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COURAGE TO CHANGE
Integrating Holistic Modalities in Addiction
Recovery | |||
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We believe that people
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The circuits
involved in punishment and reward are circuits that are in our
brain in order to motivate behaviors that are indispensable
for survival, such as finding food finding a partner, taking
care of children. And drugs activate exactly the same
circuits, but in much more efficient ways. When a person
becomes addicted, those circuits basically signal to the brain
the equivalent of a signal 'you need to do the drug in order
to survive.' So the person that is addicted in that process
seeks the drug not out of pleasure, but out of need. Dr. Nora Volkow, Director National Institute on Drug Abuse |
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Support toward Legal Standing &
Court Advocacy Courage to Change Ranch has been a tireless leader in educating the judicial and criminal justice systems about the brain disease which underlies alcoholism and addiction. Our voice has joined a host of social and scientific spokespeople who advocate a rehabilitative rather than a punitive model of treating victims of NTI and their families. Now many judges and probation officers are joining the groundswell, concerned by prison statistics and the "revolving door" of addiction/incarceration. And increasingly, judges and probation officers are directing "the accused" to become, not a burden on the taxpayers, but a healthy, productive citizen, capable of doing much good in the world. On the individual level, C2C legal advocates support residents through the legal process. Professional legal advocates accompany clients to court and we work with attorneys, district attorneys, law enforcement, parole officers, probation officers, and public defenders...to ensure our clients have a chance of negotiating the path of justice as part of their recovery. Defense Attorneys - Professional experienced legal advocates will assist client's attorneys in developing a strategy to provide an adequate defense to present to prosecuting attorneys and or probation departments. A Judicial Report is prepared based on the client's brain imagery assessment, neurotransmitter levels at baseline and at one and three month intervials. A review of the client's compliancy is also included. If the client is on a mix of pharmaceuticals drugs - a list and potential side effects will be included to educate that court on the damage those medication are causing to client's physical, mental and emotional health. Judges - Judicial Reports are also presented to the judges presiding over the client's case. Science based evidence is included in the report to show that addiction is a disease of the brain that can be managed and treated. Many times the court is more lenient with people who are in recovery and making an effort to become well. C2C is prepared to follow protocols set forth by the judiciary. Probation Departments - C2C follows all supervised probation guidelines. Judicial Reports are also provided to the probation officer outlining the client's progress. C2C is able to follow any protocol set forth by probation departments; i.e. UA's, and progress reports. Many residents at Courage to Change Ranch have legal difficulties, as part of the general deterioration of their lives. And most of them have children, who suffer from the addiction of their parents. Often, these children have been removed from the home - separated from their natural mothers and fathers. C2C staff also works with the courts to help keep families together. |
Crossing the Bar
The personwho stands before the Court
already has, in a sense, crost the bar.
For the alcoholic and the addict,
their disease is a living death,
physically, spiritually, socially.
They live in a grey, bleak world,
where all growth has ceased.
Further, their disease
has spread to the world around them.
Other persons have been harmed,
and the social fabric has degraded.
The question before the
Court is,
Should the living dead be consigned
to the living
hell that is prison?
or
Should we as a society
reel this
person back across the bar,
perhaps to become part of the social
peace,
perhaps to find heaven in everyday life?
-- LWF
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