An Alliance between The Freedom Model for Addictions and The Hotze Health & Wellness Center
I met Dr. Steven Hotze in the summer of 2019. He flew up here to Upstate New York from Houston, Texas to visit our residential retreat, The St. Jude Retreat. We help people move past their addictions without the need for perpetual recovery, 12 step meetings, or replacement drugs. Dr. Hotze wanted to see with his own eyes if The Freedom Model Program offered at The St. Jude Retreat would be a good fit for a friend of his that was struggling with a serious drinking problem. This impressed me. Most people wouldn’t take the time and resources to physically inspect a program prior to making a reservation.
Steve and I spent quite a bit of time together over the course of those few days. He asked a slew of questions and spent hours testing my knowledge and 31 years of research on the topic. Just suffice it to say, Steve is a thorough guy and when he is interested in something he cares about; he digs in. I realized quickly that his visit was going to be an intense interview. I’m happy to report that my staff and I passed the test. We then made the arrangements for his friend to attend the program here at the retreat and Steve returned to Houston.
No 12 Step Agendas
During that visit (and since), a friendship of mutual respect was forged. This made it easy to continue our correspondence on the topic of addiction and how to effectively solve it. The aspects of the program that mattered the most to Steve initially were our very clear stance that addictions are not diseases and our independently verified success rate of 62.5%. He refused to have his friend attend a program that was based on the disease of addiction theory and where 12 step meetings would be a part of the program curriculum. As a medical doctor of 40+ years, Steve knows the difference between a disease and a habit, and his mission was to make sure The Freedom Model had no agendas that were 12 step related. He also wanted a program that had a long track record of verified success. We checked both boxes since The Freedom Model was the first residential non-12 step, non-disease-based program in the world, and as it turns out, we started helping people the same year Hotze Health & Wellness Center opened its doors, in 1989.
Hotze Health & Wellness Center – A Window for Addiction Solutions
As correspondence between us continued, we both realized that the patients (at the Hotze Health & Wellness Center they call their patients guests) who go to The Hotze Health & Wellness Center for their medical care might benefit from the knowledge that a non-12 step solution to addiction exists. While the Hotze Health & Wellness Center does not address addictions specifically, we know that 10 to 15 percent of the population at large has issues with addiction. As such, Dr. Hotze and I agreed that it made sense to provide information about The Freedom Model to his staff at his Center in Katy, Texas so they could make it available to any patients who might want it for themselves or others they might know who are struggling. Over the course of the last 3 decades, we’ve learned that many times, one’s doctor is the pathway to getting help for an addiction.
Like Steve, I took a few days, got on a plane, flew to his Center in Texas, and interviewed his staff to make sure The Freedom Model would be a fit for presentation in his suite of medical services. After sitting down and meeting his top-notch (and compassionate) managers and staff, I headed back to New York excited that the Hotze Health & Wellness Center would be providing their patients with the knowledge that a non-12 step model for addiction help exists for those seeking an alternative to disease-based rehabs.
So today, the alliance between a proven solution to addiction and a caring medical practice has been forged, and both parties are excited to help people improve their lives through competent care, valid research, and more than 3 decades of experience in their respective fields.
For more information about this alliance, go to:
Hotze Health and Wellness Center Addiction Education and Solutions
Or call: 855-931-1449
And Check out the recent Podcast below that Mark Scheeren did with Dr. Steven Hotze when he visited Dr. Hotze in early 2021
Mark Scheeren is the co-author of The Freedom Model for Addictions, Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap, and is the co-founder and Chairman of the St. Jude Retreat, the only residential non-12 step model for addiction in the world. For addiction help, call 888-424-2626
