Education

The Summer Institute for Medical Students (SIMS) is an experiential learning model.  The involvement of participants in the treatment process facilitates an in-depth, personal and unique learning experience.  Being a part of a process that fosters change strongly reinforces the belief that both the alcoholics/addicts and their families can and do recover.

The SIMS program was designed to give students the opportunity to become a part of the Betty Ford Center experience for a week.  Instead of participation in a classroom setting, the students learn by integration into the daily life of either the patients currently in treatment or the participants in the family program of the Center.

Awareness and sensitivity to the issues surrounding addiction begins with an adjustment in attitude.  It has long been said the best way to help those not addicted understand the recovery process is to let them see it happen.  This concept is equally true in the Summer Institute for Medical Students, where students learn side by side with alcoholics and addicts.

Danielle, an alumnus of the 2011 SIMS program recently said, “ I think most of us didn’t know fully what to expect when we decided to apply for SIMS, but we were given a week filled with more inspiring stories, informative lectures, memorable people, insight into patients’ struggles, and our own personal reflection than we ever anticipated. I truly look forward to sharing and applying what I’ve learned at BFC in my future in my medicine.”

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