The first drug and alcohol treatment program that combined addition treatment with college education was a treatment facility in Orange County, California. The first program to initiate a college program within its addiction treatment program was in Newport Beach, California called Sober Living By The Sea. The program began in 1998. Two addiction treatment professionals, Brendan Bickley and Rick Mermelstein, began the program at Sober Living By The Sea. When Rick Mermelstein and Brendan Bickley first developed the idea to combine college classes with drug and alcohol treatment, Mr. Mermelstein brought the idea to executives at Sober Living By The Sea and they balked at the idea. Everyone thought they were insane for sending people in treatment to a college campus to take classes while they were in addiction treatment. No one thought it was a good idea. But,eventually they were able to convince the executives at Sober Living By The Sea and the program was initiated for the Fall semester at Saddleback College in 1998 (It should be credited to Bill Sweeney, Sober Living By The Sea's Executive Director, and Carl Mosen, the founder, for having enough faith to believe that the college program was a good idea. Without their support it never would have started). At the time no treatment facility had a program specifically designed to help people in addiction treatment go back to college, begin college, or complete their college careers. The program was originally called the REACH Program, but eventually changed its name to the TEACH Program. The program started with about ten clients. It was a great success and continued to grow each semester. The program was not about simply taking clients to college to take classes, it was about getting clients involved in repairing their wreckage while they were in treatment. Under the mentorship of Brendan Bickley, all the clients took classes together, studied together, and participated in treatment together. In 2004 Paul Alexander and Brendan Bickley conducted a research thesis at the University of California, Irvine to study the outcomes of clients who participated in the TEACH Program compared to those who participated in treatment alone at the same treatment center. It had long been known that clients who participated in the TEACH Program seemed to be staying sober longer than those who did not, but the phenomenon had not been scientifically documented. What Paul Alexander and Brendan Bickley found was that clients who participated in the TEACH Program had a 75% higher chance of staying sober for a year or more compared to clients who did not participate in the college program. It was a groundbreaking study that astounded everyone in the treatment industry and sparked nationwide interest in college programs. Since then Brendan Bickley has helped start other college programs at other treatment facilities in Orange County with Paul Alexander and Jana Tufty. The NTS Academy is Mr. Brendan Bickley and Paul Alexander's third college program. Over the years the treatment combined with college model has been refined and developed to include all levels of education, a specific therapeutic treatment approach, and unique program elements that contribute to client's success in their recovery and in their education.

Labels: Brendan Bickley, History of College Program in Drug Rehabs, History of Rehabs in Orange County, Orange County Drug and Alcohol Treatment