Throughout the program, one of the head staff emphasized the importance of putting in our own work in our recovery. I thought “great, not only will I have the structure of the IOP in the mornings, I’ll finally get a chance to put some genuine effort into maintaining sobriety.”
Little did I know that isn’t what they meant at all. To Tangu, “putting in your own work” means accepting the fact that they do not have the resources to support the current number of clients, and you will receive only a fraction of the support you were promised on your intake day.
I attended the day-time IOP from 10AM-1 PM 5 days a week for 7 weeks, and met with my assigned therapist for a total of two sessions. These were during my first two weeks at Tangu, and instead of an hour-long, free flowing talk session, we would answer the same questionnaire asking me to rate my anxiety and depression for the last week on a scale from 1-7 These sessions probably took about 15-20 minutes each, but as soon as the last question was answered he would ask me if I had anything I wanted to tell him about and then sent me on my way. He would call me about once every 3 days for a superficial 3 minute check-in to talk about my upcoming plans and making small talk, and then tell me that he didn’t understand why I felt unsupported when I brought it up in group.
In the sober living, I was on the buddy system and did not have a car and could not leave without someone else in the program. This meant that I was alone in my apartment trying to find ways to kill my time for 6 hours a day for 3 weeks in a row. When I began voicing that I did not feel I was receiving what I paid for, I was told that I wasn’t putting enough work in on my own time.
To me, putting my own work in would include having the opportunity to go to meetings every day, and having the opportunity to meet with a sponsor. Instead, we went to 3 70+ people meetings meetings every friday-Sunday, and if there was not enough space in the company-provided transportation, the house managers would simply sign their sheets for staying at the apartment. When I tried to advocate for going to more meetings, I was told that I should ask my parents to let me use my car again so that I could drive myself and my roommates to meetings myself.
Not only were the advertised weekly therapy sessions not met, but every IOP group session that I attended consistently had over 15 people and was unstructured, with the leaders simply asking “so what do we have on our minds today?”
It came out that I had failed a drug screen on a Friday following a relapse, (I admit my fault in that) and I went to pay my rent on Monday, and instead of accepting the $800 for the entire month, they told me to only pay $400, “in case something happens because it’s nonrefundable .” The following day I am called in and it’s revealed that they knew I had relapsed for 3 days, and still accepted my money instead of telling me the day of that they knew I was going to be removed from the program. While it was me that relapsed, I truly believe if I was anywhere else I would not have had to go to treatment again. Look into Freedom Arch nearby if you really want to recover.
Tangu constantly has people in and out of the program that do not finish, not because they are not taking their recovery seriously, but because they are strictly a business that wants your money and nothing else. If you care at all about your recovery, stay far far away from Tangu.