Continuing...
Santé’s patient population typically includes a diverse mixture of licensed professionals along with a general population characterized by a diversity of religious, ethnic, cultural and sexual orientation backgrounds. Our basic foundation is in the well established Twelve Step model, though it is not an absolute requisite for successful treatment at Santé. Because it is a ubiquitous resource with well established understanding, we feel it offers a model that delineates the loss of control in terms of internal powerlessness, rather than intellectual fault, blame, or lack of capacity. By practicing openness and honesty in a transparent fashion in the details of daily life, the person in treatment develops a functional understanding of living transparently. Once this foundation is secure, it is strengthened and deepened within the “pressure cooker” of the treatment community. After embracing full accountability for past behaviors, sharing honestly with family, peers and friends and practicing the Principles of the Twelve Steps in the daily life at Santé, , the patient can begin an in-depth program of victim empathy. By embracing an understanding of victim empathy, the patient can begin to define measurable and observable behaviors that indicate both transparency and empathy, testing them in treatment community living. From this process, an understanding of many levels of cyclical or “ritualized” behavior that lead to breaches of boundaries and other relapse behaviors can be developed into a detailed Relapse Prevention Plan This extensive portion of work involves a look into the depths of the addictive process to search out every notable point of vulnerability, define interventions and coping skills and engage a plan the “wraps around” every aspect of daily life. Critical to this Plan is the development of measurable behaviors that can be monitored in the personal lives, the workplace, and the therapeutic lives of the patient returning to society and the workplace.
This overall process often takes considerable time to develop. For the highly educated professional, the very defenses that allow professional performances hinder access to affect, woundedness and honesty. These defenses must be carefully disengaged, while healthier, flexible defenses are developed. Once removed, these defenses must be assessed, understood and reconstructed in more adaptive, functional manners to allow for safe return to the high-pressure environment we call life. Often, without the complicated web of intellectual and emotionally safe defenses, underlying psychiatric illness, such as depression, obsessive-compulsive traits and disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and many other mood disorders become much more obvious, requiring intervention. While the structure and usual tasks of our program typically require a seventy-five to ninety day effort to complete, each treatment plan is individualized to meet the specific needs of the patient. Thus, the length of stay is unpredictable and could possibly exceed ninety days. To most of our patients ninety days already seems like an eternity. However, treatment is guided by the multidisciplinary treatment team and consensus regarding a patient’s progress is a necessary component for successful discharge. We believe that the residential treatment setting allows for both the time and the setting to explore and resolve some of the issues that predispose to relapse, especially those that would be extremely difficult to resolve in shorter term or individual therapy. Therefore, we encourage each patient to fully dive into the healing and Recovery process while here in order to set a sturdy foundation to continue life through Recovery once beyond the fence of Santé.
If you or someone you know would like more information about Santé Center for Healing or the Professional Health Program please feel free to contact one of our Intake and Admissions counselors at 800.258.4250.
