RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Three

The quality of staffing in inpatient treatment varies greatly.  The American Psychological Association noted that getting qualified staff in substance abuse treatment facilities is difficult due to low pay and weak educational opportunities for employees (pg. 16).  The implied educational criteria is that there are multiple layers of professionals with advanced degrees - doctoral, master's and bachelor's degrees in psychology or medical degrees in psychiatry - with paraprofessionals with less education being overseen and trained by people with advanced degrees (pgs. 16-17).

Compare those ideas with the listed staff for the RU Schools of Discipleship; a school that treats potentially life-threatening disorders such as heroin addiction and eating disorders like anorexia.

Cribbed from their website:

Dr. Paul Kingsbury: 

• Pastor of North Love Baptist Church; cofounder of RU
• Attended Maranatha Baptist College  (which has regional accreditation) - but gives no dates of graduation or degrees earned.  The highest degree awarded by Maranatha is a Master's Degree in Education or various Master's in Ministry degrees.  None of the degrees has an emphasis in healthcare ministry let alone training for working as a provider of healthcare.
• Graduated from Hyles-Anderson College (which is unaccredited). Hyles Anderson has Master's degrees in Education and Ministry.  They have a certificate program for counseling - this is equivalent to about 1 year of freshman level college classes.
• When researching North Love Baptist College (also unaccredited) from another staff member's blurb, I found a different educational list for Dr. Kingsbury.  He got a Bachelor's from Hyles-Anderson and a Doctorate of Divinity from both Ambassador Baptist College and West Coast Baptist College.  I hate when people can't get website information correct.

He's a highly educated individual within the unaccredited Baptist college world.  Unfortunately, that's not enough to run an inpatient program.

Steve Currington:

• Cofounder of RU based on his personal recovery from a heroin addiction.
• Wrote or coauthored most of the recovery materials used by RU.

His credentials are moot; he died in 2010 of a heart attack.  I find it strange that he's still listed on their staff page.

There are six people listed who sound like administrators for day to day operations at the Schools of Discipleship houses.  The men's program can have 55 inpatients while the women's program can have 80 patients.

Donnie Barnes:

• Graduated from the RU program in 2007 from a previous drug addiction.
• Married Hannah Barnes in 2008.
• Has been the Director of Housing for some unspecified time.
• Earned a degree from North Love Bible College in Ministry in 2014.

Hannah Barnes:

• Graduated from West Coast Baptist College with a ministry degree.
• Has served in RU since 2008
• Became the Dean of Women in 2012.

Dale Akin:

• Graduated from Hyles-Anderson and served as a pastor in CA from 1995-2011.
• Graduated from RU in 2003 for an unspecified addiction.
• Has worked in RU as an Assistant Steward (spring 2012), Student Mentor(summer 2012) and is currently the Men's Intervention Mentor

Shirley Rawlings:

• Began as a patient at RU in 2011 addicted to heroin and "other sins".
• Became a volunteer monitor after graduation for two years.
• Became the Head Steward in around 2013.
• Became the Assistant Dean of Women at some time in the past.

Sheridan Powell:

• Began as a patient at RU in 2013 addicted to meth, heroin and "other sins".
• Volunteered for a year after graduating from RU.
• Became the Head Steward either in late 2014 or early 2015.

Charles Rodberg:

• Addiction to crack cocaine lead to discharge from the Marines and prison
• Graduated from RU in 2014
• Became Head Steward sometime after graduation.

Things that concern me:

1. None of the staff members have a degree of any level from an accreditation agency recognized by the US government.
2. Five of the six staff members who are presumably interacting with patients have graduated from RU because of previous addictions.  Of those 5, two have been "graduated" for less than 3 years.  Only one of the five has been graduated for more than 10 years.
3. The one staff member who was never enrolled in the program married a former patient within one year of the patient graduating.   While this is not illegal - to the best of my knowledge - it opens up questions about professionality since she was volunteering while he was in treatment.
4. Based on those three previous points, I question the oversight available by the staff towards volunteers and patients.
5. This appears to be a closed-system.  Since most of the staff rose up through the RU program, has no outside education, and has no oversight from an outside body, there is no one available to question any unethical or illegal behaviors by RU.

We haven't even gotten to the really shady stuff, though.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Two

Since Reformers Unanimous (RU) is an organization that treats addictions, I thought it would be important to understand their definitions of addiction.

From their website on "What We Believe about Addictions:

• Addiction by one definition is “to cause to become physiologically or psychologically dependent on a habit-forming substance.”

That's a good definition which would incorporate  ten of the 15 topics covered by RU.

• Addiction by another definition is “to occupy oneself or involve oneself in something habitually or compulsively.”

This definition is missing a key point; the activity has to be negatively affecting the person's life in a major way.  When that point is added, the remaining four listed topics could be incorporated under this definition.

Logically, since they've defined 14 out of 15 topics - and my guess is that the 15th topic is alcohol - they don't need any more definitions.  Yet, the list continues.

• Addiction is an unnatural obsession with anything other than God.

Under this definition, my love of cheetahs when I was seven was an addiction.  Plus, what is an unnatural obsession with God called?  (This is why someone should proof-read websites for public consumption, IMHO. Sloppy construction undermines messages.)

• Addiction is any appetite on a binge.

Too vague for actual use.  Although..... this definition does allow outsiders to label Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's attempts to have a twentieth living child after Michelle had had a micro- preemie due to preeclampsia and a stillborn baby an addiction.  

• Addiction is anything you continue to do knowing it is harmful for you.

Overly broad categorization.  For example, people working in high stress jobs with lots of sad outcomes - police, firefighters, certain medical professions, certain teachers, CPS workers - can be emotionally harmed by their jobs.  That's not considered an addiction anywhere else.

• Addiction is a disorder caused by sin.

Partial credit for this one.  Addictions are a disorder - generally a medical disorder that affects brain chemistry.  To treat addictions, the person with the addiction must choose to behave in ways that separate them from the addictive substance or action.   I have a problem labeling failure to follow those choices as sins because my understanding of sin requires conscious choices.  Since addiction often coexists with other mental illnesses, labeling failure to comply with treatment a sin feels like a bridge too far.

• Addiction is anything that brings you into spiritual bondage.

Well, according to one whack-a-doodle blogger, Anne of Green Gables drags girls into spiritual bondage so that's another addiction.

• Addiction is being under the rule of anything other than the Holy Spirit.

That's why we're called "Spirited" not "Christians".  That's also why the Rule of Law is completely pointless and addicting.

• Addiction is anything to which I run to meet my needs apart from God.
  What does that even mean?  I need to stay warm during the winter so I use indoor heating and put on a coat when I go outside.  Under this statement, both indoor heating and wearing a coat are addictions.
• Addiction is any coping mechanism I use to deal with disappointments.

Apparently, including prayer or reading the Bible are now addictions according to this definition.  I've been disappointed recently that a car accident injury dragged my graduate school career to a temporary halt.  To deal, I've been trimming blackberry bushes, winterizing the garden and cleaning out my poultry shed.   Those now addictions as well.

• Addiction is any sin, because all sin is addictive.

RU really needs to add a definition of sin to their theological statement of beliefs because I don't know what they mean by sin anymore.  I've heard that sin is attractive - but not addicting.

Just wait until we meet their staff.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part One

Me: The Duggars have opened my eyes to a lot of problems within Fundamentalist Christian health ministries that I'd never heard of before. I wish they would stop getting involved in ministries that are going to kill someone someday.

 I have personal experience as an inpatient for mental health issues.  When I was 19, I suffered a severe episode of depression.  The first anti-depressant I was prescribed reduced my depressive symptoms, but caused severe anxiety and suicidal thoughts.  (This SSRI - which often works well in middle-aged and older adults - now has a black box warning about increased suicide risks in teenagers and young adults.  I missed the black box warning by 6 months.) After two months of outpatient counseling, I felt I was at risk of committing suicide and got myself admitted to Pine Rest.

Take-Home: Inpatient treatment for mental disorders and substance abuse is reserved for people who are unable to function in an outpatient setting AND have failed at repeated outpatient attempts OR are at imminent threat to their own life or the life of others.

Application to RU and Duggars: RU offers help with 15 addiction topics: Cutting, Huffing, Prescription Drugs, Steroids, Weed, Cocaine, Heroin, Porn, Acid, Uppers, Eating, Tobacco, Gambling and Meth.  (I don't know what the 15th is, but my best guess is Alcohol.)  Of the 14 listed addictions, eleven can require inpatient treatment with my assumption being that "Eating" includes anorexia since RU has a tract about how someone recovered using their methods.  I have never heard of inpatient treatment for tobacco, gambling or porn.

 While the "Residential House: School of Disciples" has a disclaimer that it is not a medical facility, they are selling a treatment plan for eleven problems generally treated by mental health professionals.  For these reasons, I believe it is reasonable to compare them to a inpatient mental health facility.

Me: See, in my local area, there are two mental health hospitals.  The one that is agreed by the local mental health professionals to be better (Pine Rest) is affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church of America and the Reformed Church of America. Until 2 minutes ago when I looked the affiliations up online, I had no idea which Christian churches Pine Rest was connected to.   These affiliations had no effect on the treatment I received there. If you wanted pastoral counseling (which you indicated at admission), they would find you someone from your denomination or religion who was supportive of mental health issues.  If you didn't want it, you weren't bothered about it.    I do remember that if you were in the hospital on a Sunday, there was an option of going to an on-site church service and a few patients went to it.  The rest of us played cards, read or watched TV.

Take-Home: Good Christian health ministries provide health support first, enable spiritual support second, and never actively convert patients.

Application: RU has a long - and fragment filled - statement of belief that should weed out most non-Fundamental Christians and the entire recovery path is filled with Biblical applications.