Luxury Rehab vs. Reality: The Truth About The Passages Method | Can You Replicate Passages At Home?

Does the Luxury Passages Clinic actually work, or is the high-end setting doing the heavy lifting? Learn if these methods help with alcohol addiction recovery.
BOOKS FOR RECOVERY AND REINVENTION

THE SMALL BOOK: HOW I BEAT ALCOHOLISM AND WHY ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS DOESN'T WORK.

THE SHEPHERD AND THE RUNNINGWOLF: A PATH TO FORGIVENESS ON THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL

REINVENTION OF SELF: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE AND BEING FOREVER

John Barleycorn taken from Jack London's book John Barleycorn first published in 1913
Video opinion of creator only not to be taken for medical advice

Transcript

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Does the luxury passages clinic have such a high success rate with the curing of alcoholism because it is a luxury clinic? Or can you adopt their methods on your own without ever entering their doors? Stay tuned, and I'll explain why it's the methods of passages that works, not the luxury. I have stated in past articles the massive failure rate that Alcoholics Anonymous has in its outcomes compared to a non-traditional program called Passages. This clinic was founded by Chris Prentiss and his son Pax. Pax was a former addict who was sent to traditional 12-step programs and continued to fail with these interventions. His father sought out a different method that would focus on cure, not a never-ending recovery that destroys self-esteem and by the numbers fails most to attempt to beat their addictions using this methodology. I bought Chris Prentice's book titled The Alcoholism and Addiction Cure, which had only been published a few years when I ceased the long-standing friendship with John Barleycorn. During the initial months of protracted withdrawal, I read five or six 12-step and AA-oriented books. Prentice's work was the only one that used the word cure, and that resonated with me. I wasn't destined to live in the rooms for the rest of my life. I wasn't diseased, and I wasn't a forever addict. I would cure myself of the addiction and go on with my life. After I finished his book, I began calling myself an ex-alcoholic. I knew it would take up to two years for the long protracted withdrawal to end, but I decided at the two-year mark I would claim cure as well. And understand, AA, that this clinic has a high success rate. And AA not only doesn't have a high success rate, they have a massive failure rate. You would think they would take a look at what the apprentice father and son team are doing and adopt their methods so they can have a success rate as well. The fact that they don't is why I accuse AA of being a cult. For here's a clinic that's working with great outcomes, and AA shuns them, digs its heels in even deeper, and continues to engage in their protocols that have proven now for a century that they do not keep most sober, and the few that do stay sober never escape their rooms of AA. So I will tell you why Passages has this success rate, because they engage in holistic recovery, much like my own creative program, to reinvent all planes of being, whether you're an alcoholic or not. They aren't telling their members they will always be an alcoholic, they aren't smoking at every break in the meetings. They find out the root cause of the addiction with one-on-one counseling, matched by a return to physically healthy lifestyle and emotional recovery. And AA is doing the exact opposite on every point. Now I've heard in the comments and other works I've done noting the outstanding outcomes of the passages clinics, which are now several, that they're only designed for those who can afford a luxury recovery center. That is true, the prices are astronomical, and most people couldn't afford them unless they had some spectacular insurance plans. But if that is your critique, then you aren't saying the methods don't work, you are stating it's just designed for the rich. So let's think about that. You don't have to be rich to adopt the Passages program to recovery and cure. I never went to their rehab center, but I would advise to buy their book, like I did, especially if you're new to sobriety. His book and mine will give an alternative approach versus what the newly sober is being bombarded with by the so-called experts who keep propagating a failed method. I have gone through the passage's list of treatment strategies, and most of them can be engaged without entering their center. For it really is about changing your life and mindset more than spending a month in a plush environment while you're instructed on how to do so. The first thing that the passage's philosophy will endorse is the return to health and fitness. This is exactly what I state in my own work. I just call it the reinvention of the physical plane. You have to exercise and have a clean diet. You don't make smoking a permanent habit, you don't live on coffee to dilute cravings after a few months, and you don't consume huge amounts of sugar. You not only don't have to be a client of passages to begin and maintain this new lifestyle, but it isn't that much money to do it. If your groceries consist of a lot of rices and whole grains, these items are far less expensive than packaged dinners, which aren't healthy for you anyway. The proteins can consist of chicken and fish. Organic vegetables are really not that much more expensive, and neither are the supply of fruits and juices. I buy a great deal of organic food. It's far less cost than TB dinners every night. A gym membership for a year isn't that much for the time of that 12 months, if you think about it. You used to drink away far more in a few weeks than what many yearly memberships would cost. If you don't like the gym, you could take up speedwalking or running, or a home program right in front of you two, like many did during the pandemic of 2020. Anyone can exercise on a budget of exactly zero if they really want to be serious about fitness. Guess what else is a big treatment method in the Passages program? Meditative activities, like yoga, tai chi, and general meditation instruction. This attacks the second plane of recovery I talk about in my book as well as blogs and other social media episodes. Reinvention of the emotional sphere. It goes hand in hand with the physical fitness program, and it doesn't have to cost you a dime. You no longer have to join a studio or fumble through the static pictures of a book. That YouTube again, which can be a wonderful thing. You don't have to fly to Malibu to be a passages client. You can try different programs for free, pick the ones you like, and literally teach yourself. So far, with what I've shown, the bulk of the passages method won't cost you a dime. You have to buy food anyway, and the healthy foods are cheaper than what isn't good for you. The gym cost is far less than what you drank every night, and you don't even have to join a gym. And you can become your own yogi right from your living room. So let's talk about their one-on-one counseling that's given during the month-long stay at Passages. It is a fact that the mental health professional is expensive. Whether it's at Passages or not, I can attest that medicine in general in the United States has rotated well out of what exists in the state of reason. Most people can't afford a psychologist or psychiatrist with their hourly rates of over $100 an hour. Much like the world of physical therapy that I worked in for decades, the mental health field has become a gold mine for the clinics to line their pockets with that very metal. But if one is self-motivated, he can avoid that cost and teach himself the techniques to mental soundness. Many of these mental health professionals have written books, which may range in cost from 15 to 20 bucks to benefit from their expertise. I used to address this type of literature on my first general self-help channel. Why spend $3,000 for a Tony Robbins seminar when he gives you the knowledge in a $20 book? And this applies to using the mental health professional's expertise to solve whatever made you start drinking in the first place. Because most of us who became alcoholics became so because of not-so-great childhoods, which planted the demon seed in us years before it would sprout. I probably went through over a dozen books over the first few years after I quit the alcohol. I read books on dysfunctional families. I read books on cumulative traumatic stress from early life and how it affects adulthood. I read books on abuse and childhood trauma. And I read on how to fix these deficits. I probably spent in these writings no more than what one session with a professional shrink would have cost me. And the fact is that too many people spend far too many months sitting in the office of that shrink. First, the idea that you need these many months and sometimes years to make these self-aware breakthroughs is nonsense that largely keeps these practitioners riding in that lexus. Most people who had terrible parents or were severely bullied in their school days know that their childhood was horrific. Dr. Joe Shrink should be able to figure that out in one session. And the next few sessions should be giving the person the tools to fix those mental deficits. It is largely the same scam that has made myself enemies with most of my fellow physical therapists who keep taking back the same patients who won't change their rotten lifestyles. The insurance company gets pillaged while P.T. Jane does the same thing this time, which didn't work last time because a patient won't lose that extra hundred pounds. And it is the same in the mental health field. Many people won't improve because they won't take action to do so. But if one really wants to empower himself, these books from those who specialize in that field can lead the person to that path. But it's up to the individual to walk it. It'd be great to be able to talk to someone, but it isn't necessary as the information can still be obtained. Passages also endorses music therapy. Music therapy is great for keeping the nervous system calm or calming it down when it decides to amp itself up. I use this as part of my emotional reinvention program. Again, you no longer have to buy even used CDs of Enya or Yani. They're all free on the internet. You research what music therapy can do to benefit the nervous anxiety during the protracted withdrawal, and you make your own playlist. It won't cost you a dime. The Passages program also talks about spiritual counseling. In my own book, I refer to this as a separate plane, the spiritual realm. It's really nothing more than seeing your place in the universe and how you fit in with it. It can be related to your god or magic elf or no entity at all. And note, about half the AA 12 steps need a god to complete those steps, so too bad for the atheist, I guess. But again, there are a plethora of books to choose from to find your spiritual path. There's books on Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, and every faith that roams the earth. There are Becoming One with the Universe type books, like the ones written by the late Wayne Dyer. The spiritual quest is one only you can complete, just like you're the only one who can solve the effects from a terrible childhood in the end. No matter how many times you step into someone's office, and you don't have to go to passages, just like you don't have to spend a thousand dollars on a seminar, when the information is right within reach. You could just use the net to get what you need nowadays. I periodically listen to the audiobook Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, as well as works by Dale Carnegie on YouTube. It's free. Now there are other treatment methods in the Passages program, such as horse therapy and hypnotherapy. Now the jury's out on hypnotherapy and its effects, so I have no opinion either way until that jury returns with a verdict of outcomes. Horses are great to be around, so are dogs. If you don't have one, you could volunteer to walk the castaways at the shelter. It's hard to be in a foul mood when you're around a dog who loves being around you. And that outdoor holistic therapy that Passages is promoting is right on point. I recommend spending time in the outdoors as well, whether you like hiking, fishing, or just sitting by a lake with that self-help book. It'll have the same effect as sitting on a horse in the open pasture. And all these outdoor activities are cheap as well. Most hiking permits are 10 bucks or so, and the yearly passes to national parks may run 50 to 100. But none of this holistic activity is expensive unless you're running a yacht. What Passages basically does is the correct way to cure oneself from alcoholism. They start by telling you to step on the road to cure. They teach you how to walk and eventually how to run on it. It is incredibly expensive, and I am sure that the Prentiss, father, and son have become very rich because of their program. But Chris Prentiss also wrote the book on his method as well, which runs us everyday people 20 bucks or so. The information is there, if you don't want to spend tens of thousands of dollars to hang out in luxurious Malibu during the initial phases of recovery. But one doesn't beat alcohol addiction in that first month. No one walks out of that first 30 days. No matter where you are with the effects of protracted withdrawal, avoid it. Time takes care of the healing, and time will eventually lead to cure. What Passages does in their methods is sound. They just do it in a luxury spa. That, yes, most can't afford. But they aren't magically curing the former addict for a few $10,000. They are teaching how to reinvent the former life of the former addict. The fact is, you can teach yourself these methods, especially in today's world of the internet. Chris Prentiss tells you what he is doing right in his book. My book, titled Reinvention of Self, How to Change Your Life and Being Forever, does the same. And I also tell people that you don't even have to buy my book. If you accumulate enough articles and episodes, the information will be there, just not as organized. But the method of holistic recovery works, and the Alcoholics Anonymous method doesn't. Period. The point is, recovery belongs to you. No one can grant you cure no matter how much money you pay them. You simply find the information and utilize the methods at work. It is you who has to practice these techniques, not passages. But the contention of the AA fanatic who states the program isn't good because it's for the rich, that is a nonsensical point. Plenty of high-level and expensive 12-step programs also exist for the rich, and they largely fail as well as regular AA that exists in the local church. The passages method doesn't. That's it, and that's all. I use a very similar program, yet I'm not trying to charge you for a one-on-one course with me. Just take the techniques of reinvention of all your planes and use them to go cure yourself from the terrible addiction of alcoholism. Because in the end, you are the only one who can recreate your existence on this terrain. Now, for some more on how to completely recover your being after alcoholism, go ahead and click on the playlist card at the end of the video. And check out my more detailed guidebook, Reinvention of Self How to Change Your Life and Being Forever. Link is on the video description as well as a channel page banner. And remember, you made the contract, now keep it. Be sober at sundown, and I will see you at the next sunrise.