Making Clean and Sober Places: The Intersections of Therapeutic Landscapes and Substance Abuse Treatment

This chapter discusses the nature of environments established for the treatment and rehabilitation of people with drug and alcohol addictions. It examines the strategies treatment programs employ, and the challenges they face, in their efforts to help individuals gain control of their drinking and drug using. Wilbert Gesler's concept of therapeutic landscapes represented an innovative geographical metaphor with which to understand the relationship between place and health. Individuals dealing with addiction, as well as those in treatment, can be considered a socially marginalized population. The environments of the sampled Winnipeg facilities are themselves structured by broader intra-urban patterns. The chapter examines the extent to which different neighborhood settings impact on the therapeutic potential of addiction treatment programs, as well as the strategies used by program staff to deal with the challenges and opportunities of these neighborhood settings. The treatment program took control of the property in 1971, before much of the surrounding residential development had been built.