Recovery is not an Event

There is a great feeling at our facility this week for one great reason - our business model has come to fruition. Realizing that one month of intensive treatment for mood disorders and addiction is not the cure all, ongoing recovery has just begun.

It took a process for me to change my model of recovery. Thick headed and making believe that a month of teaching the tools of Spiritual Psychology and addressing issues at the root of problems was the one size fits all approach, but that was not a reality. It took me two years to learn the basics of this program in Graduate School, how on Earth did I think that all people attending my program would grasp it in a month?

So this week we began offering aftercare treatment twice a week for 1 1/2 hours a session for clients that completed our intensive outpatient program. The clients in these sessions commented that when they didn't have the structure of the program they started to get depressed again and had thoughts of using. They were all grateful for the sessions and remarked how quickly they got back into the proper mindset of our approach.

Now we are clicking on all cylinders. The intensive program for four weeks and then the aftercare program for as long as needed is a great formula. As a clinician I am more hopeful too. We are in an industry where relapse rates in the first year is upwards of 60%. Through necessity, I had to change my perspective and see things as they really are - not how I wanted them to be. I admit that I was arrogant feeling that the messages I was sending were being received and all my clients were cured. Let's be honest - they weren't. People that enter treatment aren't clear or level headed like I was in grad school. They are detoxing, finding it difficult to focus, feel guarded, and are filled with shame. Most tell me that they were just starting to address the really big issues but couldn't afford to repeat it. Now however, they can continue care with a few hours and a half sessions a week for a fraction of the cost.

Please offer any other ideas that you feel would be of benefit to our clientele. There is "THE FORMULA" out there and I am doing my best to discover it.