http://www.aarc.ab.ca/index.php
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/2008-2009/powerless/

I will personally be writing to both AARC and the city council requesting a shutdown of AARC until a formal investigation of it's facility is undertaken.

Also, I put this in the Ethics and Morals section because I thought it fit here best, but I promise not to get angry if a moderator chooses to move it.

It is not really surprising that Alchoholics Anonymous would use God in the program.
Alchoholics who come to AA typically are difficult to manage and it is easy to fall back into a cycle of abuse. Giving them the impression of being watched almost replaces the silent governor of their actions most others take for granted.

Re-establishing self governance is incredibly difficult because void of using precepts of religion you must re-establish ones respect of self. You give them hope or you give them fear.

Fear is easier to give people than hope.

Fear is easier to give people than hope.

I agree. I've always felt this approach was akin to telling your children they have to behave or you'll have to unleash the monster in the basement. But then, that is ultimately the motivation behind all religion.

Originally Posted by Wake Up Alberta

Petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/AARCSurv/petition.html

Facebook Group:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6 ... 929&ref=ts

Fornits:

http://fornits.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=7

Petition signed, but really what good can an online petition do? I'd suggest active protests outside of the building possibly including forced entry. Yes I am condoning violence against this organization, it's a terrorist organization at worst, an abusive torture house on par with Gitmo at best.

Condoning violence ?

Fight violence with violence. Death begets more death.

Eye for an eye.

Use your brain if you have one.

Originally Posted by Wake Up Alberta

Are you volunteering to help Kiefer??

I would love to help in any way that I can. Feel free to contact me here or via e-mail (my e-mail is under my avatar to the right).