“It is very unfair to the people who are providing these services today to associate them too closely with [Bob] Meehan, [founder of Enthusiastic Sobriety], or any failures that people want to dredge up because they simply don’t want to hear that this could be something that’s effective and good,” says Christine Tatum, a freelance journalist and co-author of Clearing the Haze: Helping Families Face Teen Addiction, written with her husband, Dr. Christian Thurstone.

Despite declining rates of youth substance use, access to youth addiction treatment services is a challenge for many families in Colorado.

“Several months in, he started telling me the place was a cult,” recalls Anne Mitchell, a Boulder attorney whose son was referred to Cornerstone by Denver Health’s STEP program.

During an August interview on Lori Corken’s podcast, Ben Stincer, the senior counselor at FullCircle, a support group for Denver-area teens struggling with addiction that uses the controversial Enthusiastic Sobriety methodology, described how the group got started in Denver.

Last month the Colorado Times Recorder published a story about FullCircle, a Denver-area 12-step support group for teens and young adults struggling with substance abuse issues. Our coverage — which failed to include critics of the group — was in line with recent reporting on the group from 9News and local outlet Front Porch.