Today, chemical abuse and addiction is one of society’s most serious problems. Medical authorities and the courts both agree that such addition is a complex bio-psychosocial disease which makes it much greater than a character weakness or a moral problem. Therefore, the chemically dependent suffers emotionally, mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially. As such, using a holistic approach based on the medical model (that is the disease concept of addiction)is couched within the context of some of the psychotherapeutic modalities such as rational emotive therapy, behavior modification, family therapy, and transactional analysis, etc. In addition, these approaches are integrated into the treatment cycle within the broad framework of AA’s 12 steps format. Thus, the major treatment goal is to help the client achieve total abstinence from the use of psychoactive or mood altering substances. The focus is two fold:

Provide the individual with a broader understanding of the devastating effects of substance abuse and addiction; and

Assist the client in transforming a destructive and self-defeating pattern of behavior thru the learning of new skills so as to enhance a higher quality of life and productivity by sustaining a drug-free life style.