Classic Therapeutic Community Summit Fall 2023

Thursday, August 31, 2023

5:30 – 8:00 pm – Welcome dinner and Opening Reception

• Dinner provided by The Other Side Academy

Friday, September 1, 2023

9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Classes and Sessions

• Lunch and snacks provided
• Evening – TBA
• 7:00 pm – Breakthrough Groups at The Other Side Academy (formerly known as Games) Limited availability – must RSVP

Saturday, September 2, 2023

9:00 am – 5:00 pm – Classes and Closing Session

• Lunch and snacks provided
• Dinner on your own

Wednesday, August 29, 2023

• 9 am – 6:30 pm
• Learn the 3 core principles of the Peer Accountability Model found at the heart of the Classic Therapeutic Community Model in a classroom and learning lab environment.
• Practice these principles in role-play scenarios with students and staff of The Other Side Academy
• Culminate your day of training by participating in Breakthrough Groups Friday evening at 7 pm
• Cost: $500 per person. Group rates available.
• Lunch and Dinner provided
• Please email [email protected] if you are interested in attending.

Thursday, August 30, 2023

• 9 am – 4 pm
• Tour of The Other Side Academy and The Other Side Village
• Review of The Other Side Academy policies and processes
• Review of The Other Side Academy finances
• Tour of The Other Side Academy and Village Social Enterprises
• Observe Mock Breakthrough Group with students and staff
• Lunch provided
• Cost: Free

We will be inviting existing practitioners to teach the sessions and the focus of the sessions will be primarily on operational procedures of the classic TC model as currently practiced.

Previous session topics included:

• Outcome Data – How do we define success and how do we measure it?
• Recruiting Tips – Strategies to keep people coming in the door
• Aftercare Services – What has worked, what hasn’t
• The Relationship Landmine – Strategies to help graduates to successfully navigate relationships
• Existential Threats – The biggest risks to the TC model, Intern Status, and Labor laws
• Retention Success – Strategies to keep people in the community, especially during the first 30 days
• Adding Therapy to the TC Model – Pros and cons
• Leadership Development – Strategies for growing the next generation of leaders

Stay tuned for session topics for this year's Summit.

We will also have roundtable discussions during Saturday lunch.

A set of tables will be set up with a topic on a placard. One person will be assigned to lead the discussion and make sure no one monopolizes the discussion.

Topics for Roundtable Discussions:

• Donations and Grants – How to keep funds coming in
• Social Enterprise – What has worked, what hasn’t
• Graduate Job Placement – Strategies for helping graduates be employed and get good paying jobs
• Capers – How to detect them and uncover the extent of the caper
• Haircuts – Tips and guidelines for effective verbal reprimands

• Existing practitioners of Therapeutic Communities
• Those in the Recovery Community who want to adopt the Peer Accountability Model
• Those interested in starting their own Therapeutic Community
• Those supportive of the classic TC model and are interested in learning more about it.
• We welcome guests from anywhere in the globe that feel drawn to these principles.

• There is no cost to attend the TC Summit.
• There is no cost to attend the optional Deep Dive into The Other Side Academy.
• There is a $500 cost per person to attend the optional 1-day Intensive Training. Please email [email protected] if you are interested in attending.

There are many fine hotels and AirBNBs within 5 miles of our campus.

The TC Summit will be hosted on site at The Other Side Academy Campus. It is a smoke-free campus, so please no smoking, tobacco products or vaping. We are located at 661 E 100 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84058.

We are located in downtown Salt Lake City and are only 9 miles from the SLC International Airport. Uber and Lyft are active in Salt Lake and you can also reach us through the public transport system as well.

This summit is hosted by The Other Side Academy in an effort to share best practices with other practitioners as well as invite others to adopt the effective practices of the classic TC model. Part of our mission is to help others replicate and implement these powerful principles and practices so more people can get the help they need faster.

• Phone: 801-953-0409 (main office)
• Email: [email protected]

We are a group of organizations that have embraced or maintained many of the effective principles found in many of the early Therapeutic Communities (TC), such as Delancey Street, Phoenix House, Daytop Village, Samaritan House, and many others. Several of the key elements that we embrace from the early TCs are that we are multi-year in length, we use social enterprises to cover all or most of the cost of the extended residential program, and we practice many of the effective tools of peer accountability found in the early TCs.

Many of the early TCs started receiving government funding to help expand, but with that funding, many started to modify and eventually abandoning many of the transformative principles and practices due to outside pressures. Most also reduced their programs from a multi-year to much shorter programs.

Today, many of these early TCs still exist and some even still use the term Therapeutic Community, but many do not practice those core elements that were so effective and few of them offer multi-year residential programs. As such, many contemporary “therapeutic communities” are indistinguishable from traditional rehabs; the treatment is short, has no work component, and relies on traditional therapy as the primary method of healing.

However, a few of the early TCs maintained their independence and self-reliance, avoiding governmental interference and have maintained the fidelity to the early effective practices. These organizations include Delancey Street, Habilitat, and San Patrignano. There have been a few additional organizations that have since either been started by graduates of Delancey Street or have adopted many of the practices of the early Therapeutic Communities, including TROSA, The Other Side Academy, John Volken Academy, Harvest Academy, Soul Recovery, and Red Barn Academy.

Some key features we are using to define a Classic Therapeutic Community include long-term (two or more years), institutional self-reliance, peer-run (not professionalized), and classic peer accountability systems with practices such as Pull-ups, Passing, Games, and discipline.

Some Classic TCs have incorporated licensed therapists into their models but these are supplemental aids in the recovery process. These TCs have maintained the approach of the community as the primary method of healing.

We hope to re-establish this effective, proven model across the country and around the world and we invite you to help us in this mission.

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