Award winner`s new service venture will emphasize convenience

One of Addiction Professional's 2012 Outstanding Clinicians Award honorees has left the treatmnt organization where he served as chief clinical officer and is developing his own treatment enterprise. But in this case, the effort might not have an official home base, a specific target population, or even a building.

Rawland Glass, former clinical director at The Bridge to Recovery, told Addiction Professional in a recent interview that he wants to take services closer to where individuals and families live and function. While his concept is still being shaped and an official announcement won't come for at least a few more weeks, the effort could take the form of short-duration workshops that are less intrusive to family and work responsibilities and yet are still dynamc and life-changing.

Glass is busy repurposing workshops that he had previously created on extended recovery topics such as codependency, triangulation, emotions, personal boundaries, relationships and others, for use in the new venture. For many individuals, weeks or even months away from family or work are not possible or even necessary, he says. "I'm not looking at this as primary treatment for alcohol and drug abuse," he says.

Glass, who at The Bridge to Recovery oversaw complex clinical work to help clients understand the underlying issues behind their substance and process addictions, says he is often advised to define his target population more narrowly. But he believes that most, if not all, individuals have codependency and boundary issues and could use some help addressing these byproducts of their experiences in their formative years.

A key part of his philosophy involves the notion of less competition and more cooperation. He considers the competitive attitude that is so prevalent in the field to be a symptom of professional codependency. "We all know there are thousands who are underserved," he says. "Working together means our clients are served better."

Glass left The Bridge to Recovery in October, and expects to make a more formal announcement of his next venture at the start of the new year. He intends to focus his efforts initially in northern California. He wants his services to benefit individuals and families for whom a conventional stay in a bricks-and-mortar treatment facility might not be feasible or appealing.

In 2012, Addiction Professional honored Glass with an Outstanding Clinicians Award in the clinical manager category. The colleague who nominated him for the honor wrote, "His experience with managing people and complex projects allows him to guide a team of therapists in working with individuals with varied personalities who are struggling with codependency, trauma and numerous process addictions."