New Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center Opens for Entertainment Industry Youth.
Malibu, CA (PRWEB) August 5, 2005
Echo Malibu, a treatment center designed specifically to meet the special needs of young people in the entertainment industry, has opened its doors and already has a growing wait list.
While the program will serve any chemically dependent youth age 12-17, this is the first treatment program designed to meet the special needs of youth who are either in the entertainment industry themselves or who have parents or other close relatives in the industry.
Co-Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Jeffrey Nalin states Â?The need for a program like Echo Malibu is long overdue. The entertainment community has a unique culture and proper treatment of those who are part of it, requires the same degree of sophistication, expertise and cultural competence as does the treatment of the members of any other unique community.Â?
In addition to providing traditional psychotherapy using psychiatrists, psychologists, and marriage and family therapists who specialize in adolescent treatment, Echo Malibu has created a comprehensive Expressive Arts Therapies team which includes a certified Art Therapist, Music Therapist, Drama Therapist, Dance/Movement Therapist and a Poetry Therapist. Youth are also provided with Bio Feedback, Yoga, Massage, and organic, gourmet meals. Finally, there is an on site classroom for accelerated learning of general academics.
Services are provided in a beautiful three-story home nestled between the Santa Monica Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. The facility itself is surrounded by old growth trees, which provide a uniquely private, safe and serene environment. There are beautifully landscaped paths, meditation areas, a creek and access to trail heads from the property. There is also a private sports/recreation field coupled with picnic areas and an organic garden.
According to co-founder and CEO, Cole Rucker, treatment hasn’t always been this good for youth who are the children of public figures or who are public figures themselves.
Â?Echo Malibu was created in part as a response to what Dr. Nalin and I saw as the routine maltreatment of youth associated with public life,” he said. “During the course of our careers, we have seen treatment programs single these youth out for harassment on one end of the spectrum and not hold them accountable on the other.Â?
Dr. Nalin points out that the problem can sometimes be more insidious.
Â?Many treatment providers fail to recognize the impact of having a public identity placed upon you,” he said. “This is especially critical if you are an adolescent and you are developmentally in the very process of identity formation.Â?
He goes on to add that there are practical considerations for providing proper care to this special population.
Â?There have been occasions at other treatment facilities where we have, by necessity, intervened on behalf of young people who were forced to choose between disclosing family secrets in group settings, that would likely land in the media, or remain quiet and be accused of withholding and not participating in their recovery,” he said. “The general lack of competence for treating this population is staggering. It isn’t fair or necessary to ask anyone to compromise their family or themselves in that way.Â?
Rucker concludes, Â?Quality treatment requires that the treatment be applicable to the participant’s life. You can’t achieve this if you deny the basic realities of that life. You can’t say, I’m going to normalize what is unique and special about you by ignoring or denying it. Rather, we have to look at the reality of differences, how they impact our approach to each individual’s treatment and ultimately, how those differences impact the individual’s approach to their own life.Â?
While the founders of Echo Malibu stress that their program is available to serve any youth or family in need, the initial response from Hollywood has been overwhelming. In fact it would seem that Public figures are willing, when necessary, to do what was once unthinkable: wait in line for services.
You can check out Echo Malibu at www.echomalibu.com or by calling 800 780 ECHO.
Interview Contact: Cole Rucker, CEO
Telephone 800 780 ECHO
www.echomalibu.com
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