Oral history interview with Howard Josepher, 2014

Biographical Note

Howard Josepher is founder (1988), president and Chief Executive Officer of Exponents, Inc., an organization for people with and recovering from addiction, many formerly incarcerated or living with HIV. He is also a former resident and regional director of Phoenix House

Scope and Contents

Howard Josepher narrates his experience as a drug addict sent to Odyssey House on a court mandate. During his time at Odyssey House, the organization split, and Josepher and a group of other addicts ended up at Phoenix House as some of the first residents. Josepher recounts his time at Phoenix House in light of his past experiences of different detox programs. He describes his troubles with the legal system while hiding from American authorities in Britain. After graduating from the Phoenix House program, Josepher becomes regional director at Phoenix House. He then talks about graduating from Hunter College Silberman School of Social Work, and the formation of his private practice, which he still operates today. Josepher also discusses his quest for a greater purpose and his attempts to find it through a discipleship in India. Josepher moves on to his work during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and how his experiences at Phoenix House influenced that work. Finally, Josepher discusses the methodology of abstinence-based rehabilitation programs and touches upon current debates surrounding drug treatment

Subjects

• AIDS (Disease)--United States--History.
• Drug abuse--Treatment--United States.
• Drug courts--United States.
• Hunter College. School of Social Work.
• Interviews.
• Josepher, Howard--Interviews.
• Murphy, Kristin L., interviewer.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Phoenix House (Organization)
• Spiritual formation.
• Substance abuse--Treatment.
• Teenagers--Drug use--United States
• Therapeutic communities.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2014