Severe Treatment Setting Called Key to Success July 28, 2004
News Summary
Unlike rehabilitation centers that feature spas, gourmet meals, and upscale amenities, Grupo Jovenes New York in Queens is intentionally unappealing and considers its rudimentary setting a key to its success, the New York Times reported July 24.The no-cost rehabilitation center is located in a cramped basement. The clients, many of them immigrants, have to sleep in shifts on bunks where ceilings are so low they are unable to sit up. New clients, mostly local Latinos, have to spend three days and nights sitting in a chair.
Miguel Antonio Torres, the center's administrator, said intensive therapy is provided in phases, where clients learn the 12-step program for alcohol and other drug addiction, participate in group therapy and share personal testimonials. In the first phase, which lasts three months, clients are not allowed to leave the property. In the second phase, clients can start looking for a job.
"Our success rate is higher than most fancy rehab programs because we're a family, and the guys stay members of our family even after they leave," said Torres. "Money makes it easier for an addict to relapse. Money and family can be a crutch. Here you don't have that crutch. You may do great on some farm in Princeton or some Malibu mansion where they pamper you, but you can always go back to your mansion. Our people have nothing but the street to go back to."
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