Drug Rehab Center

Geoff Thompson, MA, CCC

Geoff Thompson, Program Director for Sunshine Coast Health Centre, gives an overview of external orientation based on one of Wayne Dyer’s themes from his new movie “Ambition to Meaning.”

By Daniel Jordan, General Manager
Sunshine Coast Health Center

For the past few weeks, I have been putting together a new corporate brochure that highlights the main features of our program, facility, and staff. We still have some of the old brochures left but since we added a whole new wing and swimming pool to the building and landscaped the yard, the brochures didn’t really put our best foot forward. More than just the physical changes to our facility, however, a new brochure was also necessary to reflect that we are now staffed with a psychiatrist, masters level therapists, and a kinesiologist.

Most of these changes to the corporate brochure were pretty straightforward and it didn’t hurt that we had some great new photos to enhance the presentation. However, when it came to changing the “Our Philosophy” section, that took some work. For those of you who have ever had to figure out your company’s philosophy or mission statement, you will know that it is no easy task. It’s actually a very personal experience since your company philosophy is really meant to tell the world what you value as a human being and why you are in your chosen profession.

OUR PHILOSOPHY at Sunshine Coast Health Center

So, after some soul searching and a lot of discussion with staff and various stakeholders, this is OUR PHILOSOPHY:

At Sunshine Coast Health Center, we believe that it is not enough simply to treat the ‘addiction.’ Instead, a client’s experience with us facilitates ongoing personal transformation, the goal being healthy, thoughtful men who are inspired to live with a renewed sense of vitality and purpose. Our therapy program prepares clients and their families for a deeper, more fulfilling life.

Sunshine Coast Health Center focuses on providing the most effective, evidence-based treatment, exceeding expectations by paying close attention to four key therapeutic principles:

Respect: We treat others as we would wish to be treated. This respect is the foundation of our program and pervades everything we do, how we conduct ourselves and how we interact with each other.

Gratitude: We feel privileged that clients and their families put their trust in us.

Empathy: We support our clients through the good times and the bad, free from judgment.

Humility: No matter how proficient we are at treating addiction, we know that the client is always the expert in his own recovery.

OUR PHILOSOPHY Now Reflects Our Values

Basically, our corporate philosophy now reflects the values of ownership. Respect, humility, gratitude, and empathy rose to the top in terms of importance. This process of prioritizing virtues was actually quite fascinating. For example, why not courage? How about creativity? In the end, it came down to the most salient values we share in common with our clients. In other words, any value that staff and management practice on a daily basis will also benefit our clients, but some more than others.

The Biggest Change Reflected in OUR PHILOSOPHY: Our Approach to the Client

One of the biggest changes we made in our philosophy was our approach to the client. This change is especially notable in the first sentence (see above). Nowadays, we don’t actually treat ‘addiction’ or an ‘addict.’ We treat a unique human being who happens to suffer from addiction. This is no small change. Treating an ‘addict’ or an ‘addiction’ can be an extremely dehumanizing process where, by virtue of being addicted, treatment programs can mistakenly assume that their clients suffer from;

-Narcissism
-Denial
-Addictive personality

or is a liar and a manipulator, is incapable of making any healthy choices, etc., etc.
 
The Inclusion of ‘Personal Transformation’ in Our Philosophy

Personal transformation is a term we have intentionally included in our corporate philosophy. From my experience, most treatment centers don’t spend a lot of time talking about transformation since it is more spiritual than psychological in nature. However, ownership at Sunshine Coast has always had an interest in the idea of enlightment, even going so far (in our own imperfect way) as making it a way of life. Since getting involved in addiction treatment, ownership has been inspired to pay more attention to self-development and spirituality. After all, the process of recovery for our clients often needs to be a total, rather than incremental, shift.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Admittedly, it’s nice to be able to move on to other projects now that the new corporate brochure is finally going to print. In the short term, we can hand out some nice new shiny brochures but I’m sure that we will be back making a new version in another few years. I have a feeling, however, that the OUR PHILOSOPHY section may not change so fast. I guess time will tell.

Geoff Thompson, MA, CCC

Geoff Thompson, Program Director at Sunshine Coast Health Centre, discusses what can be learned about the nature of addiction from Hollywood and movies such as Leaving Las Vegas.

Cathy Patterson-Sterling, MA, RCC

Cathy Patterson-Sterling, Director of Family Services at Sunshine Coast Health Centre, explains how to find a window of opportunity for a teaching situation when a loved one has a slip in their recovery.

1. our treatment program is becoming increasingly evidence-based
2. counsellors are now masters level therapists
3. free weekend refresher stays for alumni
4. flexible, more affordable relapse prevention services for alumni
5. enhanced family and couples services with the full-time appointment of Cathy Patterson-Sterling as Director of Family Services
6. enhanced biopsychosocial services (physical assessments, personal fitness programs, etc.) with the full-time hiring of Kye Taylor, kinesiologist
7. enhanced alumni services with the full-time appointment of Darren Nivens as Alumni Coordinator
8. a new wing complete with additional space for group activities (lounge, group therapy), accommodation (8 new bedrooms upstairs), and recreation (including the opening of an indoor lap pool in November)
9. a newly-landscaped campus

Item 4 from this list is worth special mention: flexible, more affordable alumni services.

More Options for Alumni Means Long-Term Value For Families

A few months back, Daniel Jordan (Sunshine Coast General Manager) and I talked about making lifetime commitments to our clients.   This commitment involves a multitude of free support services including online and telephone counseling, family programming and weekend visits.  We know that any client who continues to work with us can find the answers he needs to maintain abstinence, healthy relationships, and improved quality of life.

One way that I felt we could improve our offerings was to offer a more flexible relapse stabilization program. Typically, private treatment centers require their relapsing clients to return for another full treatment stay – often 42 days or longer. However, at Sunshine Coast, we find that returning clients often have the basics and their needs are more specific so a shorter stay is often sufficient. Furthermore, the additional expense of a second 42-day stay can create unnecessary hardship when a short-term follow-up could have sufficed.

At Sunshine Coast, we have offered a shorter 30 day program for our alumni at a reduced rate for more than 2 years. In the fall of 2007 we added a 7 day rapid stabilization for clients who had a short relapse so that they could quickly get back to their families and careers. Many of our alumni take advantage of these relapse prevention services and can refocus their recovery for less than half the price of what it would cost at other centers. 

It’s this commitment to a lifetime of care with very inexpensive and short relapse program opportunities that creates real value for our clientele.  Families can now access shorter, more affordable treatment that has a length of stay appropriate for the individual needs of the client.

Many of our alumni have successfully bounced back from a short relapse with little more than a week or two of relapse prevention work. These alumni seem to know when they have had enough time in the center and when additional therapy has met their personal recovery goals.  It is this trust that they know themselves and their recovery needs that increases their confidence in their recovery work and enables them to move forward with fewer, less intensive, and shorter-duration relapses.
 
Conclusion

In these economically uncertain times, we at Sunshine Coast are committed to increasing value when it comes to residential drug and alcohol treatment. That means not only making treatment more effective, it also means providing flexible and affordable “refresher” programs for alumni. In the end, it is a treatment center’s long-term commitment to clients and their family members which separates real value from a quick sale.

About the Author

Melanie Alsager is the Administrator of Sunshine Coast Health Center and oversees administration, operations and clinical programming.