OPEN MOUTHS, OPEN MINDS –
Jan. 27, 2021 – “I have a perspective that I bring to the conversation that a traditional clinician may not,” he said. “And I also know that an hour a week [the traditional model for conventional therapy] may not be enough. My goal is to move them to the next level of support.”
The structure of Confidential Recovery’s program is 10 hours per week, he said.
In some cases, more action may be needed. “With someone who’s lying, cheating, manipulating and is actively involved with their disease of addiction, sometimes you need to do an intervention,” Silverman said.
“That’s what I’m pretty good at. And I talk to the whole family,” he said, noting that each family member may need his or her own therapist to “help them move into action.”
Silverman is no stranger to nonprofit work. In 1992 he founded the San Diego Second Chance program, aimed at working “with the homeless, men and women coming out of jail and prison,” he said.
He left the organization about 10 years ago. “It was time to move on to something else,” he said.
That “something else” has led to some fulfilling moments, Silverman said. “Watching someone or bumping into someone who’s graduated one of our programs” and earned a credential in a therapy program or a similar achievement is “exciting.”
