Testimonials
“I have used Mr. Anderson’s principles and ideas for over fifteen years and have seen them bring about significant changes in people’s lives. He has given careful thought to how to help anyone redirect their thinking processes and find happiness in recovery. His ideas are especially helpful because they break down old thinking patterns about treatment and give new insights that open the doors to hope.”
Merritt Adams, CADC III, CCS II
Jail Chaplain, Racine County, WI
“Mr. Anderson’s theory of the unconscious provides a revolutionary technique for helping people think about the emotions and attitudes which often control them. Having used his ideas in one to one sessions , and in group therapy settings for over eight years, I personally have seen how many chronic repeaters in treatment have been able to face their problems, achieve recovery and find self esteem and fulfillment in previously unknown ways.”
Lynn Beckmann, M.A., CADC III
Often Asked Questions
- When you use AA as a big part of your treatment philosophy, isn’t that really like using a religion?
- There is no question that the founders of AA believed in a personal, loving God. Many AA members have a belief in a personal, loving God, and I have heard thousands of them mention their faith at AA meetings, though never with the intention to proselytize. There can be no doubt that God plays a big role in the sobriety of many alcoholics, but none of this makes AA a religion based on any conventional understanding of what a religion is.
Religious groups have various formal statements of faith that describe their concept of God. Membership in these groups requires that initiates declare their convictions to the truth of the specific stated tenets. The ‘tenets’ or or steps of AA refer only to God “as you understand him.” A belief in God does not have to be affirmed at any time to be or to remain a member. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. - Isn’t the first step of admitting powerlessness actually a demeaning experience that would take away an alcoholic’s sense of worth?
- Actually, it works in just the opposite way. First of all, there are many things over which all of us are powerless to one extent or another. Diabetics recognize their need for outside help, but are not made to feel morally inferior because their body chemistry is unable to handle sugar properly. Many people feel the pinch of the IRS at tax time and feel powerless, but they do not feel demeaned as being worthless.
There are over two million members of AA who have admitted being powerless over alcohol while they were still actively drinking.. Alcoholics do not metabolize alcohol the way normal drinkers do. This is a product of genetic inheritance and has no relevance to the issue of will power or self control. The biggest obstacle to admitting powerlessness is often the fear that one actually will not be able to stop. Alcoholics will often say they felt entirely powerless to stop the entire time they were drinking.Once the admission is made, however, the alcoholic discovers that with the exception of imbibing alcohol, they now have much more control over their behavior, and instead of feeling demeaned, they feel a new sense of power and self worth.
About Our Logo
The crane is not a hawaiian bird, but it was chosen as our logo because of its remarkable story of recovery. In 1973 the International Crane Foundation was started as a worldwide effort to bring cranes back from the brink of extinction. Now the cranes fly free, restored to a condition of wellness and strength. At our center, we have the knowledge and tools to help you on your own journey of recovery.
Download our Brochure
(PDF, 584k)
Our Holistic Treatment Philosophy
Many treatment programs historically provide drug and alcohol rehabilitation without fully addressing other mental health issues that a patient presents. Alcoholics and addicts inevitably have mental and emotional health complications prior to the onset of substance dependence, and many develop mood related disorders, such as depression, after the onset of their dependency.
In our treatment philosophy,we believe there is no way to separate these co-occurring disorders of a human being. Abstinence from an addictive substance or behavior, maintained without also addressing the emotional pain and mental anguish which brought the patient to addiction and then to treatment in the first place, is not true recovery. This is why we use the Twelve Steps of AA as a primary tool to guide treatment for sobriety. In his 35 years of work in the alcoholism treatment field, our director, Charles Annderson has explored in depth the philosophical and psychological underpinnings, and the resulting clinical powers, of the Twelve Steps. He suggests that the universal philosophical paradigm underlying the Steps could be adapted by the mental health field itself,which is current lacking a single effective paradigm. The widespread emulation of AA, its common use as a resource for legal and corporate systems, and the use of many of its ideas in most treatment programs are reason enough to respect its therapeutic efficacy.
Our program understands the need to care for our patients on all levels – body, mind, heart and spirit. We use the inspired therapeutic template of the Twelve Steps, leading to our unique concept of the positive unconscious, derived from Carl Jung’s influence. The emphasis on practicing altruism, honesty, humility and other character values inevitably develops a new self image in the unconscious and a person’s self esteem shifts to the positive. We also use the power of common experience, so effective in the AA program, by having compassionate counselors who have themselves gone through recovery. When patients walk through the door, they enter the world of WE, and leave the world of I behind. They are no longer alone and they can learn to release their shame, as our treatment center guides them in arresting the progressive disease of alcoholism, and in building a new philosophy of life based on true recovery.
Recent Publicity
Cover story by Ron Eland for the North Hawaii News on Thursday, March 13, 2008 reports:
“For more than three decades, Charles Anderson has been helping men and women battle the demons associated with drug and alcohol addiction. And now, Anderson has brought his years of experience to the Big Island. Earlier this year, Anderson Recovery Center LLC opened its doors in Honokaa and is providing a four week long inpatient treatment program for drug and alcohol addiction.
“I retired to Hawaii a year ago but was encouraged by members of the community as well as friends and family to start a program here in Honokaa,” Anderson said. “Orur program is a response to a long-term, statewide need for a privately operated facility that will eliminate the necessity for residents to go off island for treatment and it will allow for more personal followup.”
The center consists of two neighboring leased homes – one of which is used for patients (or residents as they call themselves) while the other is used as the dining and administrative area. During a tour of the facilities, marketing director Sandy Jilton said they are currently licensed by the state to house and treat five individuals at a time, but that they hope to increase that number to eight.
“We keep things nice, but simple,” Jilton said. “It’s a residence so we want people to feel comfortable and at home. It’s not a country club environment. We have a housekeeper, but residents have to make their beds and clean up after themselves.”
“We have a history of 75% recovery, which is unusually high,” Anderson said, adding that one big reason for that is their one counselor to two residents ratio. “This increases the number of individual counseling sessions we can offer – well beyond what is usually provided. And individual sessions are key to recovery.”
Anderson is one of those people who can talk the talk because he’s walked the walk. Sober since the early 1960s, he said he knows full well what the addict is going through. “Most alcoholics believe they suffer from something no one else has gone through. For many they feel as though they’re going crazy. We’re here to let them know they’re not alone. It’s a matter of us helping them restructure their whole life style. For them, it’s a reversal of character.”
In 1971, Anderson directed an inpatient treatment program in Rock County, Wisconsin, and two years later started his own treatment facility called Anderson Alcoholic Rehabilitation Hospital in nearby Janesville, WI. He opened that facility at the urging of the management and union of the local General Motors plant who were impressed with their employees treatment in Rock County. He ran his hospital successfully until it was purchased by Parkside Medical Services in 1984. He also owned and operated centers in three nearby cities, and a halfway house and inpatient program in Kansas. In 1986, he founded Addiction Consulting Associates which provided outpatient treatment services for an American Motors plant in Kenosha, WI.
Anderson said that while his treatment philosophy uses the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, he also draws upon his extensive study of alcohol and drug abuse treatment, psychiatry, psychology, and philosophy, as well as his own education (a degree in chemistry and an advanced degree in social sciences) to incorporate “a broader and more scientific approach to treatment.”
