Bruce Alexander: Globalization of Addiction...

Bruce is the author of the most important book I have read on addiction: The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit. He feels addiction has been overly individualized and looks at the broader cultural / social roots and maintaining that addiction is an adapting to dislocation.   

'Psychosocial Integration' is a profound inter- dependence between individuals and society. It reconciles people’s need for social belonging with their equally vital needs for individual autonomy and achievement. Psychosocial integration is as much an inward experience of identity and meaning as a set of outward social relationships. Establishing the delicate inter-penetration of person and society enables each person to satisfy simultaneously both individualistic needs and needs for community -- to be free and still belong. 

An enduring lack of psychosocial integration, which is called "dislocation” is both individually painful and  socially destructive. It denotes psychological and social separation from one's society. Dislocation could be called "poverty of the spirit."  

Global society is drowning in addiction to drug use and a thousand other habits. This is because people around the world, rich and poor alike, are being torn from the close ties to family, culture, and traditional spirituality that constituted the normal fabric of life in pre-modern times. This kind of global society subjects people to unrelenting pressures towards individualism and competition, dislocating them from social life.

I am pleased to have Bruce as a colleague and new friend. Recently I have also been attending his 6 week seminar on Tuesday evenings. Although Bruce professes to be an agnostic, he values the history and potential of the church and restoring spirituality to address dislocation and addiction. He loves to discuss theology and is quite a student of Augustine.

Another friend Barry Morris will be sharing next week at the seminar from a Christian World View and the 12 Steps of AA. Barry is a United Church minister at the Longhouse, a native ministry. 

There is much more info on Bruce's contributions on this blog, click Dislocation on the top tool bar. Bruce is a student of history and his research of Dislocation over the centuries is exhaustive. For example he demonstrates alcoholism was never a problem with Natives in Canada until they were displaced from their land and culture. Fur traders brought rum early in their exchanges with no impact on the traditional aboriginal culture.


This book is a must for students of addiction....

A Morning at the Dugout...

        The second addiction workshop was well received, and we learned what a positive experience is was to hold it at the Dugout. The mixture of regular visitors, staff and volunteers from First United Church, those who attend the daily AA meetings, and volunteers from other societies in the DTES gave us a sense of community.
         The feedback was "too much material in too short a time!"  The group would have been interested in meeting more often allowing more discussion and interaction.
          I certainly will  take this into consideration for the next workshops being planned. I forget I keep adding and integrating material as I continue my studies. I have just revised the workshop and now have it all on power point which should be a great teaching aid.
        I spend a considerable amount of my time in Vancouver at the Dugout. I am pleased to be on the board of directors and am very invested in the services they offer. I hope you will take a little over two minutes and click on video to watch "A Morning at the Dugout."
        I appreciate your thoughts and prayers and it is always so meaningful to hear from you...
Ross

WORKSHOP in DTES

Yesterday I held Part One of my addiction workshop at the Dugout Drop-in Centre, right in the heart of DTES. There were 18 folks that stayed through the whole presentation, a few others listened for awhile and then left. It was the mixed group we had hoped for: some residents of DTES and homeless, some from the AA that meets there, some staff from First United and the Dugout, and others I have been networking with in Vancouver.

A graduate student who  is the longest standing volunteer and on the board of the Carnegy Community Centre is video taping the workshops. He will also edit them to provide a trailer to assist me as I seek to generate interest with local churches and other groups. What an encouragement he is.

We used one half of the room and left the other half for those stopping in for a snack or coffee. The picture portrays what the Dugout looks like on a usual day and the section we used for the workshop. There were no distractions, and hopefully some of those addicted gained at least a moment of clarity from what they heard. The workshop went so well the manager Barry Robertson and I are discussing having some kind of a helpful workshop / presentation every Wed afternoon. We will contact other agencies in DTES to participate as well as I will present further material.

 I have been studying a lot about homelessness and addiction as I will be presenting three times to the Oregon Coalition of Housing and Homelessness on May 2-5 at Hood River, Oregon.

Thanks for your thoughts, prayers, and financial support that makes this possible.