American addiction treatment specialist Floyd Frantz came to Romania as a missionary with the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) from the USA. He then co-founded the National Anti-Drug Program of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
In November 2000, he initiated in Cluj-Napoca the St. Dimitrie addiction treatment program within the Christian Medical Philanthropic Association “Christiana”, realized in partnership with the Orthodox Archdiocese of Vad, Feleac and Cluj and OCMC. The project helped hundreds of Romanians get in control of their addictions.
Last week, Metropolitan Teofan granted him the Moldovan Cross, the highest distinction of the Metropolis of Moldova and Bukovina. It was a sign of gratitude for his support in creating an addiction treatment community centre in the Romanian city of Iași and in the training of addiction counsellors in the eparchy.
Basilica.ro invited him to a dialogue on addiction, Orthodoxy, and the Romanian spirit. “In Romania, it is the culture itself that helps the alcoholic get into recovery”, he says. “The Orthodox Church helps us help alcoholics.”
Basilica.ro: Can you tell us briefly how was your path towards you conversion to Orthodoxy? How old were you and where were you when you received the Orthodox baptism?
I first heard of Orthodoxy in Wichita, Kansas, my hometown, during an elementary school religion class. Later in life, at the age of 35, I decided to explore the Church and found it very compatible with my way of life and my core beliefs about God and man’s relationship with him. I was brought into the Faith at the age of 35 (or 36) and have been active in the Church since that time.
Basilica.ro: Why did you choose to specialize in addiction treatment?
I have a family history of alcoholism, and I have the disease of alcoholism myself. I got into recovery in 1982, when I was 33 years of age. In my recovery, I noticed that young people who came into our 12-step meetings after having been through an addiction treatment program were really grasping the ideas and doing quite well earlier in their recovery than people coming in who had not had the experience and benefit of treatment counselling.
The Romanian spirit is characterized by kindness
Basilica.ro: How did you decide to come to work in Romania?
Because of what I said in my previous answer, I returned to college and studied for a degree in psychology, graduating in 1989. I was working at a residential counselling program at the time. Two representatives of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) visited the church that I was attending in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
This was in 1998, and I came over for a visit to check the situation out, as they reported that there were no treatment centres that were specializing in addictions in Romania at that time.
Based upon my experiences, I felt the need was great here, in Romania, but that it was not likely that anyone was going to start any programs soon as there was little or no understanding of the disease model and of addiction treatment here, in Romania, at that time. I moved here in 2000 and started the St. Dimitrie Addictions Counseling Program here in Cluj.
Basilica.ro: What do you like about our country?
What I noticed first was that the people were different. They seemed milder in disposition, and respectful of elders, and all the churches were full of believers, which told me a lot about the values of the society.
Even the unchurched that I met were the kind of people that I would want for friends. There is a sort of kindness in the people of Romania that attracted me from the beginning.
In Romania, Christian culture helps addiction recovery
Basilica.ro: Can you estimate how many people have you helped in Romania?
It is difficult for me estimate the number of people that I have helped, probably not very many as my language skills are very poor. However, my staff at the St. Dimitrie Program have helped hundreds of people after 24 years of activity.
It is not important how many people we have helped, what is important is that now there is a program here in Cluj that can help any alcoholic or addict to recover from their addiction if they have an honest desire to stop drinking alcohol or using drugs, or to stop gambling, etc.
Also, because today we are offering training in becoming a counsellor, I am optimistic that there will be many such programs starting here in Romania over the next few years.
Basilica.ro: What is your conclusion from working with these people?
My conclusion from working with the alcoholics here in Romania is that they are a part of the Romanian society that I admire so much. And, the recovery program that I use can help anyone who has the capacity to be honest with themselves, even here in Romania.
It is the culture itself that helps the alcoholic get into recovery. I am speaking here of the Church, as its basic moral and spiritual structure is very similar to that of the 12-step programs that we use.
For example, to make the 12 Steps of recovery in a simple form, they involve:
- Getting honest with themselves about the addiction, and that they need help to overcome it.
- Recognizing that God can and will help them with the addiction if they are willing to have a working relationship with him.
- Developing trust in that relationship, with faith that God will help them if they are honest with themselves and with God.
- Becoming honest about past mistakes and admitting them to God, to themselves, and to another human being.
- Developing a manner of living that works to remove the things separating them from God.
- Restitution for wrongs done to others.
- Developing a life of reflection, prayer, and service to others.
No one is perfect at these things, but there must be a willingness to grow along spiritual lines.
Need for evidence-based prevention programs for youth
Basilica.ro: What can the state or the communities do to help addicts in general and what can we do to help Romanian young people avoid or overcome addictions?
The local and national governments need to invest in developing evidence base treatment programs. The program that we use has been researched by many universities and US governmental agencies, and it (the Minnesota Model) is the most widely used treatment model of treatment in the United States for only one reason: It works best.
To help young people, in the public school system the government should invest in evidence-based prevention programs, and offer the youth of Romania alternatives to the casinos, bars, and other nefarious activities available in every town in the country.
Basilica.ro: Do you think that being part of the Orthodox Church is a great help for addicts and those who work with them?
Without a doubt, the Orthodox Church helps us help alcoholics. The majority of our clients identify as being either Orthodox, Catholic, Greco-Catholic or some other Christian religion. We try to send people back to their parishes and churches, and these churches usually are supportive of the person’s recovery, sometimes even enlisting them to help others in their parishes.
We should bear in mind that alcoholics or addicts don’t just destroy themselves. Addiction destroys the whole family, as almost every alcoholic or addict is married or is part of a family.
Addiction destroys the relationship between spouses, even though marriage resists and doesn’t end in divorce. It affects the children, so it affects society far more deeply and it involves a far more complex healing process than it would be required for just one person.
Prayers said are prayers heard
Basilica.ro: Do you have special devotion to some saints? Which ones? Did they help you in your activity?
I have dedicated my work here in Romania to the Blessed Theotokos, St. Paraskeva from Iași, and St. Demetrius the New of Basarabi.
Prayers said are prayers heard. However, if we want someone to get into recovery and pray for them, the other person must also want recovery, as God will never take away our free will. Or free will is so important to us as human beings, and our nature, that God will allow us to drink or drug ourselves to death before he will violate our free will.
Basilica.ro: Is there a message you have for professionals working in the same field as you?
For the professionals I would only say to contact us and we will supply you with information about our methods. You can research them by searching “Minnesota Model of Addictions Treatment”. It’s a bio-psycho-social-spiritual method. Please note that the word “spiritual” does not mean religious. It means that we hook people back into their core values as human beings.
Business card
Floyd Frantz has an academic background in psychology, with extensive professional experience in both residential and outpatient addiction counselling. He has over 40 years of active involvement and volunteer work in community-based programs in the prison system, the court system, hospitals and residential programs specializing in alcoholism and addiction treatment.
Photo credit: Ocmc.org (article opening)
