Elements of Adult Addiction Treatment
The road to addiction recovery can be different for every individual. Family history, support networks, the degree of intensity of addiction….these elements and more combine to make each sufferer’s experience unique. To meet our clients’ needs where they are currently in terms of the substance abuse spectrum and the fallout from that addiction, Talbott Recovery offers an array of services and levels of care to help our patients escape addiction and move forward healthily with their lives. Each level of care addresses the needs of our patients during different times in their substance abuse recovery. We stage the intensity of addiction treatment based upon the levels described by the American Society of Addiction Medicine Patient Placement Criteria, Version II, Revised. Below are details on the various elements Talbott Recovery incorporates into each of our adult client’s treatment plans for the successful recovery from substance abuse.
- Treatment Modalities
- Detoxification & Stabilization
- Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP with Recovery Residences)
- Patient Assessments
- Treatment Planning
- Mirror Image with Recovery Residence
Treatment Modalities
Group therapy is the cornerstone of change in all of our substance abuse recovery programs; we believe recovery cannot occur alone. The Adult Addiction Recovery Program utilizes many of the following therapeutic techniques:
- Group therapy
- Medication management (of mood disorders)
- Individual therapy
- Procedural learning on how to use the 12-Steps
- Psychoeducation group
- Profession issues group
- Work related groups
- Relapse prevention
- Life skills
- Family therapy
- Family Program
- Spirituality group
- Sexual issues groups (men’s & women’s)
- Gender issues group
- GLBTQ groups
- 12-Step recovery meetings on campus
- EMDR (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) for trauma issues
- Meditation and mindfulness training
Detoxification & Stabilization
For some adult clients in our substance abuse recovery programs, stabilization is available for those requiring detoxification and/or behavioral containment to interrupt the downhill spiral of their addiction.
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP with Recovery Residences)
Following detox and stabilization, addiction recovery patients are transitioned to the main campus to begin the Campus Phase of their treatment. This phase of treatment offers an introduction to the Basic Skills of Recovery. Frequently, we recommend our traditional Mirror Image Phase of treatment.
Patient Assessments
Each patient undergoes a thorough evaluation prior to admission. The evaluation assesses the patient’s physical, psychiatric, psychological, social, spiritual, and family needs to determine the most appropriate level of care. The multi-disciplinary assessment team includes:
- Attending Physician
- Psychiatrist
- Clinical Psychologist
- Internal Medicine Specialist
- Addiction Medicine Specialist
- Assessment Coordinator
The team may also include a pain specialist, a neurologist, a behavioral medicine specialist, or a sexual boundaries specialist as needed. A fourth day may be required for any additional evaluations that may be necessary.
Each Assessment includes:
- Internal medicine evaluation / physical exam
- Psychiatric evaluation
- Addiction medicine evaluations
- Bio-psychosocial self-assessment
- Laboratory work and drug screens
- Comprehensive psychological testing
- Extensive neuropsychological testing
Addiction Treatment Planning
During the assessment process for our clients, members of the Talbott Recovery staff (with patient approval) will contact family members, friends, healthcare providers, and referents to collect key collateral data for integration into the patient’s treatment plan. In our experience, patients (including those presenting with psychiatric co-morbidity) respond better to treatment, medications, and recovery when every aspect of their lives has been addressed in the development of their substance abuse recovery treatment plan.
Upon completion of a patient’s addiction assessment, the treatment team, led by the attending physician, develops an individual treatment plan for each patient and meets regularly to review progress and to update treatment goals. The clinical case manager works closely with each patient, Family Counselor, and the family to ensure the treatment plan is meeting the patient’s changing needs. Soon after treatment begins, the patient’s continuing care coordinator will begin the process of identifying a patient’s discharge needs.
Family Program
The Family Services Department at Talbott Recovery provides patients and families with support and education on the disease of addiction, cross addiction, and the often-unrecognized impact on the family that substance abuse generates. The Family Program is designed to assess the family’s needs, educate the family about chemical dependence, and offer ongoing family support during and/or after the patient’s treatment. The Family Program is the first step many addicted families make towards healing. Once a patient is admitted to Talbott Recovery, a family counselor is assigned to respond to any questions or concerns. That family therapist works both at a distance and close up with our families when they attend the Family Program.
The Family Program consists of approximately five family sessions and a family workshop during treatment. The family workshop is a three-day educational and supportive experience. The workshop provides education on the disease of addiction and cross addiction and offers an opportunity to address questions and concerns. For more details about the Family Program and a sample schedule, please click here to visit the addiction family therapy section of this website.
Mirror Image Phase
Mirror Image is an addiction treatment innovation created and first implemented by Talbott Recovery founder, Dr. Douglas Talbott. Mornings, five days a week, Talbott Recovery Mirror Image patients go to other treatment facilities in the Atlanta area and work with newly admitted alcoholics and addicts at that facility. The purpose is to assist Talbott Recovery patients in overcoming the myopia that often accompanies the disease of addiction – patients can see the effects of the disease of addiction in others but are unable to see those same effects in themselves. Patients consistently report that their experience in Mirror Image has a profound effect on their recoveries. Mirror Image patients return to Talbott Recovery for afternoon groups and appointments with physicians and clinicians.
Continuing Care
Talbott Recovery is committed to helping our adult addiction recovery patients and their families build a long term, self-sustaining recovery. The Talbott Recovery continuing care process assists patients and families to develop a program of recovery and a support system that will provide a solid foundation to achieve that goal after they leave our facility.
At Talbott, we believe that continuing care actually begins prior to patients arriving to our substance abuse recovery programs. Whoever refers a particular patient to Talbott Recovery becomes the starting point for communication with our treatment team and continuing care coordinator. This begins a process of communication that our coordinators build on throughout the course of treatment. Each patient is assigned a continuing care coordinator that will work with them throughout the treatment course to:
- Serve as the referent liaison with our referral sources and the clinical treatment team
- Gather collateral information and provide written and verbal updates to referents
- Assist the patient with any work, licensure or legal issues
- Participate in the multi-disciplinary treatment team to assess patient’s progress
- Identify unresolved treatment issues to be included in discharge planning
- Plan Extended Therapeutic Leaves (ETL) for the patients prior to discharge
- Establish a clinical team to assist with patient’s long term recovery post-discharge
Return Visits
Almost fifteen years ago, the leadership at Talbott Recovery, working together with former substance abuse recovery patients, developed the Return Visit program. Alumni spoke of the significant number of important new friendships they had made with other patients while at Talbott Recovery. These alumni spoke of the confidence and trust they had developed with Talbott Recovery staff. And mostly, they spoke of how they wanted to “reconnect” with friends on a regular basis. Responding to this feedback, Talbott Recovery leadership developed our Return Visit program. Since then, Return Visit has become an important and well-attended component of the programs offered by Talbott Recovery.
Return Visit is:
- A time to come back to Talbott Recovery to help “recharge recovery batteries”
- A time to meet and “catch up with” old roommates and “dormmates”
- A time to “reconnect” with Talbott Recovery staff who have been important to the patient and to his/her recovery
- A time to remember and recommit to the foundation for recovery they began to build for themselves while in treatment
- A time to offer hope, encouragement, and support to current Talbott Recovery patients
Patients are encouraged to plan their addiction recovery around revisits to the Talbott Recovery campus. We have learned that the patients who take the time to return to us have a markedly increased recovery rate. Addiction is a disease that we forget we have. The recovery visits remind us to tend to ourselves and our recovery program.