| Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash
I have been working with several drug treatment programs in the Philippines for almost a decade now. My expertise is in drug addiction and the applications of the Therapeutic Community (TC) to treat substance abuse or addiction. Different government and non-government drug treatment programs have different understanding and levels of implementation of TC. Some are structured and staffed like a hospital, which requires redefining job descriptions and functions of personnel to harmonize them with the structure and staffing patterns of a therapeutic community.
Government-run TCs often have modern facilities, complete with detoxification facilities, dental services, and medical clinics staffed by doctors, nurses, medical technicians, health program officers, dormitory managers, etc., who are mostly young and without a drug treatment background.
These centers are meant to be a one-stop treatment for drug abuse, which includes outpatient and aftercare services. Though the building layout often needs reinvention to accommodate the TC activities, the facilities are more than adequate. The glaring deficit lies in the staff’s lack of expertise in treatment and rehabilitation, particularly using the TC approaches. The treatment population is mostly drug offenders under court order to undergo drug treatment and rehabilitation. The TC is the most suitable treatment model for a population steeped in criminality and drug abuse. They are a challenging population to control and work with.
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of my work is not teaching the TC to neophytes or working with a tough treatment population but working with staff who harbor conflicted feelings towards work or their superiors or even among themselves. These are not minor misunderstandings but deeply wounded personal feelings. Often, those unchecked wounded emotions spill over to the work environment, creating toxic working relationships among staff. The highly intense treatment environment of TC is facilitative of change for clients and even among staff, provided professional and ethical boundaries are kept to work with transferential dynamics. Conflict is unavoidable when a close working relationship is required to carry out tasks, such as in a TC.
“When people cannot resolve differences, when trust is broken between a person and his superior, despite good efforts and intention to mend the relationship, it may be time to hitch your wagon to a new place rather than take the whole house down.”
Unfortunately, sometimes, staff forget the overarching goal of their work, which is the reformation of people under their care. Instead, wounded egos become their overriding concern, overshadowing the larger goal and sense of mission they signed up for when they joined the workforce. What happened to humility and finding common ground to work out differences and mend hurt feelings?
Filipinos’ timidity in confronting the source of interpersonal conflict head-on, such as speaking directly to the person involved, often inflames the situation. To add fuel to the fire, we talk to people close to us for sympathy instead of having a civil talk with the person who caused our wounded feelings to settle differences. Though this may not always achieve peace, because of the person’s overblown amor propio, it is the decent thing to do. We teach clients to resolve conflicts and come to an understanding by expressing wounded feelings face-to-face.
We come down hard on them when they talk bad about others behind their backs because it creates an unsafe environment. We encourage them to declare their wounded feelings to one another in a civilized fashion. Through this process, they often resolve conflicts and restore their relationships. I wonder what happened to all this for the staff?
There is a simple rule that we can follow. When people cannot resolve differences, when trust is broken between a person and his superior, despite good efforts and intention to mend the relationship, it may be time to hitch your wagon to a new place rather than take the whole house down.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Fernando B. Perfas is an addiction specialist who has written several books and articles on the subject. He currently provides training and consulting services to various government and non-government drug treatment agencies regarding drug treatment and prevention approaches. He can be reached at fbperfas@gmail.com.
