A magazine for alumni, donors, friends and colleagues of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation SPRING 2019 | VOLUME 5: ISSUE 1 MEANT TO BE TOGETHER In 1980, Hazelden president Dan Anderson welcomed former First Lady Betty Ford to tour the Center City, Minnesota, campus and meet with staff as she developed plans to open an inpatient treatment center in Rancho Mirage, California. Three decades later, the two organizations would merge. See page 6. TOGETHER SPRING 2019 HazeldenBettyFord.org 1 INSIDE 4 Pass It On Sharing what works so more people can heal from addiction 4 Courage to Change A history of innovation that helped shape an entire industry 6 Meant to Be Together One man’s remarkable role in the relationship between Hazelden and the Betty Ford Center 10 What’s a Family to Do? Our first-of-its-kind program helps families navigate their own healing journey 12 Brothers in Recovery Meet three alumni who’ve become “family” to one another over 26 years of sobriety 14 We Belong Together As our alumni, donors, friends and colleagues know, the best part of recovery is sharing it 16 For the Kids Our pioneering program helps children heal from the hurt of addiction LISTEN IN, FRIENDS Hear what leading addiction and recovery experts are talking about—trends, topics, challenges and research. William C. Moyers hosts our interview-style podcast series, Let’s Talk Addiction & Recovery. Listen in via Apple Podcasts, Google Play or YouTube. Subscribing is free, and episodes are easy to share. Visit HazeldenBettyFord.org/Podcasts to learn more and browse episode topics. What are you doing to keep your recovery growing this spring? Sign up for our free Living in LIVING IN Recovery monthly enewsletter at HazeldenBettyFord.org/Alumni—and watch your inbox RECOVERY for helpful insights and fresh perspectives. 2 TOGETHER SPRING 2019 HazeldenBettyFord.org The courage to do things differently DEAR FRIENDS, I recently came across a black and white brochure from our organization’s earliest days, filled with photographs of the lakeside farmhouse-turned- Hazelden treatment center circa 1950. Images of the original wood-paneled library, gracious dining room and bright sunroom filled me with a sense of nostalgia and connection. But what really captured my attention was a statement accompanying those photos. It reads: “Alcoholism is recognized at Hazelden for what it is—a disease—and not a moral deficiency.” Remember, this was 70 years ago. While the idea of creating a humane, therapeutic HELPING MORE PEOPLE environment for people with addiction doesn’t RECLAIM THEIR LIVES FROM seem a remarkable concept today, it was almost ADDICTION, WITH EACH unheard of in 1949. In those days, people with NEW DAY addiction were seen as lacking character and willpower. Two options existed for “the chronic inebriate”: a psychiatric ward where addiction was viewed as more of a complicating factor than an actual disorder, or the institutional environment of a state hospital. By contrast, Hazelden opened on the banks of South Center Lake as a refuge for “the convalescent alcoholic”—a place of nature strolls, easy chairs, long conversations over coffee and a holistic approach to healing the body, mind and spirit. This year, as we mark the 70th anniversary of the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, I am reminded that this organization came to be because our founders had the courage to do things differently. From instilling dignity and respect into the treatment experience, to establishing one of the nation’s first treatment centers for women, to pioneering a program of education and support for families, to creating specialized care for children hurt by addiction, to developing the leading evidence-based treatment protocol for opioid use disorder, the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation has, with each new day, stepped up to the challenge of helping more people reclaim their lives from addiction. Together, let’s keep pushing forward, united in our vision that no one need suffer or die from a disease that can be treated, managed and overcome. Mark G. Mishek President & CEO, Hazelden Betty Ford oundationF TOGETHER SPRING 2019 HazeldenBettyFord.org 3 REACH AND IMPACT PASS IT ON Sharing what works so more people can heal from addiction What started as an unassuming experiment in Over the years, the Hazelden Betty ordF Foundation has helped hundreds of thousands of individuals and families overcome alcoholism treatment in 1949 set into motion addiction, impacting entire communities. Its patients, students an unimagined force of healing and hope now and employees have gone on to open and work in countless addiction-related organizations around the world. Its training, experienced across the nation and globe. products, services and leading national voice have helped shape an entire industry. Seven decades in, the healing reach of the Today, as the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation celebrates its Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is truly immeasurable—and 70th anniversary, the nonprofit organization’s ever-expanding yet, evidence of the organization’s influence and impact is reach and impact continue to inspire fresh starts, profound everywhere. gratitude and a sense of karmic awe. Today’s employees are often amazed to discover Hazelden Betty Consider, for example, that when the first site in Center Ford Foundation’s numerous and prominent connections to all City, Minnesota, opened on May 1, 1949, it had but a single that comprises modern addiction care. “counselor”—an attorney in recovery named Lynn Carroll— We were part of that? and a single patient suffering from alcoholism—Lawrence B. She used to work with us? Today, the nonprofit Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation has We developed that? I had no idea. 17 sites and 1,500 employees serving 23,000 patients a year— These “aha” moments spark both pride and humility, along not to mention thousands more who are served through the with important, reflective questions such as: How did the organization’s graduate school and its publishing, prevention organization get here? Where can we make the greatest impact and professional education arms. today? What’s the next right thing for us to do in terms of helping even more people? COURAGE TO CHANGE A history of innovation that helped shape an entire industry L a w r e n c e B . w as th e f irst patient. 1949 1950 1954 DIGNITY AND RESPECT DOCUMENTING SELF-HELP BOOKS The nonprofit Hazelden EFFECTIVENESS With the acquisition Foundation opens in General manager of Twenty-Four Hours Center City, Minnesota, Lynn Carroll reports a Day, Hazelden enters ushering in a new 156 men were 1953 the publishing industry approach to alcoholism served in first 20 SOBER LIVING MODEL and helps to launch treatment built on the months, noting Fellowship Club opens the self-help literature emerging Twelve Step that 78 percent in St. Paul, Minnesota, a genre. principles and practices “have recovered halfway house for men that of AA, and a deep and and demonstrated advances the concept of abiding respect for the marked progress.” sober-living residences. dignity of each patient. 4 TOGETHER SPRING 2019 HazeldenBettyFord.org The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation had its beginnings in a forward-thinking approach to the problem of alcoholism—an approach built on emerging Twelve Step principles and practices, lay counseling, and abiding compassion and respect for the individual receiving care. Shown here, the original Hazelden treatment center, circa 1950. “The satisfaction, I think, that we should feel is that we are helping more and more people each year.” – Pat Butler, Hazelden President, 1953 Some of the sweeping history and influence of the Hazelden Betty why our doors are open to other treatment providers and aspiring Ford Foundation can be chalked up to “happy coincidences”—such counselors to come and learn with us, and why published as the series of serendipitous events recounted by Dr. Joseph Cruse resources, research initiatives and advocacy efforts are a big part of in the accompanying article, “Meant to Be Together.” our story,” he adds. But beyond incredible good fortune, the reach and impact of the Like no other organization the world over, the Hazelden Betty Ford Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation can be traced to a founding Foundation is singularly focused on providing healing and hope to principle of the nonprofit: the importance of sharing what works. individuals, families and communities facing addiction. It’s a 70- “Our earliest leaders believed too many people suffer with year legacy built on treating addiction and transforming lives, one addiction for us to keep our knowledge and experience to day at a time. ourselves,” explains president and CEO Mark Mishek. “That’s COURAGE TO CHANGE A history of innovation that helped shape an entire industry 1957 1963 MULTIDISCIPLINARY TRAINING APPROACH TREATMENT Hazelden coins “chemical PROFESSIONALS dependency” to Counselor training encompass all addictive program begins. 1956 substances; psychologist Formalized in 1964 CARE FOR WOMEN Dan Anderson integrates 1966, the program THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY DESIGN Dia Linn opens in Dellwood, psychology as a treatment ultimately leads to Major facility expansion features an Minnesota, one of the first modality, initiating establishment of the innovative layout of patient units around a residential addiction treatment development of Hazelden’s Hazelden Betty Ford central administration building, creating a centers dedicated to and multidisciplinary Graduate School of therapeutic environment widely emulated designed for women. (Relocated “Minnesota Model” Addiction Studies in in health care. to Center City in 1966.) emulated throughout the 1999. world. TOGETHER SPRING 2019 HazeldenBettyFord.org 5 MEANT TO BE TOGETHER One man’s remarkable role in the decades’ strong relationship between Hazelden and the Betty Ford Center In Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s 70-year history, one essential story of connection and serendipity has remained largely untold. It is the story of Joseph Cruse, MD, whose vision and knack for being in the right place at the right time forged remarkable ties between the Hazelden Foundation and the Betty Ford Center decades before the two organizations formally merged in 2014.