Let the Freedom Model Co-Founders, Mark Scheeren, Michelle Dunbar and Steven Slate teach you how to move past an addiction forever from the comfort and privacy of your home.

  • Do you want to end your addictions and move on?

  • Do you want to learn how to do this from the privacy and comfort of your home?

  • Do you want to move past addiction without meetings, endless therapies and perpetual “recovery”?

  • Are you ready to abandon the recovery model that has its roots in 1935 12-step folklore, and instead choose a 21st century empowering method built on 32 years of extensive research and experience?

  • If you answered yes to any of these questions, the Freedom Model Online Program is for you.

Watch Intro Video

The Freedom Model Online Program

More than 20 Hours of video classes encompassing 65+ lessons (we are always adding more). 25,000 people (as of 2021) around the world just like you have already freed themselves from the addiction and recovery trap with The Freedom Model Program.

You can stop believing you have a disease or a disorder, and create your new life based on choice, empowerment, and a method based in 32 years of research and experience – The Freedom Model Online Program.

Build the life you desire without being labeled as a “person in recovery.”

  • Do you want to learn directly from The Freedom Model co-authors and addiction experts, Mark Scheeren, Michelle Dunbar and Steven Slate?

  • Do you want to solve your addictions and do so based on logic, science, credible research and positive reinforcement?

  • Do you want to know that you are capable to change your life on your terms?

  • Are you ready to reject the labels of “addict” and “alcoholic” and in turn, become free for the rest of your life without any label whatsoever?

  • If so, then let’s get started!

Meet Your Instructors

Mark Scheeren, Michelle Dunbar and Steven Slate – Authors of The Freedom Model for Addictions, Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap

Mark Scheeren

Chairman of Baldwin Research Institute

Co-Founder and Co-Author of The Freedom Model, Addictions Researcher, and Instructor

Michelle Dunbar

Executive Director of Baldwin Research Institute

Addictions Researcher, Instructor, Co-Author, The Freedom Model, and also the Author of Freedom Model for the Family

Steven Slate

Senior Director of Research and Development

Research Fellow at Baldwin Research Institute, Instructor, and Co-Author of The Freedom Model

Meet Your Instructors

Mark Scheeren, Michelle Dunbar and Steven Slate – Authors of The Freedom Model for Addictions, Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap

Mark Scheeren

Chairman of Baldwin Research Institute

Co-Founder and Co-Author of The Freedom Model, Addictions Researcher, and Instructor




Michelle Dunbar

Executive Director of Baldwin Research Institute

Addictions Researcher, Instructor, Co-Author, The Freedom Model, and also the Author of Freedom Model for the Family

Steven Slate

Senior Director of Research and Development

Research Fellow at Baldwin Research Institute, Instructor, and Co-Author of The Freedom Model


The Original Non-12 Step Model

The Freedom Model for Addictions is the only true non-12 step, personal freedom-based model for addictions in existence. We make it easy to move past an addiction for good, and do so from the comfort and privacy of home.

Know this: the creators of the Freedom Model all personally escaped the 12-step, diseased-based treatment model, and the endless degrading cycle of “recovery and relapse" to build this model for you!

Through 3 decades of research and experience helping people escape the addiction, treatment, and recovery trap, the Freedom Model team compiled the series of facts and knowledge that you are about to learn. This is the same set of mental and emotional tools we employed to walk away from AA meetings, perpetual therapies, and ineffective medications that were supposed to help us stay away from our substance use habits. We have built this program for you to get a fact-based foundation and build a personally empowered solution!

Your solution might be abstinence, or it might be successful moderate use, or even a mixture of both as you move on with your life. Whatever choice you make, you will know you are in complete control and can act accordingly without any effort whatsoever – that is freedom! Know that the creators of this program do nothing to “maintain our recovery.” We simply moved on after understanding how to do so, and we created this program to teach the masses what we’ve learned and applied to our own lives over the past 3 decades.

Let The Freedom Model Online Program guide you to freedom. 

Enroll Now to get started

What Others Are Saying About The Freedom Model Online Program

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a must read!

Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2021

The best $ I ever spent. I am reading this book and a piano has been lifted off my back. Also listening to "The Addiction Solution" podcasts . I joined AA zoom 5 months ago and the AA fanatics on zoom really cornered me. The AA Daily reprieve bs and the disease concepts is all bs. AA freaked and creeped me. This book with its common sense, its deconstruction, it’s simple logic is great to have to live my life in.

5.0 out of 5 stars Best approach to addiction

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2021

Amazing book. The only way I could realize I was in total control of my decisions. The principles are so good you can apply in many other areas of your life. I'm happy to feel strong and in control again, easily choosing what's best for me. Recommended!!

5.0 out of 5 stars BRILLIANT LIBERATING EMPOWERING

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2021

This book is POWERFUL. After 14 years sober, I am now a social drinker. It IS possible. This book teaches abstinence, moderation, etc. - whatever you're looking for. It uses evidence-based approaches to tell the TRUTH about addiction today according to the science - not folkore and guesses from the 1930's. Even if you just want to read an empowering and interesting text, this book is for you. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It has changed my life.

5.0 out of 5 stars They nailed it!

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2021

During this past year I read the book again, listened to all the podcasts and YouTube videos and all while remaining in the 12 step world. After all this, finally the bubble burst, the veil lifted, and my mind is no longer “infected” by the 12 step/treatment society misinformation. I can finally see what my issue has been all along and can confidently say that my mind has made a big shift. A shift I never thought possible or could even imagine while “working” the 12 step program.

5.0 out of 5 stars Have been brainwashed by the "Recovery Iindustry"? This is your book!

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2021

Being a therapist myself I thought the book was going to be a pseudoscientific and romantic "holistic" recovery book, but I was wrong... this book has every fact and myth debunked with scientific research and expertise, is a synthesis and deconstruction of the multibillionaire industry of addiction which makes money by imposing the disease theory which leaves you powerless and a VICTIM . I am so thankful I found this book and will share it with all my clients, I myself have had problematic substance use and I couldnt find enough resources to reprogram myself from the teachings i was taught in academia and by the system, I wish I found the freedom model years ago... every person who has struggled or struggles with problematic behaviors/ substances shall read this! 10 stars! Thank you!!! You are changing lives!

Become the Person in Control

With The Freedom Model Online Program, you'll learn how to...

ADDICTION AND RECOVERY

Learn to stop seeing your habit as a lifelong disease you must manage with misinformation and fear and begin to understand exactly why you are struggling.

EDUCATE YOURSELF

Educate yourself on the facts so you can solve your problems, and move past your struggles without fear and coercion into less effective treatment models.

PROTECT YOURSELF

Learn how to protect yourself from the endless recovery charade – it’s time to be free and move on for good!

ORGANIZE YOUR FACTS

Follow this curriculum to help you organize a strategy of how to build the life you want and move forward instead of backwards.

MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES

Learn how to avoid going to treatments that lead to heavier substance use and depression. You do not need to go down that road!

BE FREE AND MOVE ON FOR GOOD!

Follow the videos and let us guide you in a common sense, logical path to freedom.


THE FREEDOM MODEL ONLINE PROGRAM

COURSE OVERVIEW (You must enroll to see course videos)

  1. 1

    • Introduction

    • Meet Mark Scheeren

    • Meet Steven Slate

    • Meet Michelle Dunbar
  2. 2

    • Preface

  3. 3

    • Mind And Brain Lesson
  4. 4

    • Lesson 1: Constructing the Binge

    • Lesson 2: The Fantasy and the Inevitable Reality

    • Lesson 3 : Ending the Binge Cycle

  5. 5

    • Lesson 1: Addiction Treatment Creates “Addicts”

    • Lesson 2: Nobody Needs Treatment

    • Lesson 3: Addiction And Recovery Are Opposite Sides Of The Same Coin

  6. 6

    • Lesson 1: Timing Is Everything

    • Lesson 2: Cornered Into Perpetual Recovery

    • Lesson 3: Indirect Processes of Change

  7. 7

    • Lesson 1: Are You Denying Addiction Exists? What Is The Freedom Model And How Can It Help Me?

    • Lesson 2: How Do I Quit Drinking/Drugging? How Do I Deal With Withdrawal? How Do I Resist Cravings?

    • Lesson 3: Is Addiction Genetic? Can I Really Moderate?

  8. 8

    • Lesson 1: Primary Reasons For Use

    • Lesson 2: Secondary Reasons For Use

  9. 9

    • Lesson 1: Causes Vs. Reasons

  10. 10

    • Lesson 1: What Are Learned Connections?

    • Lesson 2: Mental Illness And SUD (Substance Use Disorder/Addiction)

  11. 11

    • Lesson 1: What Is The PDP?

    • Lesson 2: Happiness Is Subjective and A Mixed Bag

  12. 12

    • Lesson 1: Everything Changes Once You See Yourself As Addicted

    • Lesson 2: Expectancy Response - Placebo Effect

  13. 13

    • Lesson 1: The Playground Effect

    • Lesson 2: Cognitive Dissonance

    • Lesson 3: Learning From Our Culture

  14. 14

    • Lesson 1: Constructive Self-images

  15. 15

    • Lesson 1: Mental Autonomy And Free Will

  16. 16

    • Lesson 1: Are You Going To Be A Person In Recovery

    • Lesson 2: Living Free

  17. 17

    • Lesson 1: What Does Success Mean To You?

    • Lesson 2: You Are Free

  18. 18

    • Lesson 1: You Are What You Think

    • Lesson 2: Direct Preference Change

  19. 19

    • Lesson 1: You Don’t Have To Quit

    • Lesson 2: Categorical Thinking

  20. 20

    • Lesson 1: What Is A Preference, And How Do You Change It?

    • Lesson 2: The Problem With Replacement

    • Lesson 3: Don’t Make Your Change Unnecessarily Conditional

  21. 21

    • Lesson 1: Drug, Set, And Setting

    • Lesson 2: You Can’t Need What Doesn’t Help You

  22. 22

    • Lesson 1: An Emotion Is An Evaluation

    • Lesson 2: Drugs And Alcohol Can’t Think For You

    • Lesson 3: Constructing The Illusion 15 Minutes
  23. 23

    • Lesson 1: The Origins Of The License To Misbehave

    • Lesson 2: The Illusory Benefits Of Lowered Inhibitions

  24. 24

    • Lesson 1: Exploring The Concept Of Pleasure

    • Lesson 2: Substances and The Not-so-simple Pleasure Center

  25. 25

    • Lesson 1: Don’t Make A Hasty Decision; Consider Your Options

    • Lesson 2: A New Choice Called Moderation

  26. 26

    • Lesson 1: The Hidden Costs

  27. 27

    • Lesson 1: A Happier Vision
  28. 28

    • Lesson 1: The Foundation Of Moving On

    • Lesson 2: Open Your Mind To The Possibilities

    • Lesson 3: Building A Direction By Swinging The Bat

  29. 29

    • The Freedom Model Book - PDF Version

    • FM Program Workbook

    • FM Life Movements Workbook

    • The Binge Construct Workbook
  30. 30

    • Opening Credits

    • Dear Freedom Model Reader

    • About the Authors

    • Foreword

    • Preface

    • Chapter 1: How to Escape the Addiction and Recovery Trap

    • Chapter 2: "You Have to Want It to Work"

    • Chapter 3: The Quick Answers

    • Chapter 4: Why Do I Keep Doing This? Why Do I Prefer It?

    • Chapter 5: Causes vs. Reasons

    • Chapter 6: Learned Connections

    • Chapter 7: The Positive Drive Principle

    • Chapter 8: The Addict/Alcoholic Self-Image

    • Chapter 9: Learning the Addict Self-Image

    • Chapter 10: Constructive Self-Images

    • Chapter 11: Mental Autonomy and Free Will

    • Chapter 12: Leaving the Cage of Recovery

    • Chapter 13: Success

    • Chapter 14: Reclaiming Your Freedom and Happiness

    • Chapter 15: Motivators vs. Deterrents

    • Chapter 16: Forging a Lasting Preference Change

    • Chapter 17: Questioning Drug Effects

    • Chapter 18: The Illusion of Emotional Relief

    • Chapter 19: Lowered inhibitions and the License to Misbehave

    • Chapter 20: Pleasure

    • Chapter 21: The Benefits of Adjusted Substance Use

    • Chapter 22: The Hidden Costs

    • Chapter 23: A Happier Vision

    • Appendix A: The Myth of Loss of Control

    • Appendix B: The Brain Disease Model of Addiction

    • Appendix C: Addiction Isn't Chronic

    • Appendix D: Heroin and the Myth of "Addictiveness"

    • Appendix E: People Can Moderate - If They Prefer It

    • Afterword

    • End Credits

Still Have Questions? FAQs:

  • What Is The Cost Of The Program?

    The cost is $795.

  • How Long Is The Program?

    The program consists of more than 65 video lessons. Each lesson ranges from 15 minutes to 30 minutes in length. The Freedom Model team will be updating videos and adding new lessons periodically as they continuously evolve their program based on the latest research, just as we have for the last 32 years.

  • If I Enroll In This Program, Is That Kept Completely Confidential?

    Yes, it can be. To guarantee full confidentiality when signing up for this program we recommend that you create a unique login for this program only. Do not login using your Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn accounts.

  • Can You Help Me With Work Or Legal Issues?

    You can print out a receipt confirming that you purchased this program, but as you’re doing it from home on your own, we cannot provide written documentation attesting as to whether or not you are actually doing the coursework. If you need help with work or legal issues, we recommend calling 1-888-424-2626 and discuss those needs to see what program options will work better for you.

  • Does This Program Have A Religious Or Spiritual Component?

    No, The Freedom Model Online Program contains research based information to help people to make lasting changes to their substance use habits.

  • Where Did Your Research And Program Originate?

    In 1989 career researcher and mathematician, Jerry Brown, who at the time had been abstinent from alcohol and drugs and in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for more than 10 years, set out to learn how people resolved their addictions. He had seen firsthand that the AA program seemed to have abysmal rates of success. He met a young man named, Mark Scheeren at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting and the two hit it off. Both were curious and skeptical about AA, and began their research to see what parts of AA, if any, were helpful and what parts were not. They scoured the research that had already been done and was being conducted on addiction and alcoholism, and also opened a retreat where people could come and stay and learn how to resolve their addictions and move on with their lives. They eventually abandoned all of AA’s teachings completely as they saw through their research and experiences helping people that there was nothing in that program that helped people to resolve their substance use problems, and in fact, much that hindered it. The Freedom Model evolved over the course of 3 decades from that starting point.

  • Can The Freedom Model Online Program Help Me If I’m Dual-diagnosed?

    Yes, The Freedom Model Program has helped thousands of people who are dual-diagnosed to solve their addiction and move on with their lives.

  • How Do I Know If I Need Detox Services?

    If you are drinking alcohol, using benzodiazepines such as Xanax, Valium, Ativan, Klonopin, etc., or opiates, and you would like to stop, we recommend that you consult a medical professional to be evaluated for medical detox.

  • What If I Start The Program But Feel I Need More Help?

    You can call The Freedom Model team at 1-888-424-2626 and learn about your options to learn The Freedom Model in private, one-on-one classes via Zoom or at our beautiful St. Jude Retreat.