This transcript of chapter 5 of “The Mayor of Maple Avenue” is provided for those who need assistance following along with the episode.
: He asks you why you do this?I told you before how I walked into this interview with a dim view of people who run halfway houses. But I pretty quickly realized that I was probably generalizing things too much. Maybe these two guys—Dave and Anthony—are the exception, but it sure seems like they are trying pretty hard to do the right thing. It’s just that without any rules or regulations.
She finally connected with someone, a guy who advertised as a family therapist, a guy named Christopher Spann. Spann told Marianne his approach was to treat the whole family, not just Shawn. She shared the text messages with me that they exchanged over several months. One of them, from Spann, lays out his approach.
And that was the turning point for Marianne. She wanted him to return to a treatment center. But when Shawn’s probation officer, Dave Morante, suggested a place that Shawn could check in to, Chris Spann jumped in and told Marianne that the better course of action was to send Shawn to a place called “The Alpha House” which at the time used a method called “behavior modification.”
Shawn Sinisi : I have to fucking ask permission to enter and exit a room, ask permission to go to the fucking bathroom. These people are crazy. This place is seriously set up for fucking failure. I seriously don’t know if I can last here for this long, baby. I really don’t. They are fucking ridiculous here.Was he there, was he in there with him?He wasn’t even allowed. That’s where the red flags really started coming.
Marianne would later hear from many more experts pretty much exactly what Dave the probation officer said, that behavioral modification at The Alpha House was not the right kind of thing for someone like Shawn who was also dealing the trauma of childhood sexual abuse.mean, but I think you need to be comfortable. He was clearly uncomfortable. He needed,outside looking in that way, he definitely needed just a professional in that trauma anddon’t even know if there’s anyone that can do both.
permitted any information from anybody. So, in other words, he just basically fell off the radar for me.there the day that he left. You were in the meeting with him, with the probation officerChris Spann: Yes, I was. But at that point, it was basically a meeting to say, “Hey, this ismeeting I knew about. At that point, I was cut off, phone numbers, I was blocked. ISara Ganim: Oh, okay.
that maybe you guys didn’t meet enough times, that you maybe tried to push the God card a little bit with him and he was resistant to that. And she also just felt like it was more therapy for her than it ended up being for Shawn. What do you think about that?Sara Ganim: She also felt like the Alpha House is pretty well known to be a break themhim, and I guess, neither did the probation officer.
Chris Spann: Well, you know something, honestly, that has been something that a lot of people I have found don’t understand about doctorates, but once I explain to them and once I show them my skills, then it’s okay, but yeah. Sara Ganim: And you’re no longer living in Pittsburgh, right? You’ve completely moved away from the area?Chris Spann: Why is that necessary? I’m just curious?
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