How is Alcohol Rehabilitation Different at Kolmac?

Alcohol rehabilitation refers to the second phase of treatment for alcohol problems, sandwiched between detoxification, when necessary, and continued care. At its core is a structured and intensive treatment program in which patients interact in a specialized healing environment composed of an organized series of group sessions. A multi-disciplinary team of clinicians, many of whom are themselves in recovery, lead the group sessions and also meet with patients individually.

The Kolmac Clinic program was one of the first to demonstrate that such an alcohol rehabilitation environment could be effective outside of a residential setting (see An Introduction to Intensive Ouptatient Treatment).  The Kolmac program also utilized a different approach in its content as well as its structure. The core of the original residential model was the steps and traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. The evolution of this approach, known as the “Minnesota Model,” is recounted in William White’s excellent book, Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America, pages 199 - 212.

When the Minnesota Model of alcohol rehabilitation was begun in the late 1940’s, AA was not well known in the way that it is today. Because patients were unfamiliar with the AA program, spending time teaching them about it made sense. Now that AA is almost universally known, however, the patients who come to Kolmac for treatment often bring with them negative attitudes about it. Some have been unable to recover through participation in AA alone. Others have strongly held beliefs that have made them unwilling to start attending, even at times expressing open animosity toward AA. Because one of our fundamental goals is to help our patients become meaningfully involved in AA as well as other community support groups such as Smart Recovery and Women for Sobriety, we became concerned that forcing AA on them could result in intensifying that resentment in counterproductive ways.

The Kolmac approach is to explore, in the alcohol rehabilitation sessions, the obstacles to their participation, such as misinformation or having gone to meetings that did not match well with their needs. The success of this approach can be seen in AA and Smart Recovery meetings throughout the Washington area where former Kolmac patients can be found in large numbers.

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