When the original concept of combining higher education with traditional drug treatment was introduced in 1998 people in the addiction treatment industry were more than skeptical.  Everyone thought we were insane.  Now, famous drug rehabs accross the United States are scrambling to develop their own college programs.  Since research has shown that combining college classes with drug treatment produces better outcomes, drug rehabs (like Promises in Malibu) have sought to create their own college programs within their addiction treatment facilities.  The problem is that unless done right, putting clients in college while they are in treatment can actually produce worse results and defocus from treatment efforts.  A drug treatment college program must be integrated with a drug rehab's programming.  It must have a separate staff dedicated to the college program elements, but the staff must also be trained in addiction treatment.  The logistics of running a college program within a drug rehab produces a whole set of different hurdles to jump.  In many instances, drug rehabs will find that they cannot facilitate a college program because of lack of staff, program flexibility, and lack of training. If drug rehabs attempt to create a college program halfheartedly they will be left with disastrous results.  Unless all the elements of the "college combined with addiction treatment model" are in place, every attempt at instituting a college program within a drug rehab will fail, and fail miserably.  Through years of experience in creating college programs within addiction treatment facilities I know that those who have tried it on their own have never been able to succeed.  Unfortunately they still try at the expense of the clients they are trying to help.  A college program can be a tremendous benefit to drug rehabs and their clients, but it must be done right.  I have actually created what I call a "College Program Kit" that I have freely given to other drug rehabs wanting to create a college program within their addiction treatment facilities to help them in starting it, but what most drug rehabs discover is that it is not as easy as it looks, for the reasons mentioned earlier.  Sincerely, Brendan Bickley

Labels: College Combined with Addiction Treatment, College Drug Rehab, College Programs in Drug Rehabs, History of College Program in Drug Rehabs

The Academy at NTS has grown over the last year to include an on site statistics class, and a formal training program for future drug and alcohol treatment counselors. The Academy will soon be moving to its own building and college classes will be held both on campus at local Universities and on site in our NTS Classroom. The NTS Sober College Academy is the latest creation of Brendan Bickley, who has created many other college treatment programs at addiction treatment facilities. As with any addiction treatment program, the program is only as good as its staff. The Academy is run by Dave Alexander and Shannon Reed. Dave Alexander and Shannon Reed have added their own creativity and expertise in creating the most diverse, exceptional sober college program ever. The College Program model in addiction treatment was researched by Brendan Bickley and Paul Alexander at the University of California Irvine. You can read the results of their groundbreaking study online.

Labels: College Combined with Addiction Treatment, College Drug Rehab, Sober College

There are many ways to improve a person's memory and studying techniques. In the NTS Academy we examine these methods for improving memory in our addiction treatment facility program dedicated to college skills development.

To encode information in your short-term working memory is a matter of creativity and practice. Memory is determined not by how long information stays in the short-term working memory, but by how the person processes the information (meaning). Shallow processing leads to poor long-term memory, while deep processing leads to strong long-term memory.

The more meaningful information is, the better the deep processing will be. So in the NTS Academy college drug and alcohol addiction treatment combines addiction treatment with general education classes in college, we teach our clients/students to make the information meaningful to them. We encourage our students to relate the information they are learning in class to their alcoholism or drug addiction.

Rehearsal is another process in remembering information being learning in class. Rehearsal involves reviewing or practicing of material as you are learning it. There is a technique called Elaborate Rehearsal that involves associating new items of information with material that has already been stored or with other new facts. This leads to more stable long-term memory. It has been shown through research that when the rehearsal of information is distributed over a period of time it leads to enduring and stable long-term memorization of information compared to compressed rehearsal of information (e.g., cramming the night before the test). In the NTS Academy we help our students distribute information over long periods of time. We do this by having organized study groups daily and teaching students to review their notes daily on the way to school and after school. Our students learn that when they take this disciplined approach to learning college is easy.

Alcoholics and addicts are often experts at procrastinating. They tend to wait to the last minute to study or write papers for class. We help our clients learn the benefit of distributing learning and homework throughout the week. Once they try this method they invariably find that our approach to school is much easier than their old way of approaching school.

In the NTS Academy we are firm believers in the use of mnemonic devices to study for exams and learn new information. Mnemonics are formal strategies and tricks for encoding, storing, and retaining information. Mnemonic devices provide a structure for learning, guides retrieval by providing effective cues for recalling the information, and through means of visual images and rhymes, helps students from durable and distinctive memory traces that allow our NTS Academy students recall information for their exams.

Labels: College Drug Rehab, College Programs in Drug Rehabs, Imroving Your Memory for School, The Brain and Drug and Alcohol Addiction, The Changing Brain

BEWARE of FAKE college programs in drug and alcohol treatment facilities. A true college program in a treatment facility will have several elements that make it a real college program and not merely a thrown together "college services" program. Some treatment facilities say they offer college services for their clients, but these are minimal and do not compare to the true college combined with addiction treatment model that was first developed in 1998 in the TEACH Program at Sober Living By The Sea. 

Labels: California, College Combined with Addiction Treatment, College Drug Rehab, College Programs in Drug Rehabs

In 1998 the first drug rehab to combine college classes and addiction treatment was created. The addiction treatment combined with education had been happening for years and therapeutic boarding schools, but these facilities focused on high school education and not necessarily college education. The concept of combining college education with drug and alcohol treatment was conceived early in 1997, but did not come to fruition until the Spring of 1998 when the first treatment facility to offer college education and addiction treatment at the same time was finally erected at Sober Living By The Sea by Brendan Bickley and Rick Mermelstein. The program was designed to not only help client's return to college or get started in college, but to help clients in drug rehab get their lives back on track. For years extended care residential addiction treatment facilities had seen the benefits of allowing people to get jobs while in treatment, and allowing clients to attend school while in extended care treatment had been happening as well, but never had a program been specifically designed to address the common problems drug addicts and alcoholics face when starting college or continuing college. Originally the college program only put clients in classes that related to the recovery from drugs and alcohol. The theory was that if clients were taking college classes that dealt with drug and alcohol abuse, then it would be a form of treatment in itself. Clients at Sober Living By The Sea attended Human Services classes at Saddleback College which focused on becoming a drug and alcohol addiction treatment counselor. The college program was a program within a larger program. It had its own groups, and all the clients went to the same classes, studied together, and went on activities together. After the first semester at Saddleback College in 1998, the success of the clients was remarkable. The first ten clients completed the program successfully and got outstanding grades. The college program, which was initially only a trial program, was extended for the Summer, and has continued to grow and develop over the years. The original college program creator, Brendan Bickley, went on to create other programs at other treatment facilities with the same success with the help of Paul Alexander and Jana Tufty. Today, the addiction treatment combined with college education had proven to be highly successful for treatment facilities and for clients. Research has been conducted on the abnormal success of this treatment model. Experts hypothesize that the success of clients who go through a college program while at an addiction treatment facility is due to a few key factors. First, a college program help clients with their self-esteem and hope. Clients feel as if they are accomplishing something in their lives and that their lives are not completely destroyed as a result of their drug and alcohol use. Second, a college program creates an unusual group dynamic. Unlike normal addiction treatment, clients in a college program start and finish together. There is a start date and a graduation date. This has been shown to create a more cohesive group dynamic. Third, the counselors in the college programs are seen not as people who are just there to get them sober, but also to help them accomplish their goals. This creates a unique rapport between the client and the college program counselor. Researchers continue to examine the success of college programs in addiction treatment facilities, but they have yet to figure out exactly why the programs have such tremendous success.

Labels: Brendan Bickley, College Combined with Addiction Treatment, College Drug Rehab