Therapeutic communities for treating addictions in Europe : evidence, current practices and future challenges

The term 'therapeutic community' (TC) has been linked to a range of treatment traditions and approaches that all share the idea of using the relationships and activities of a purposefully designed social environment or residential treatment setting to promote social and psychological change. TCs offer a drug-free environment in which people with addictive (and other) problems live together in an organised and structured way in order to promote change and make it possible for them to lead a drug-free life in the outside society. The key distinctive characteristic of the TC is the use of the community itself as a fundamental change agent ('community as a method'). There are a number of defining features of the 'community as method' approach, including the use of a range of structured activities in which both staff members and residents are expected to participate and the use of peers as role models who set a positive example and demonstrate how to live according to the TC's philosophy and value system.