Solutions

“Is the system going to flatten you out and deny you your humanity, or are you going to be able to make use of the system to the attainment of human purposes?”

— Joseph Campbell

Amity was formed in 1969 in Tucson, Arizona… in the midst of America’s first opiate crisis.

Parents were desperate to find a solution to the heroin overdoses of their sons and daughters related to the easy availability of heroin coming over the border — only 60 miles away.   

Although Amity has expanded to two other states, we have provided effective addiction treatment services at our Tucson campus continuously — providing solutions to handling the problems associated with opiates, prescription drugs, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other drugs.  Amity uses the internationally recognized therapeutic community model of treatment, which emphasizes a total change in lifestyle, not just dealing with drug usage.  Five decades of research consistently finds that longer stays in treatment lead to better outcomes — and long term recovery / success. 

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Research Reports on Therapeutic Communities

Sustainability

We are all called to assist the earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own. Indeed to praise the whole creation in in all its diversity, beauty and wonder.

This will happen if we see the need to revive our sense of belonging to to a larger family of life, with which we have shared our evolutionary process.

— Wangari, Muta Maathai of Kenya
Winner 2004 Nobel Peace Prize

De-Incarceration

Amity Foundation’s Pilot Project of De-incarceration began in the 1980s and what ultimately became the cornerstone for the Bureau of Justice Assistance starting a national trend of ‘habilitation’ of persons incarcerated.

In our pilot project we achieved:

  • 100% recidivism reduction for women three years post-treatment who participated in Amity’s Pima County Jail project and then continued at Amity’s Circle Tree Ranch.

  • The data from the pilot project became one of the cornerstones utilized by the Justice Department in initiating a national campaign to reduce recidivism (Bureau of Justice Assistance)

For several years, Amity was the only organization to provide services at a maximum state prison in California, where most participants had histories of violent criminal behaviors towards others.

  • Evaluation of the project showed that it was a very effective violence reduction program both in-prison and post-release.

  • This group self-reported primary addiction as violence first, substances second (UCLA/Wexler)

The mood and temper of the public, in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing of the civilization of any country. A calm, dispassionate recognition of the rights of the accused… a constant heart searching by all charged in the duty of punishment, a desire and eagerness to rehabilitate in the world of industry, those who have paid their due in the hard coinage of punishment; tireless efforts towards the discovery of regenerative processes unfailing faith that there is a treasure in the heart of every person — these are the symbols of in the treatment of crime and criminal mark and measure of cividazation and are sign and proof of the living virtue in it. — Winston Churchill, House of Commons 1910

Oppressed people, whatever their level of formal education, have the ability to understand and interpret the world around them, to see the world for what it is, and move to transform it. — Ella Baker

Family Reunification

A strong correlation has been established between family involvement and personal mastery and long-term positive outcomes for the student. Amity faculty invites the families of our students to participate in a wide variety of family activities including workshops, retreats, group therapy sessions, picnics and recreational activities. Additionally parents may bring their children with them to our residential communities.

Our Family Participation Commitments:

  • To liberate the family

  • To evaluate and challenge values, concepts and myths

  • To fulfill acceptance of accountability

  • To develop positive responses rather than reactive behavior

  • To develop positive traditions toward community building, rather than negative individuality

To empower individuals to recognize and grow beyond:

  • Resistance

  • Loneliness

  • Changing roles

  • Surrender

  • Affirmation

  • Forgiveness

  • Solving problems and making responsible decisions for ourselves and the planet

Ultimately the individual must make their own decision to move towards dignity, responsibility and growth.

Wellness

The ‘Why’ of Amity’s Wellness initiative.

In the United States …

  • 5% of world’s population consumes 50% of all prescription pills
  • 99% of all Vicodin produced worldwide is consumed by Americans
  • 63% Americans overweight or obese
  • 20% children obese by 2008
  • Tripled number of adults with diabetes in the last 25 years
  • 33% increase of diabetes increase in children
  • 79 million are pre-diabetic
  • 40% of every dollar spent on food is food prepared outside home
  • Average child spends 7.5 hours per day watching media

What we say Yes to:

  • Faculty trained on China Study
  • Faculty tested on China Study
  • Faculty received cookbooks and classes on cooking plant based meals
  • Children fresh juices – juice Popsicle’s & healthy meals/snacks
  • Corporate Chef monitors via pictures from kitchens of plates served daily from all campuses
  • Culinary Arts Department trained with movies & current cutting edge information regarding, Organics, Non-GMO’, and toxins such as Aspartame, etc.
  • Building healthy immune systems at each meal

What we say No to:

  • Soda’s or junk food on any of our campuses
  • Smoking
  • All mixed sugared drinks
  • GMO’s in food
  • Pre-packaged food (sliced cheese, pre-made burritos, processes meat)
  • White bread (i.e. cannibalism studies)
‘Leave your drugs in the chemist’s pot, if you can cure the patient with food’ – Hippocrates

Housing

Dragonfly Village is our permanent supportive housing campus for homeless and low-income individuals and families in Arizona.

All applicants for residency will be processed in accordance with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/HOME program guidelines. Dragonfly Village also accepts Veterans.

Dragonfly Village Site

Amity in California via our STOP Area 5 and Just in Reach projects offer referral and placement supportive housing for our enrolled students in these projects via our network of housing providers and our partners.[/one_half]

 

Mindful Meditation

Mindfulness practices are designed to increase moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness, and develop self-compassion.

Mindfulness-based courses at Amity Foundation help students cultivate an open and accepting orientation toward personal experiences and the experiences of others, develop core skills of concentration and acceptance, facilitate healing of  traumatic abuse, and promote spiritual growth.