The mission of the World Federation of
Therapeutic Communities
The World Federation of Therapeutic Communities (WFTC) is an international association with the goal of uniting and supporting the broad global Therapeutic Community (TC) movement worldwide (all five continents). WFTC provides sharing, understanding, guidance and cooperation to its members and the broader society.
In the occasion of the 5th WFTC Institute celebrated in 2016 in Spain, the WFTC adopted the Declaration of Mallorca, a document approved and committed by more than 150 experts in addiction and TCs from 26 countries. The document has been built based on actions, recommendations and agreements from primary care, treatment, recovery and social re-integration of drug-dependent population – including drug prevention – and it recognizes Therapeutic Community as one of the most effective approaches for the rehabilitation and recovery of persons with an addiction and their families.
The Declaration serves as guiding principles for the WFTC and its members and is expected to be implemented until 2026. Its content is grounded on the following standards:
– Commitment to People: seeking to provide the best service to persons with an addition and their families.
– Innovation: increasing effectiveness based on research, evidence and best practices.
– Participation: supporting participatory and transparent processes for decision-making in this field.
– Achievable: proposing concrete, clear and measurable actions with realistic, applicable and affordable conclusions.
– Willingness to Disseminate: seeing the value in sharing this knowledge with all stakeholders.
The Declaration of Mallorca:
Therapeutic Communities support a wide range of addiction profiles, with an increasing attention to specific vulnerable groups such as women, children, the homeless, people with HIV, Hepatitis C, co-occurring disorders, offenders and others.
The interventions have to be adapted to the participants’ needs and their cultural, economic, social and religious diversity.
Much progress has been made in introducing the gender perspective into the treatment of addictions. Nonetheless, organizations are invited to reinforce these achievements as a priority.
Therapeutic Communities welcome aftercare services focused on improving the social reintegration of the participants. These follow-up services are critical in reducing relapsing episodes.
Families and other social networks become key factors during the TC treatment and we should encourage them to get engaged.
Therapeutic Communities require interdisciplinary professional teams, including experts by experience, to deal with the complexity of addiction within a bio-psycho-social framework. The identity of the TC staff lies in a combination of professionalism, vocation of service and the passion for help people.
We recognize that TC staff need continuous training and education, mentoring, caregiving and external supervision. Staff well-being should be promoted in order to minimize the possibility of burn-out.
TC leadership should be inspirational, transparent, and of service to the community and to the organizations. The TC movement is evolving to new organizational leaderships. The renewal of leadership is of paramount importance and can be achieved through carefully designed succession plans.
We acknowledge that transparency and accountability are fundamental aspects of the functioning of the organizations in the addiction field. These are the mandatory prerequisites for obtaining and sustaining credibility from governments and society.
The promotion of vigorous research and evidence based outcomes is crucial for the sustainability of our TCs. Moreover, we invite all organizations to be involved in publishing scientific papers and collaborating with academia and the research community.
We call upon the WFTC and all members to produce cost-benefits studies to demonstrate the value of the TC model to the stakeholders.
In many countries Therapeutic Communities are insufficiently funded. We encourage the policy makers to support TCs, for they provide an irreplaceable aid for recovering addicted people. It is urgent to diversify resources and to explore alternative funding.
It is critical for representatives from international and regional organizations, governments, civil society and private sector to recognize the role of the Therapeutic Community movement in resolving problems associated with drugs and other addictions and the consequent suffering of millions of people. Therapeutic Communities stress the fight against stigmatization of the addicted population.
The WFTC will reinforce a continuing presence and advocacy of the TC movement at international organizations and fora in collaboration with the regional federations and civil society networks.
Communication through internet and social media is an indispensable tool for increasing the awareness of society about the harmful consequences of addiction. This type of communication also contributes to the visibility of the TCs and their effectiveness.
Conclusion:
This declaration reaffirms the commitment of the Therapeutic Community movement to serve addicted populations and their social networks all over the world by restoring their hope, dignity and personal well-being.
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