Editorial Collective

TL;DR: The International Journal of Therapeutic Communities publishes articles on therapeutic communities for the treatment of addictions. The journal covers a wide range of topics, including the history of addiction TCs, their potential role in a changing treatment landscape, and their use in modified form.

Abstract: S should be sent to: Rowdy Yates, Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology Section, Department of Applied Social Science, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, United Kingdom. Telephone: (+44) (0)1786 467737. Email: p.r.yates@stir.ac.uk. PHOTOCOPYING: Single copies for private study are permissible. Permission for multiple copies and reproduction should be sought from the author(s). COPYRIGHT is retained by the author(s) on the understanding that material published in this Journal has not previously been published elsewhere, and that acknowledgement is made to this Journal by the author(s) when using the same material in subsequent publications. INDEXING and ABSTRACTS: therapeutic communities is covered by Addiction Abstracts, ASSIA (Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts), EMBASE/ Excerpta Medica, and PsycINFO. therapeutic communities is published quarterly. therapeutic communities is now on the internet at: http://www.therapeuticcommunities.org Rowdy Yates is at the University of Stirling, UK; Eric Broekaert is at the University of Ghent, Belgium; Stijn Vandervelde is at Hogeschool Ghent, Belgium. Email: p.r.yates@stir.ac.uk therapeutic communities, 28, 1, spring 2007 © The Author(s) Editorial Rowdy Yates, Eric Broekaert and Stijn Vandervelde This issue of the International Journal of Therapeutic Communities focuses upon the work of drug-free therapeutic communities (TCs) for the treatment of addictions. The issue can be seen as falling into four distinct sections. Firstly, we have included a collection of four short reflective pieces by authors who have been involved in TCs, either at their inception or in their early years. These are not, of course, academic works in the normal sense of the word, but they are important documentary records which add to our understanding of the early development of addiction TCs and which have particular relevance for our understanding of their potential future role in a changing drug policy environment. We have presented these – more or less – in chronological order. Thus, Martien Kooyman describes his growing disillusionment with orthodox drug treatment approaches in The Netherlands during the early 1970s and his establishment of Emiliehoeve, the first addictions TC on mainland Europe. Peter Agulnik and Stephen Wilson then provide a brief outline of the developments which shaped the Ley Community in Oxford and their early attempts at establishing an evidence base for this new and innovative approach. Georges van der Straten reflects on the personal and professional difficulties which had to be overcome in bringing TC methodology to a French-speaking establishment which was generally critical of the method. Finally, Eitan Sela describes a series of similar obstacles and rivalries which he faced more than a decade later in setting up the first addictions TC in Israel. Secondly, we have selected a further series of papers from the 2005 EWODOR Symposium in Blankenberge. A selection of Blankenberge papers was published in a previous issue of the Journal (Vol. 27, Iss. 1) and these four papers continue the theme of understanding the role of the addiction TC in a changed treatment landscape. Eric Broekaert et al., in a wide-ranging paper, map out the early history of the addiction TC and consider the differences between the American and the European model. Mads Pedersen describes a study 1 The International Symposium on Substance Abuse Treatment was a joint organisation of the Department of Orthopedagogics (Ghent University, Belgium) and the Ohio Institute for Addiction Studies (Ohio, USA) in close collaboration with the Scottish Addiction Studies group (Department of Applied Social Sciences, University of Stirling, UK), the European Working Group on Drug Oriented Research (EWODOR), the European Federation of Therapeutic Communities (EFTC) and the Association for Alcohol and other Drug Problems (VAD, Belgium). This was one of a series of collaborative EWODOR symposia which commenced in 1983. 4 therapeutic communities, 28, 1, spring 2007 evaluating the experiences of women in TC environments and the potential role of predictive instruments in treatment planning. Gillian Squirrell presents an analysis of the current drugs-crime axis in treatment policy and offers a serviceuser perspective on the shortcomings of such approaches. Finally, Wouter Vanderplasschen et al. report on a study which examined the experiences of multi-agency service users and the management of their treatment delivery in Belgium. The third section consists of two papers which present the use of TC methodology in modified form. Peter Vassilev and Teodora Groshkova chart the development of TC Phoenix in Bulgaria and describe their use of cognitivebehavioural therapies within a TC context. Bartomeu Català outlines the approach adopted in Spain in order to integrate the apparently opposing approaches of abstinence-based residential rehabilitation and substitute prescribing in a modified TC. The fourth and final section is our old friend, the Cultural Review. In this issue, this regular section continues with detailed reviews of two recent publications. All in all, we are confident that most, if not all, readers will find at least one item in this varied selection which fires their enthusiasm, adds to their understanding or gives them cause to ponder their own practice.