This book presents adaptations of the therapeutic community (TC) model and method for special populations of substance abusers, and implementation in a variety of institutions and human service settings. Included are pregnant adult addicts and their children, adolescents, prison inmates and parolees, the homeless, and chronically ill clients in methadone treatment. The settings include community residence and transitional housing facilities, state prisons, county jails, homeless shelters, mental hospitals, inpatient wards and outpatient clinics, as well as community based treatment programs.

The issue of 'recovery' has been increasingly prioritised by policymakers in recent years, but the meaning of the concept remains ambiguous. This edited collection brings together the thoughts and experiences of researchers, practitioners and service users from the fields of health, addiction and criminal justice and centres on current developments in addiction policy and practice. Tackling Addiction examines what recovery, addiction and dependence really mean, not only to the professional involved in rehabilitation but also to each individual client, and how 'coerced treatment' fails to take account of recovery as a long-term and ongoing process. Chapters cover the influence of crime and public health in UK drug policy; the ongoing emphasis on substitute prescribing; the role of recovery groups and communities; and gendered differences in the recovery process and implications for responses aimed at supporting women. Tackling Addiction will be essential reading for practitioners, researchers, policy makers and students in the fields of addiction, social care, psychology and criminal justice.

Concept-based therapeutic communities emerged out of the informal group meetings of Charles Dederich and a number of former Alcoholics Anonymous members in California in the late 1950s. The model was exported worldwide and has not only become the most widely used approach to residential treatment but has proved enormously influential in the development of many other treatment approaches; both residential and ambulatory. Concept-based therapeutic communities are hierarchical, and the staff and residents form a chain of command. Staff are often qualified for their work by virtue of having been residents in such a community themselves. Like other types of therapeutic community, a central tenet of the approach is the emphasis on self help and the belief in the influence of the group dynamic in facilitating therapeutic interventions. Written by academics and practitioners from around the world, this is a comprehensive overview of the development of therapeutic communities and their benefits in the treatment of drug users. Contributors describe how the model operates in the community, and how it has been modified over time to fit different settings, different types of client and different referral requirements. Illustrated by descriptions of staff and client experiences, this book also provides an inside view of how this sort of therapeutic community actually operates. This authoritative study concludes by examining the research evidence for treatment effectiveness. It will be of interest to policy makers, managers and researchers in the field of drug abuse treatment.