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Betty Ford Institute Established To Support And Conduct Research, Education, Policy Development On Alcohol And Other Drug Use/Abuse And Dependency

Institute Convenes Inaugural Conference September 18-20, 2006;
Experts in Addiction Field Assemble in Rancho Mirage, California;
Topic: “Defining & Measuring Recovery”

Rancho Mirage, CA, September 14, 2006 – Former First Lady Betty Ford, Co-founder of the Betty Ford Center, announced today the establishment of the Betty Ford Institute. It will operate independently of the non-profit licensed addiction treatment hospital. Seventy-five thousand women and men addicted to alcohol and/or other drugs and their affected family members have received treatment since the Center was established in 1982.

“As we approach our 25th anniversary,” says Mrs. Ford, “we feel it is an appropriate time to take this initiative. Although we have been involved as a leader in education and training in addictive disease and its treatment, as well as in public policy efforts, the establishment of our Institute will allow us to devote more resources to these areas.”

Mrs. Ford also announced the Betty Ford Institute’s inaugural “Consensus Conference” will be held September 18-20, 2006 in Rancho Mirage, California. At these “Consensus Conferences,” leading experts from various fields involving the disease of addiction will gather for intensive discussion of selected topics.

In addition to convening carefully constructed panels of professionals (and disseminating their findings), the Betty Ford Institute will also:

  1. Translate recent research findings into effective treatment practices, in collaboration with the nation’s leading treatment providers;
  2. Educate health care professionals about the nature of addictive disease;
  3. Advocate access to treatment and the importance of prevention;
  4. Serve as a global focal point for public and professional understanding of the disease of addiction to alcohol and other drugs, the role of treatment, and the promise of recovery.
The first “Consensus Conference,” Defining and Measuring Recovery, will be held September 18-20, 2006.  Erica Goode, Health Editor of The New York Times’ Science Times will moderate.

According to John Schwarzlose, President and CEO of the Betty Ford Center, “We feel `recovery’ is exactly the right subject to tackle during the first Betty Ford Institute conference. The addiction treatment field seems to be struggling with defining recovery, as are federal agencies and others involved in the alcohol and drug arena. It is our goal with this and future topics to have a diversity of viewpoints represented, even if they do not concur with the philosophy of the Betty Ford Center.”

Inaugural conference participants include:

  1. Charlene Belleau, Former Chief, Alkali Lake Band of Indians, British Columbia
  2. Robert L. DuPont, M.D., President, Institute for Behavioral Health, former White House Drug Czar
  3. Carl Erickson, PhD, Director, Addiction Science Research & Education Center, University of Texas, Austin
  4. Marc Galanter, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Director, Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, New York University School of Medicine
  5. Mark Gold, M.D., Chair, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida School of Medicine
  6. Tom McLellan, PhD, CEO, Treatment Research Institute
  7. Jon Morgenstern, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry, Columbia University Medical Center
  8. William White, Senior Research Consultant, Chestnut Health Systems
Several of the above have written research reports expressly for the conference; they are being distributed in advance to all participants, and will form the basis for much of the discussion.

Among sensitive questions on the table for the inaugural conference:

  1. What exactly is recovery?
  2. Is treatment necessary for long-term recovery to work?
  3. Is there a role for medications during recovery?
  4. Is ongoing 12-step meeting attendance key to long-term recovery?
  5. How do we measure “success” vis-à-vis recovery?
  6. Is it possible to translate the concept of recovery into numbers?
It is expected a document summarizing the discussions and presenting the “consensus” on recovery will be prepared and available after this first Betty Ford Institute-convened conference concludes.

According to Susan Ford Bales, Chairman of the Betty Ford Center, the Center has long been involved in many activities which the Institute will now conduct and/or sponsor. “But,” she says, “it is time now to formalize and focus our research, education and public policy initiatives.”
As an example of existing programs, Ms. Bales referenced the Center’s Summer Institute for Medical Students (SIMS), which welcomes 100 students every year from medical schools throughout the U.S. They spend two weeks among patients and clinicians, observing how state-of-the-art treatment works.

Press contact:
Russ Patrick
310 385-9401
russ@russpatrick.com