Montana ACT program
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Join Date: Apr 2008
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Montana law requires those convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs to complete the Assessment, Course and Treatment (ACT) phases.
The purpose of ACT is to reinforce the consequences of DUI conviction and interrupt the cycle of driving impaired.
https://www.mdt.mt.gov/visionzero/plans/act.shtml
The purpose of ACT is to reinforce the consequences of DUI conviction and interrupt the cycle of driving impaired.
https://www.mdt.mt.gov/visionzero/plans/act.shtml
Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 5,169
I may have actually been through it 25 years ago. It may have had a name and acronym at the time, but people just referred to it as "Drunk School." Supposedly, it was mandatory for all DUI convictions, but it was not enforced that way. Lots of people I met in AA were too poor to afford this part of their conviction, so back then, the judge often waved this part of the sentence, along with fines, home incarceration, etc. That's right, if you couldn't afford it, it wasn't part of your rehabilitation, because all of the mandatory remedial care was at your expense. I had a job, so the judge threw the book at me. That was kind of irksome, even though the Judge said, "I know you probably don't need this, but it's the law." But he didn't know me from Adam, and when he said that, I thought to myself, "I think I really do need this."
There were psych tests, information, some group type discussion, and if it helped much, it was because I realized how expensive punishment could be. That maybe a bit unfair. It was the right idea, but it's about as effective as me taking responsibility for someone else's addiction. We all know that doesn't work, but the state has yet to figure that out.
Badmouthing aside, there were some positives. I started seeing a counselor I met in the school, but I kept drinking. Eventually, he got fired for reasons I was not privy too, and was replaced by a woman who refused to talk to me unless I quit drinking, which seemed boneheaded at the time, because I was talking to her to get help, but maybe not. I remember thinking, "If I stopped drinking, why in the world would I want to talk to you?" She told me I should go to AA because that seemed to work better than counseling.
So off I went to AA, which actually did work, and I never saw that counselor again except one time when I met her on the street. She asked how I was doing, and I told her I hadn't had a drink in 6 months. She seemed OK with that, but didn't invite me to talk to her if I ever felt the need.
Things may or may not have improved because that was a long time ago. The ACT may be a new program or just evolved, or maybe it's the same as before. Actually, it was helpful, but in an oddly very indirect way. It may have been just some of the stuff I had to get through in order to get where I eventually got. But it did cause me to think more about what I was doing to myself. Not that this hadn't crossed my mind before, because it did, a lot in fact. It was like some additional processing that was added to the processing I did all along. All this plays a part in our eventual final steps to recovery, but I never considered drunk school a big part, but that's sometimes hard to judge.
One thing more. It won't hurt.
There were psych tests, information, some group type discussion, and if it helped much, it was because I realized how expensive punishment could be. That maybe a bit unfair. It was the right idea, but it's about as effective as me taking responsibility for someone else's addiction. We all know that doesn't work, but the state has yet to figure that out.
Badmouthing aside, there were some positives. I started seeing a counselor I met in the school, but I kept drinking. Eventually, he got fired for reasons I was not privy too, and was replaced by a woman who refused to talk to me unless I quit drinking, which seemed boneheaded at the time, because I was talking to her to get help, but maybe not. I remember thinking, "If I stopped drinking, why in the world would I want to talk to you?" She told me I should go to AA because that seemed to work better than counseling.
So off I went to AA, which actually did work, and I never saw that counselor again except one time when I met her on the street. She asked how I was doing, and I told her I hadn't had a drink in 6 months. She seemed OK with that, but didn't invite me to talk to her if I ever felt the need.
Things may or may not have improved because that was a long time ago. The ACT may be a new program or just evolved, or maybe it's the same as before. Actually, it was helpful, but in an oddly very indirect way. It may have been just some of the stuff I had to get through in order to get where I eventually got. But it did cause me to think more about what I was doing to myself. Not that this hadn't crossed my mind before, because it did, a lot in fact. It was like some additional processing that was added to the processing I did all along. All this plays a part in our eventual final steps to recovery, but I never considered drunk school a big part, but that's sometimes hard to judge.
One thing more. It won't hurt.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 5,169
Originally Posted by biminiblue 
DriGuy. Tell us how you really feel.
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