78: The Freedom Model of Addiction Treatment with Mark Scheeren & Michelle Dunbar

Our guests for today are Mark Sheeran and Michelle Dunbar of the Baldwin Research Group. They have a thought-provoking conversation about The Freedom Model of addiction treatment, which is a non-Twelve Step, and non-disease model of treatment.

Mark is 49-years old. He is the chairman of Baldwin Research and he is one of the authors of The Freedom Model. Mark co-founded the Saint Jude Retreat, which is where The Freedom Model is taught.

Episode Link>>>>www.theaddictedmind.com/78

Mark was involved in a serious drunk-driving accident thirty years ago, at the age of nineteen. This made him realize that he needed to change his life. He was mandated into treatment and found that he disagreed vehemently with what they were teaching him because he did not believe that he would be an alcoholic forever. His treatment experience was so bad that he knew there had to be a better way. After completing eighteen months of treatment he decided to figure out a better way for people. Within one year, he coined the phrase "non-Twelve Step”.

Mark spent the next twelve years, doing research. He then met Michelle and they continued doing the research together, along with some others. Together, they developed the skeleton of what was to become The Freedom Model. The model was perfected over the next twenty years.

Michelle is the Executive Director of Baldwin Research. She is also one of the co-authors of The Freedom Model. Michelle is the Director of the Saint Jude Retreat and she teaches the program.

Mark and Michelle spent the first twelve years of the thirty that they were doing their research in AA, trying desperately to make it work and become more effective. But they were heretics at the same time. Where AA was saying that you never get over the problem, they were saying that you most certainly do.

Mark went to over 3000 AA meetings. First, as a member, then as a skeptical member, then as a researcher, then as a researcher that was fairly anti-AA when he got to truly understand the facts.

According to Mark's research, people do move on from their addictions. Over 90% of drug addicts, alcoholics, and heavy substance abusers move past the problem as they get older, whether they treat it or not.

With The Freedom Model, you have to undo the mythologies so that you become free to move on.

As a young person, the idea that you are going to struggle with your "disease" forever can be very daunting.

The Freedom Model debunks 23 of the grand myths that people are told about addiction so that people can make the choice as to the benefits of their using. Because people use because they like it.

The Freedom Model helps people question why they make decisions and why they are motivated to use, based on their behavior, their belief systems, and the myths by which they may be living their lives.

It is more natural to move on from addiction than it is to keep one. And it is much more natural for a human being to change than it is to remain static in a behavior. The key to recovery is to move the locus of control to the self.

Shame sits in the way of recovery.

At their residential retreats, people spend four weeks attending classes where they work with the 450 page Freedom Model curriculum. They don't take away people's cellphones and laptops or treat them like babies or criminals. It is a very conducive, quiet, learning environment. By the time that everyone leaves, the myths have been undone, they know that they can be free, and they have usually chosen either moderation or abstinence. 

Life in recovery doesn't have to be a daily struggle.

It all comes down to a choice that we make to deal with difficult experiences. Mark and Michelle help people by challenging their beliefs that a substance will help them to deal with stressful situations. 

Links and resources:

The Baldwin Research Group - https://www.baldwinresearch.com/

Website for retreats - www.soberforever.net

Website for the book and all services - www.thefreedommodel.org

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