Chaney Allen Cognitive Behavioral Therapies

Chaney Allen Cognitive-Behavior Therapies

One approach that has gained a great deal of attention, particularly in the treatment of substance abuse, is cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Originating with classical conditioning and operant learning, combined with social learning theory and the role of cognitive experiences in determining behavior, CBT merges into a model that assumes most psychological and psycho-social problems derive from a fault coping or thinking process. There are, of course, any number of observable and latent factors that contribute to substance abuse, most early non-cognitive therapies focusing then on only the observable dynamics. Over time, however, research and mediation models have shown that CBT represents more of an integration of principles derived from both behavioral and cognitive theories, and allows for the treatment of a broader range of issues through social learning, cultural framing, and the appraisals, self-efficacy expectations, and individual attributions (an individual's explanation of why an event occurred) (Wright, ed., 2003).

Chaney Allen was the daughter of an Alabama minister, and the first African-American woman alcoholic to tell her story of recovery in book form designed for a wider audience. Her autobiography, I'm Black and I'm Sober, was published in 1978, a few years after she was able to turn her life around so drastically (Pagliaro and Pagliaro, 2000, p. 52). Since the publication of her story, her strong will and personality have taken various hidden issues, particularly those from minority and disenfranchised women, and placed them into a larger, care-centered approach that provides structure, progressive treatment, and is culturally sensitive, integrating the appropriate protocols for cultures with evidence-based treatment practices. The idea is that there are a number of facilities already in place for men and women, for celebrities, or even middle and upper class families, but very few programs that are structured on the in and outpatient level to work within a particular community to provide education, assessment and screening -- and then the appropriate levels of care, to the African-American women's population. Chaney is a founder and member of the California Black Commission on Alcoholism and a founder of the California Commission on Alchohlism. Clinics in SanDiego and Cincinnati were named after here, and other venues call upon her regularly to lecture and train other counselors (Allen, 1976).

Based on Chaney's story, experience, and a number of scholarly research papers on the particular issues often faced by African-American and minority women, the goals of the Chaney Allen method are fivefold:

To reduce recidivism by educating and linking returning women offenders to community-based services.

To decrease the active incidences of marijuana, cocaine, alcohol, and other drug use among women, especially those of childbearing age.