Jericho ProjectTraining Program for Men

As a state licensed facility, Jericho Project Drug & Alcohol Recovery Program offers a wide variety of facilitated group sessions as well as educational and individual sessions.  These sessions include both lecture and group interaction process.  Residents are encouraged to examine and personalize recovery concepts presented with an emphasis upon developing a personal program of recovery.

Jericho Project staff also facilitates topic-oriented group sessions that reflect the life issues of those involved.  Some of the issues that we address in these group sessions are as follows:  breaking denial, acceptance of responsibility for your actions, motivation for change, decisional balance, changing beliefs that block recovery, values clarification, strategies for overcoming anger and rage, and relapse prevention using cue extinction.  These are just some of the core issues we address during our groups.  We are consistently updating our group discussions to remain current and topical. 

Our educational curriculum is a key component of our treatment planning.  We believe that it assists the client in developing into a functional, self-reliant individual.  The current courses include Mathematics, English, Communication, Health and Wellness, Introduction to Computers, Introduction to Vocational Training, Spanish and Reading and Writing. 

The vast majority of Jericho Project clients are court mandated.  This does not put them at a disadvantage in treatment.  It is important to remember that almost all chemically addicted individuals come into treatment because of circumstances that have forced them to.  Noted researcher Terence T. Gorski has concluded that mandated clients often have higher long-term recovery rates than voluntary clients.  This is because when the going gets rough and they want to drop out of treatment, they can’t.  They have to stay in treatment and work through the tough issues that will allow them to have meaningful and productive lives.  A major consideration in the recovery process is that a deep personality change requires time. 

The Jericho Project approach to recovery is unique in that we accept no government funding of any kind.  This is a huge part of our therapy and promotes responsibility, self-efficacy, and allows them to feel they are an integral part of the community.  This is something that our typical client has been sorely missing in their previous lifestyle.  We have designed the program as a social model in order to create an environment in which each person is an important member.  We have found that this hands on approach, with each member contributing and participating in all aspects of day to day living and treatment is far more effective than any therapeutic alliance between a clinician and patient. 

Our typical client would be classified as a chemically dependent criminal offender.  The staff of Jericho Project recognizes that most of our clients have lived lives centered around the use of alcohol, drugs, and criminal behaviors.  When these self-defeating activities are removed, the basic core organizing activities are taken out of their lives.  They must be replaced with something more positive or there will be no long-term recovery.  This void is essentially what we assist them in filling.  It is imperative that we give them the opportunity to make new and positive social contacts, find hobbies and activities.

Stanton Peele, Ph.D., a psychologist and health care researcher, and a leading figure in the addiction field states in his book “The Truth About Addiction and Recover”, that by drawing on the latest research and case studies you can conclude that developing values, skills, and life resources is what enables people to quit addictions, and to shed the addict identity altogether.  Furthermore, he states that you are susceptible to addiction if you lack the staples of existence; the sustenance that life offers people under normal conditions.  You are more readily addicted when you lack the social supports of friends and family, inner security and peace of mind, and options for positive social activities and community involvement.  That is, you are most at risk for addiction when you do not have the following elements of a satisfying life:  family and friends, enjoyable pastimes, a positive environment, a belief in personal value, involvement in community, and a purpose in life.  These observations by Dr. Peele are very much in line with what we believe at Jericho Project. 

The staff of Jericho Project feels that by following the groundwork that Dr. Peele and Terence Gorski have arrived at with their research, and what we have observed through our experiences, will result in a beneficial outcome for our clients.  We work very hard at supplying them with the tools and assistance it takes to achieve this goal.  We will support them with anything that will be beneficial to their recovery. 

Again, as noted researcher Terence T. Gorski has advocated, the success of a structured recovery program requires a triad of cooperation between the program, client, and Criminal Justice Professionals.  It is important to remember that the clients willingness to accept help is usually linked to the problems they are experiencing.  When life has you by the short hairs, your mind and heart will follow.  But when the pressure is off and life returns to normal, the motivation to change and the willingness to accept help and follow directions often disappears. 

This is why it is important to get a commitment to a long-term, structured recovery program.  Chemically dependent offenders must be put in a situation where they can be held accountable for participating in recovery program.  Any time chemically dependent offenders start to feel better, there motivation tends to disappear and they feel the urge to drop out of treatment.  If this happens, there must be a way to create a new motivational crisis.  The best way to do this is to make long-term treatment a condition of probation or parole and have definite long-term treatment a condition of probation or parole and have definite legal consequences imposed any time the offender break with their treatment program. 

Jericho Project staff will do everything they can to help facilitate the client in this lifestyle change by working together with the Criminal Justice Professionals.  For the client, the only requirement we have is that they need to supply the effort, willingness, dedication, and a commitment to live a lifestyle based on rigorous honesty.