Gallus Detox Center

Mark Scheeren co-founded Baldwin Research Institute, Inc. (BRI) and The Freedom Model Retreats, the first residential non-12 step, non-disease based model for drug and alcohol problems in America in 1992 (However, the research actually began a few years prior to the official founding of the companies). As a BRI Research Fellow, Mark is also the co-author of the revolutionary book, The Freedom Model for Addictions, Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap. Mark is the only addictions researcher in the world to have studied individuals with substance use issues specifically by living with the study subjects for a period of twelve years.

This initial 12 year effort (1989 – 2001) created the knowledge and philosophical base for the foundation of The Freedom Model for Addictions, that being: free-will, autonomy and the Positive Drive Principle. The Freedom Model Retreats (specifically the Twin Rivers Retreat in the early years) is where all the research was being conducted.

As a noted 12 step historian and critic, Mr. Scheeren is an expert on the falsity of the disease of addiction concept and the failings of the 12 step paradigm as a whole. Mark is well known in alcohol and drug research circles for his courageous and outspoken public service campaign, “Treatment Doesn’t Work!” Mr. Scheeren has devoted the last 30 years to demonstrating how people can escape 12 step cults, as well as the perpetual recovery lifestyles that continue to keep millions tied to their painful past habits. As he puts it,

Michelle Dunbar was first thrust into the addiction recovery world as a young child. At the time she was taught from family members and others who were immersed in the 12 step culture about the alleged supernatural powers of alcohol and drugs and how people can become enslaved by them. As a result of these beliefs, she struggled with alcohol and drugs and succumbed to the disease rhetoric and misinformation being peddled in the treatment world. By 1990, then in her early twenties, these personal attributes proved to be a compass that guided her out of the heavy substance use scene completely.

She then began her career at Baldwin Research Institute, Inc. (BRI) in 1992 as one of the original volunteers helping women to solve their substance use problems. In 2002, she joined BRI in a professional capacity working directly with substance users and their families. During her tenure at BRI she has worked in nearly every division and capacity. She co-authored and taught the first program extension offered by BRI then called Continuing Education which tackled life issues and goal setting outside the scope of substance use. She developed and taught The Saint Jude Family Program and she has worked extensively on the past four program revisions. She is also one of the co-authors of BRI Publishing’s latest book, the revolutionary text entitled, The Freedom Model for Addictions.

Steven Slate is a Research Fellow of Baldwin Research Institute (BRI) and co-author of The Freedom Model for Addictions. His critical essays on the brain disease model of addiction have also appeared in college textbooks on addiction and abnormal psychology from Greenhaven Press and McGraw Hill.

As a former heroin user, Steven experienced the addiction treatment system from the inside, spending 5 years in inpatient and outpatient rehabs, methadone clinics, 12 step meetings, and psychiatric treatments aimed at the “underlying causes of addiction.” Each of these treatments left him worse off, until with the help of one of BRI’s earlier educational programs, he rejected the helpless addict role, and began to see himself as capable of choosing differently. He’s devoted his life to showing others that they too are in control of themselves, and capable of self-initiated change of their substance use habits, without a lifetime of treatment and support group meetings.

Danny Wike began his career at the Baldwin Research Institute (BRI) in 2018. After struggling for 35 years with drugs and alcohol, attending AA meetings, and a 10 month stint in a rehab, Danny found The Freedom Model for Addictions. It changed his life forever. The change in his life was so profound that he knew he wanted to take an integral role in bringing The Freedom Model to the masses. Danny reached out to Freedom Model co-creator Mark Scheeren and started a dialogue about how he could help.

Danny then underwent extensive training with Mark Scheeren, Michelle Dunbar and Steven Slate while taking on a role in Business Development. He represented The Freedom Model throughout the southeastern United States to various businesses, religious organizations and educational institutions. He completed his training to become a Freedom Model Instructor and recently accepted the position as Director of the Freedom Model Private Instruction Program. He is dedicated to helping others move on from their struggles while in the comfort of their own home. He is passionate about showing people that they can easily solve their addiction, and do so without having to live the rest of their life in “recovery”.