Therapy & Treatment

The therapy and treatment programs for troubled
teens have been designed to integrate a variety of modalities into a comprehensive and dynamic treatment whole.  The major components of our treatment are:

1. Milieu and Activities Therapy

2. Psychopharmacological Therapy

3. Family Therapy

4. Individual and Group Therapies

5. Chemical Dependency Counseling

6. Educational Activities

Psychotherapy
Individual Therapy Group Therapy Family Therapy/Consultation (On-site family therapy required) Chemical Dependency Group	3 X 40 min.per. week 5 X 50 min.per. week 1 X 50 min. per. week 2 X 50 min. per. week
Activity/Recreational Therapy
Leisure Education Recreational Therapy Diversionary Activities Cardiovascular Activities	1 X 1 hour per. week 1 X 1 hour per. day 1 X 1 hour per. day 1 X 1 hour per. day
Education
Structured Classroom Learning	5 x 4 hours per. week
Nursing Services
Primary Care and Medication Administration	24 hours per day/7 days per. week
Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Rounds conducted by a board certified Psychiatrist	3 x per. week
Milieu Therapy
Informal Milieu Groups including Activities for Daily Living	Daily

Milieu Therapy

Milieu therapy is a social and organizational model for the delivery of psychiatric care which utilizes scientific manipulation of the environment to produce changes in the personality and behavior of the resident.

The status system consists of two levels. These two levels are primarily a function of participation in the assessment and treatment regiment. Level 1 refers to a resident that is resistant to the process and level 2 represents a resident who is cooperating and demonstrating personal investments to improve his/her psychosocial functioning. Correspondingly, as the resident progresses from level 1 to level 2, he/she enjoys greater and more complex positive consequences.

Community roles have been developed to assist residents to maintain momentum, engage them in activities for daily living, and provide diagnostic information about their overall functioning. The assignment of a community role to an adolescent is not contingent on his/her status. Such an assignment provides an adolescent with opportunities to become meaningfully involved with his/her peers regardless of the level.

Behavior management is accomplished through the use of several techniques. It is the aim of the Institute to minimize the utilization of special treatment procedures to its lowest possible frequency without jeopardizing the safety of each resident or staff member.

Various Community Meetings such as a meeting to start the day and a meeting to end the day are considered to be an integral part of the treatment program. These community meetings provide opportunities for residents to assist one another by acknowledging and addressing their treatment issues. Peer feedback assists each resident in gaining a full appreciation of the manner in which he or she is relating to others and progressing toward his/her treatment goals.

Drug and Alcohol Group meets twice per week with those adolescents identified as having drug and/or alcohol problems. The group leader is a certified drug and alcohol counselor and is privileged by the professional staff to lead the group. The drug and alcohol groups utilize a variety of concepts and techniques from the cognitive-behavioral therapies, 12 step guidelines, and rational recovery programming.

The Recreational and Activity Services component of the program and therapeutic milieu is a seven-day-per-week program which is both habilitative and rehabilitative in design. The program utilizes structured activities designed to assist the resident in developing and maintaining creative, physical, leisure, and social skills. Objectives for the recreational and activity programs include a focus on social areas of positive interactions and group settings, the ability to follow rules, having success and shared experiences, support of others, and motivation to participate.

All residents have opportunities to experience wall climbing and ROPES course events outside. Recreational and activity services strives to eliminate barriers to leisure participation and satisfaction, developing positive leisure attitudes and skills, and optimizing leisure involvement through rehabilitation, leisure education, and activity programs.

Psychopharmacological Therapy is used for those residents who may benefit from medication in conjunction with their psychiatric disorders. Psychopharmacological therapy is used to facilitate a resident becoming more cognitively receptive to the milieu and the reduction of impairing psychiatric symptoms. The provision of psychopharmacological therapy is provided and monitored by the attending physician and is based on assessment data and individual resident needs. Psychopharmacological therapy is indicated in the master treatment plan. Trained, selected staff, including nursing staff, assist the physician by administering medication, and documenting medication usage and effects. Educating residents and families regarding the nature of prescribed medicines is provided by the attending physician.

Family Therapy

The Institute considers family involvement in their child's treatment as an essential part of providing quality resident care. All residents and their families are involved in some type of Family Therapy, either through the center or coordinated by the center if delivered in the resident's home community. Family therapy is a form of interpersonal therapy, focusing on relationships within the family with treatment of one or more members.

A primary goal of family therapy is to provide the best assistance to the family by facilitating decision making for follow-up care after discharge from the Institute.

Family therapy is conducted by primary therapists and physicians. The Institute recognizes the need to foster positive changes within the family structure in order to promote the resident's response to treatment.

Individual and Group Psychotherapies are core elements of treatment for each resident at the Institute. Individual and group psychotherapies are provided by a primary therapist. These psychotherapy providers meet the facility's professional staff organization's criteria for clinical privileges in individual and group psychotherapy, and specialty groups such as drug and alcohol group on an as-needed basis. The provision of psychotherapeutic modalities is evaluated by the facility's quality improvement and utilization review programs.

Individual Psychotherapy is a regularly scheduled, at least twice per week, formalized psychotherapeutic session usually conducted through confidential interventions. Individual psychotherapy is a form of interpersonal therapy, focused on improving the resident's overall level of adaptive functioning in the areas of reality testing, behavior, emotional expression, and interpersonal relationships. Techniques may vary in accordance with the theoretical orientation of the individual therapist and the presenting problems, cognitive level, and as prescribed in the master treatment plan.

Group Psychotherapy is a regularly scheduled formalized psychotherapeutic session held in a group format five to six times per week. This modality assists residents' work toward individualized goals and objectives established by the physician and treatment team members, resident, and family. Generally accepted rules of organization and conduct govern group psychotherapy. Groups may be centered on verbal communication or use other strategies such as art and common group interests. Group psychotherapy addresses several specific areas. These areas are: interpersonal relationships, dysfunctional patterns of behavior, an awareness of others as whole, feeling human beings who experience painful, as well as joyful events in their lives.