Phoenix House
Phoenix House is a nonprofit substance abuse treatment organization founded in 1967 in Manhattan, New York. Initially developed from a group of recovering addicts, it has grown to become the largest of its kind in the United States, operating over 120 programs nationwide. Inspired by early therapeutic communities, Phoenix House has been pioneering in its approach, notably becoming the first program to include incarcerated individuals through a program at Riker's Island. The organization serves diverse populations, offering specialized programs for adolescents and individuals with co-occurring mental health issues.
The core mission of Phoenix House emphasizes not only achieving sobriety but also fostering personal growth and character development. This is achieved through a structured environment where residents engage in mutual aid within a peer community, focusing on reshaping values and self-identity. The treatment model incorporates group psychotherapy techniques, particularly through a confrontational style known as the encounter, which encourages honest communication among residents. The program aims to equip individuals with vocational and interpersonal skills while promoting self-reliance and social responsibility. Emphasizing the importance of aftercare, Phoenix House supports residents in transitioning back into society, highlighting the ongoing evolution of therapeutic communities to meet the needs of those in recovery.
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Phoenix House
Definition: Phoenix House is a therapeutic community that treats a variety of substance addictions. Programs include assessment and evaluation, inpatient detoxification, residential and outpatient care, and programs for teenagers.
Date: Established 1967
Background
Phoenix House was established in Manhattan, New York, in 1967. The program developed out of a small group meeting of addicts that included psychiatrist Mitchell S. Rosenthal, who became a leader in implementing the residential treatment program. Phoenix House, modeled after the earliest forms of the therapeutic communities Daytop Village and Synanon, was led by graduates of these communities and by counselors from New York City’s Addiction Services Agency.
Seven additional Phoenix House communities emerged within one year and, in 1972, Phoenix House became a nonprofit foundation. Phoenix House is now the largest nonprofit substance abuse treatment organization in the United States, with more than 120 programs around the country.
Phoenix House was the first treatment program to include prisoners when it started a program at Riker’s Island, New York. Residents of Phoenix House have been diverse in terms of gender, age, race, and socioeconomic status, although some specialized programs treat specific addict populations, including adolescents, residents with co-occurring mental illnesses, men, and women. Phoenix House Academies, established in 1983, provide residential high schools for substance abusing youth with mental illnesses.
Mission and Goals
The goals of Phoenix House focus not only on abstinence but also on inward growth and maturation. These goals are realized through a combination of self-help and mutual aid within a peer community. Underlying this treatment approach is the belief that addicts have a “defective” character disorder and that drug abuse is both an escape from and a symptom of this disorder. Within this view, sobriety is achieved by reshaping one’s personality. The addict is considered immature, irresponsible, and selfish, and to have a flawed value system. Through treatment, the addict undergoes a resocialization process to establish new values through personal growth and through adopting a mature identity.
New residents start at the bottom of a hierarchy and work their way up to more desirable positions in the peer community. Jobs enhance work habits and self-reliance, assist residents in adapting to change, and allow residents to eventually assume positions of leadership by supervising others. Phoenix House works to be as economically independent as possible, with most routine services performed by house members. Residents are taught vocational skills and interpersonal skills that facilitate personality change and the acceptance of criticism, humiliation, and the following of orders.
The treatment model is organized around a confrontational style of group psychotherapy called the encounter. Limited to a small number of residents, the encounter encourages residents to express themselves honestly but nonviolently.
The model of substance abuse treatment provided by early programs, including Phoenix House, serves as the backbone of contemporary therapeutic communities. The mission of therapeutic communities remains much the same as in early years, although treatment innovations and programs recognizing the individual needs of clients have been adopted. Treatment of the whole person, including restructuring identity and enhancing self-esteem, continues to be of crucial importance. Although the general approaches of these types of therapeutic communities remain diverse, essential elements are the same: the promotion of community, honesty, and the reshaping of one’s morals.
The encounter continues to be a primary form of group therapy. Program goals of communication, psychological growth, and vocational education are important objectives for successful recovery. Programs now include a variety of nonaddict professional and clinical staff in addition to former addicts. Preventive education programs also are offered in the community.
Through meetings, encounter groups, and jobs, resident involvement in the peer community reinforces life skills and morals that coincide with the expectations of society. Addressing how addicts think, behave, and communicate is fundamental to achieving personal growth and sobriety.
Residents progress through stages of treatment with typical program completion taking about two years, although residents live outside the residential community before graduation. During these stages residents increasingly earn more freedom as they prepare for their new lives outside the community. Many residents in later stages of treatment work full-time, in or outside the residential community, or attend school. Aftercare is emphasized to maintain sobriety. Therapeutic communities continue to evolve but retain their emphasis on self-reliance, prosocial values, and behavior with the peer community as a facilitator of these changes.
Bibliography
De Leon, George. Phoenix House: Studies in a Therapeutic Community (1968–1973). New York: MSS, 1974. This edited book of essays provides a history of Phoenix House, a review of the main models of treatment, and a description of daily life. Includes a review of studies conducted on the first few years of Phoenix House that explore how neighborhoods have responded to having a therapeutic community on their block, the demographics of addicts, how length of stay affects treatment outcomes, and how dropping out affects future criminal activity.
---. The Therapeutic Community. New York: Springer, 2000. A general overview of the method, model, and theory underlying therapeutic communities. Emphasizes the common elements of therapeutic communities as they have evolved. Explores the philosophy behind treatment, the components of the peer community as a method of treatment, and the process of achieving sobriety through personal growth and lifestyle changes. Outlines daily residential life and stages of treatment.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. Therapeutic Community: Advances in Research and Application. Research Monograph 144. Rockville, MD: Author, 1994. This collection of essays reviews advances in therapeutic communities and includes an emphasis on specialized programs such as those for women, prisoners, and persons with co-occurring mental health issues.