In 1946, Alcoholics Anonymous was still a fledgling
movement; this was the year the "Twelve Traditions" were formulated
and published for the first time. It was in that same year that Clyde
Gooderham, a recovering alcoholic, convinced 168 people to cosign
loans of $1000 each in order to provide a place where alcoholics
could receive help and treatment. In the deserts outside Salt Lake
City, the Utah Alcoholism Foundation (UAF) began what would be a
success story spanning over the next 50 years.
The success of the alcoholism recovery movement has always hinged upon a singleness of purpose. This concept is the backbone of Alcoholics Anonymous, and it was the lack of such a focused approach that had been the cause of failure for the groups that preceded AA, such as The Washingtonians. The Utah Alcoholism Foundation has always operated under the principle of a singleness of purpose -- the treating of alcoholics and combating stigma.
When UAF was founded in 1946, there
were very few places an alcoholic could turn for help. Salvation
couldn't even be found in many churches at that time; the Mormon
Church of the 1940s didn't provide any services for those who drank.
In 1952, the Utah Alcoholism Foundation established the Alcoholism
Treatment Center in Salt Lake City. This 22-bed facility only treated
men, but the nation's first and the oldest continuously operating
program exclusively for women was soon to follow in 1956.
Over the years, the UAF has added programs and services, as well as established new facilities -- all with the goal of helping people with alcoholism and its related diseases to help themselves. It now operates 11 free-standing facilities statewide with a total of 183 beds, and its services range from detoxification to inpatient residential, outpatient, aftercare and extended care. The Utah Alcoholism Foundation also reaches out to specialty populations such as the hearing impaired, veterans, pregnant women, and children and their mothers. In its 50 years of service, the UAF has provided hope and treatment to over 52,000 individuals.
A large part of the Foundation's success has come from its ability to work with the legislature of the state of Utah, as well as with the federal government and a host of other government agencies. UAF has given major input and testimony helping to pass federal legislation, creating the nation's first alcoholism institute, declaring alcoholism a disease and making block grant monies available for each state to develop prevention, education and treatment programs. UAF also provided input, support and planning into the development of the Utah State Committee on Alcoholism, which later became the Utah State Division on Substance Abuse.
Together with the University of Utah and the Utah State Division of Substance Abuse, the UAF sponsors the University of Utah School on Alcoholism and Other Drug Dependencies. Thirty-three thousand people from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and 15 foreign countries have attended the school since its founding in 1952.
The ability to pull the pieces together, to organize volunteers as well as the public and private sectors, has allowed UAF to form a constituency of all those whose focus is to promote and provide healing and awareness. The American Alcoholism and Health Association is one example of these efforts. It serves as a voluntary sector voice, solely concerned with alcoholism through education, public information, training, treatment, research, public policy and social-concern issues, as well as community organization services. This nationwide movement mobilizes existing constituency elements that provide the bulk of needed support in the areas of manpower, information dissemination, issue analysis and education.
The UAF believes by focusing on alcoholism it will not be submerged under related and secondary health issues. This way it can relate the diverse problems of substance abuse and chemical dependency, alcohol abuse behavior, behavioral and mental health problems, and the many medical and physical problems associated with the disease of alcoholism.
While efforts to reduce stigma have been successful, there is still much to be done. The Foundation sees this as the most significant challenge for the recovery community in the years ahead.
Alcoholism is one of the nation's top three health problems, along with cancer and heart disease. Of the three, it is the most treatable -- but the persistent "moralizing" of the disease and the associated stigma prevents many from seeking treatment. To get away from the myths and distortions, the Utah Alcoholism Foundation focuses on the positive outcomes of alcoholism treatment. According to George Dimas, the president of UAF, "We must focus on recovery, on the fact that treatment works, that alcoholism programs save more than they cost, and that the recovery rate is considerably higher than the other leading diseases. We must fight stigma."
The Utah Alcoholism Foundation's publications department was an early pioneer in producing educational books, pamphlets, papers, slides, newsletters and other related materials. The UAF has circulated and distributed these materials nationwide and also abroad. It has also initiated statewide school programs that provide alcohol education to public and private schools, and initiated a prevention program that provided alcohol education to the public. UAF organizers developed a direct approach for prevention and early intervention of problem drinking through direct access to the family with the concept of beginning at home.
According to Dimas, keeping the focus on alcoholism as a disease makes it a part of the nation's health system, and the identifiable health relationship ties the movement closer to prepaid health plans and medical, surgical, trauma and emergency services. This positioning puts alcoholism recovery in direct participation with national and state health plans. As evidenced in the recently proposed Substance Abuse Parity Act by Senator Wellstone (D-Minn.) and Representative Ramstad (R-Minn.), those suffering from alcoholism and chemical dependency are often discriminated against by the very health plans that are supposed to help them.
Building Bridges to RecoverySince its founding in 1946, the message of the Utah Alcoholism Foundation continues to be one of hope, love, renewal and purpose. For the past 52 years UAF has delivered this message not only to thousands of people with alcoholism, but to their families, state and federal representatives, and professionals in the treatment field as well.
The UAF's mission has always been one of helping people affected by alcoholism help themselves. To achieve this, the Utah Alcoholism Foundation builds bridges to recovery, linking individuals and families with communities, services, treatment and education -- all with a singleness of purpose --helping the alcoholic and fighting the stigma that still surrounds alcoholism. Its statewide education and care system touches individuals and families in every rural area of Utah, and in many cases other areas around the nation.
The Utah Alcoholism Foundation believes that treatment works and that recovery is attainable. "There are many human-interest stories like ours that show treatment saves lives and money. This is happening all over America." -- George Dimas