IT ALL STARTED:

In 1967, I was offered a job treating heroin addicts at a new establishment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I was excited because I knew I would be working alongside one of New York’s most determined, pioneering and charismatic leaders in the field of addiction treatment, Dr. Judianne Densen-Gerber, founder and director of Odyssey House.  After a few days on the job, there was no doubt in my mind that Dr. Judi was a genius who possessed a rare, intriguing, and intoxicating mix of intellect, passion, and originality. With her at the helm, Odyssey House was a living, breathing, growing addiction treatment center. It was a dream job. Even as her methods became more autocratic and bizarre, and even as my dream started to turn into a nightmare, I remained an active participant in Odyssey's pioneering ‘can-do’ community, which was reflective of the spirit of the late 1960s. I guess I was too infatuated at the time to see that, like the decade itself, everything must come to an end. Sometimes by crashing…

ABOUT “SMACK”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

What follows is a chronicle of my employment at an extraordinary place during a perplexing time. Both the place and the time were, on their own merits, intriguing and uncanny enough to spark a story even without the addition of my own impressions, theories and peripheral recollections. But sharing such impressions, theories and recollections is obviously the best way to make it my story, and I’d like to think it is also a compelling way to directly introduce you to the people involved and to help you actually experience some of the emotions I felt while I was there. For without a doubt, those people, and those emotions, are an exceedingly important part of the story. I suppose that makes this chronicle as close to a memoir as it can be without actually being a memoir. What this book is not is an investigative exposition meant to cast aspersions or point fingers. First of all, what was attempted at Odyssey House in New York City had really never been attempted before. It was something that needed to be done, and it was instrumental in shedding much needed light on a highly misunderstood nationwide problem. So to disparage what was attempted and to a great extent accomplished would be sheer foolishness. In fact, there are countless people, then as now, myself included, who agree that Odyssey House and its founder may deserve even more praise than criticism. Secondly, my role lasted just a year-and-half and I had very limited contact with its staff between then and now. As a result of those two facts, there is no professional basis for my being willing or able to draw decisive conclusions about the actions, deeds or motivations of Odyssey House leadership, particularly after I left. All I can do is share how I felt at the time, and what I did about it for my own sake. In that sense, this is a story of professional survival and personal redemption. If within my Odyssey story there are certain parallels that can be drawn to other leaders who affect the issues of our day, so be it.

I would also like to take this opportunity to tell all those readers who are now or may one day be involved in drug addiction treatment to please look closely at the vision and the concept of Odyssey House, because even today, more than fifty years after it began, it still resonates well as a sensible bridge between the problems and the solutions. It was a great idea. Perhaps it was a bit problematic at times because of the unpredictability of certain people and the craziness that sometimes takes hold when no one is watching too closely. But it was a great idea nonetheless.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Authors’ Note. . . . .VII

Introduction. . . . .IX

ForewORD. . . . .XVII

Chapter One: Six Steps to Destiny. . . . .1

Chapter Two: World Without Time. . . . .9

Chapter Three: On the Front Lines. . . . .24

Chapter Four: Upended. . . . .34

Chapter Five: The Matrix. . . . .50

Chapter Six: The Looking Glass. . . . .62

Chapter Seven: Bad Actors. . . . .76

Chapter Eight: Starved for Attention. . . . .93

Chapter Nine: Spirit Rollercoaster. . . . .105

Chapter Ten: Another Dimension. . . . .116

Chapter Eleven: Path of Discovery. . . . .135

Chapter Twelve: Tick Tick Tick. . . . .147

PoSTSCRIPT. . . . .158

Acknowledgements. . . . .165

Dr. Judianne Densen-Gerber, 1934-2003. . . . .168

About the Author. . . . .170

About the Coauthor. . . . .172

Notes & Sources. . . . .176

INTRODUCTION

As 1967 drew to a close, a fascinating chapter opened up for me after several years in search of a suitable professional home: I was offered a job treating heroin addicts at a relatively new establishment headquartered at East Sixth Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The day I began, there was one of the most exciting of my life, for I knew I would be working alongside one of New York City’s most determined, pioneering and charismatic leaders in the field of addiction treatment, Dr. Judianne Densen-Gerber, founder and director of Odyssey House. Six months after I started, despite a growing number of Odyssey successes, I began to grow concerned with some of Dr. Judi’s more unusual methods of running the House. That’s when I decided to keep a journal…

The journal entries were fragments (sometimes explosive ones) that, on their own, provided a cohesive portrait neither of the overall experience nor the emotions that went along with it. Unlike the Edvard Munch painting “The Scream,” which was a single slice of the artist’s imagination that nonetheless told a complete tale, my story was indecisive at the time I worked on the journal. One likely reason was that I was the one screaming, not the one who made the painting. In other words, I was unable to see the forest for the trees. Fifty years later, I can…

So, I took the journal entries, added many new memories, sprinkled in some additional Odyssey research from such sources as the New York Times and New York Magazine, and spent several years on “Smack in the Middle: My Time Treating Heroin Addicts at Odyssey House”…

FOREWORD

by Thomas Bratter, Ph.D.

Since Plato’s seminal discussion of the philosopher-king form of leadership, there have been numerous scholarly and scientific studies regarding leadership styles. Additionally, there have been many third-party critiques and criticisms. Much rarer are in-depth personal reflections. There are few autobiographical accounts which are as introspective as this one by Gibbs Williams. What makes this effort mandatory reading for those involved in residential treatment, educational and communal programs is that it makes us privy to the impact our actions have on others—particularly those in our care or employ. What’s more, Gibbs’ realization of how easily personality can become cult-like and can trap its followers into an unquestioning dependency is one of the book’s most important lessons…

Initially, Gibbs was mesmerized by this dynamic individual, whose energy never abated. But his initial idealism turned to disillusionment and confusion as he witnessed contradictions between Dr. Densen Gerber’s lofty principles and what to some appeared to teeter on the brink of abuse of authority. Fortunately, he kept a journal, which simmered for several decades until he gained sufficient perspective to make sense of his struggle. His odyssey, which he explores here, is a detailed account of his first days as a novice psychotherapist, combined with the maturity he gained as a psychiatric professional for four decades following the end of his odyssey at Odyssey…

It is important to note that this revisiting of the odyssey of Dr. Gibbs Williams is far from any kind of vendetta against Odyssey House or Dr. Judi. Quite the contrary, it is best viewed as a literary microcosm of the universal multi-dimensional complexity of group interaction, which tends either towards cooperation of the group members or domination by the leader. Gibbs’ account extols the basic virtues of the Odyssey Concept. It would have worked exceptionally well had it been strictly implemented in a climate of trustworthiness and reasonableness. But given the propensity of human beings to be seduced by power, Gibbs warns us that it is incumbent on each of us to recognize abuses of authority, and to do whatever is necessary to rectify the situation. This warning, applied to the treasured concepts of democracy and basic rights, in relation to any group, including therapeutic communities, obligates each and all of us to maintain an attitude of what Thomas Jefferson called “eternal vigilance.”

FRONT COVER OF SMACK in the MIDDLE: My Turbulent Time Treating Heroin Addicts at Odyssey House -

BACK COVER Of SMACK IN THE MIDDLE: My Turbulent Time Treating Heroin Addicts at Odyssey House -

ODYSSEY HOUSE 309 - 311 2ND AVE NYC
THE SIX STEPS TO DESTINY

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT: “SMACK in the MIDDLE”

“Just finished your book. Excellent job! What I appreciated most was the way you used your own loss, journey, experience, and investment in the psychoanalytic process to communicate how profoundly meaningful the search for meaning and purpose is.

I really look forward to reading the sequel. It's really amazing that all of the work in this volume was only over seventeen months. It seemed like ten years of experience in seventeen months.”

- JIM ELLIS

“SMACK IN THE MIDDLE documents hope, fear, excitement, disappointment, elation, love, hate, involvement, abandonment, and more all woven together in a myriad of characters, actions, and reactions within scenarios connected by a common thread of an environmental attachment. Amazing story of real people with real feelings spilling out with the searching and reaching out for understanding.”     

- Tany Toyen

“Gibbs Williams has drafted a compelling narrative that braids together his life story, his professional development, and his tumultuous experience as a counselor for drug addicts at the residential treatment center, Odyssey House. He writes with a keen eye, searing self-reflection, and clear reportorial observation about the successes of the treatment center, and how the authoritarian methods that initially guided the unique treatment program eventually turned out to be the source of its decline, disillusioning and alienating its former adherents. Combining descriptions of life at Odyssey House with memories from his own childhood enriches the experiences Gibbs Williams describes and adds to the riveting fascination with which this narrative grips the reader’s attention. Full transparency requires revealing that I make a cameo appearance toward the end of the book. Gibbs Williams’ appreciation of my work with him in no way affected my writing this positive review. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book even before I came to the end.”

- Frank Lachman, Ph.D, Psychoanalyst, Supervisor, and Author

“Young therapist Gibbs Williams in 1967 was an acolyte of Dr. Judi, the founder of Odyssey House; she knew how to cultivate politicians and the media, a board with CEOs, judges, prosecutors, religious icons. Even Williams was enthralled, until he saw it finally as a police state and broke free. Now, more than fifty years later he tells a disturbing insider’s tale. “

- Lucy Komisar, author of The Mysterious Mistress of Odyssey House, New York Magazine, 1979.

“Gibbs William's book is an entertaining and revealing trip into the social-psychological dynamics of a therapeutic community from the inside out. The author describes in insightful detail, through a variety of dramatic incidents, how the process works (and at times doesn't work) in treating addiction. Of considerable interest is how the author's personal psychological issues became an important part of his therapeutic role in Odyssey House. The book is also significant in describing the manner in which the people in power in a TC, especially the founder and Director Dr. Judi, can fall into a cult-like posture. I highly recommend this book for therapists attempting to treat addicts, and anyone involved in learning more about the addiction problem and its possible solution. Given the gravity of the American drug addiction problem - this includes everyone.”

- Dr. Lewis Yablonsky, Emeritus Professor of Criminology California State University, Northridge, and author of nineteen books including: The THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY and SYNANON - THE TUNNEL BACK.

“Therapeutic communities were among the most challenging and creative laboratories of social and therapeutic innovation in the 1960s and 70s, spinning off insights and practical developments into many fields and directions. Among the most influential of the pioneering therapeutic communities was Odyssey House, in New York, which encapsulated both the best and the worst of that vigorous exploratory period. Subsequent Odyssey Houses were set up elsewhere in the United States and Australia, which continue successfully treating addicted individuals today; and from the crucible of that early therapeutic community movement have come thousands of treatment communities around the world, from South Africa to Asia and the Middle East, from all the major countries of Eastern and Western Europe to those of Central and South America. This is the first book to tackle the early history of Odyssey House head on, good and bad, and in doing so crystallizes the experience of a generation, and the early (and often repeated) history of much of the global therapeutic community movement. It is rich in insights not just about the past but about the present; and becomes an odyssey of discovery and illumination with practical application for treatment settings today.”

- Craig Fees- Chief Researcher of a Conglomeration of a Worldwide Federation of Therapeutic Communities 

“I find your style very readable - and you make the ‘characters’ come alive - I feel as if I now know and care for all of these people - and it’s not just because I know you.  I am absorbed by the drama and the relationships.  I now care about what became of these folks and will do some research of what became of Odyssey House as an entity... As a lay person, I admit some of the psychodynamics/analysis jargon got me a little twisted up along the way, but it was in context so I was OK with it. The conversational style is very effective - I could hear the conversations in my head you were relating as I read along. The references to what was happening in the world around this drama in 1968/69 was also very effective - Richard Nixon being president, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, and the like.  It greatly helped to put your story into context. Your personal references and memories along the way were also very insightful, and I applaud you for sharing those - your sharing the relationship with your parents, for example, defiantly put into context that some of our adult actions do in fact have root in our childhoods… as a lay person, I don't often think that way. Again your personal insights and reflections as to how and why you put up with all of this stuff was most appealing.”

- Diane – a commuter friend

“Just finished your book. Wow, what a ride! I am still reeling a bit here, as I was quite engaged with where it was all going and just tolerating the atrocities of Odyssey house and vacillating with you in your struggle to stand up to it or leave was both infuriating and compelling reading for me. I was moved to tears at the end when you walked away, neither retaliating or surrendering, but maintaining your own dignity. Your resignation letter was graciousness in the face of evil, as far as I could tell, and surprising. What a ‘crazy’ but ultimately growth-promoting time in your life. I think I am most touched by the last few pages, which highlighted your coming to terms with yourself and what you gained through this experience and in your own analytic work.

Thank you for letting me read it - it was worth it!”

- Leslie, a friend

“…You went deep into the well to add more detail, nuance and color. This brings the story to life. Now I feel like I'm in the story with you instead of reading a 40-year-old diary. The chapter flows better, and now as a reader, I see the connections between your feelings of opportunity and the inductees' feelings, between Judi and your mother, between the ‘safe place’ of a Miami sun and Odyssey House.

Congratulations! You have made a huge leap heRE.”

-Dan

“[Your book is about] …coming to terms with the ultimate question of who is in charge of your own life. [It] is about your struggle to answer that question in the context of a time when everyone was challenging authority, and personified in the dramatic contest between you and Dr. Judi as to who would take charge of your self.

That’s a struggle that resonates very well today. We have a government that just wants us to shut up and trust them, we have religious groups who want us to follow their brand of God or Allah or whoever, and we have too many people who just want to be told what to do… It is a struggle we all go through, and you show how easy it is to let someone else take over, and how hard you had to fight to regain control of your own self.

… You’ve written a book about your experience as a pioneer in drug abuse counseling at Odyssey House, but it is also a story about your struggle to answer the universal question of where to find the answers in life, in a time when everyone was challenging authority, and personified in the dramatic contest between you and the treatment center’s charismatic founder.”

- Dan Zukowsky, In the service of full disclosure - a cousin 

“I finished your memoir last night and it was great reading. I certainly would recommend it. Many of the names mentioned brought back old memories.”

- Alan Pasternak

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