Mark W. Scheeren
About Mark
Co-Author of The Freedom Model for Addictions, Co-Creator of the Non-12-Step Movement, and Chairman of Baldwin Research Institute, Inc.
Mark Scheeren co-founded Baldwin Research Institute, Inc. in 1992, and is currently its Chairman. Mark co-authored the revolutionary book, The Freedom Model for Addictions, Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap with Steven Slate and Michelle Dunbar. He is credited with coining the phrase “non-12 step” in the early 90’s and established the first, and only, completely non-12 step residential solution for drug and alcohol problems in the world, the St. Jude Retreats. Mark is also the co-host of the popular Addiction Solution Podcast.
Mark ran the longest observational study ever conducted in the addiction-research field by living with the study subjects for a period of twelve consecutive years. This provided him a first-hand account of how best to help people to solve their substance use problems. He then documented the results of that research within the Freedom Model text. Here are his thoughts on this project:
“Taking the time to live with individuals with substance use problems (who were in the process of moving past their addictions) was the only way to truly observe and understand the issues concerning this population and to build solutions that actually promoted real quantifiable success. While other researchers study this problem on an academic level, I decided to completely immerse myself in my study by applying the science in a residential setting for more than a decade. This effort created the knowledge and application of The Freedom Model for Addictions, that being: individual free-will, mental autonomy, and the Positive Drive Principle, and how to mindfully apply these inherent positive human attributes in one’s life. The success of this approach is seen in our life-changing results in those we helped over the course of the last 34 years.”
As a noted 12-step and recovery society historian, Mr. Scheeren is an expert on the false and misleading addiction brain disease/disorder concept and the continuing failings of the 12 Step and treatment/recovery paradigm as a whole. With this knowledge coupled with his personal experience leaving AA, he designed the Deprogramming from the 12 Steps Course now available to the world for those seeking a way to move past the confines of the 12 step method and into greater self-expression and personal freedom. Mark is also well known in alcohol and drug research circles for his courageous and outspoken public service campaign, “Treatment Doesn’t Work!”