When looking for quality addiction treatment programs, there are several important things you should ask.

Philosophy

an exterior shot of Sante as an example of what to look for in a treatment program

Is the addiction treatment program focused on core healing rather than quick fixes? Is treatment based on arbitrary end dates or science? Are you just a number within a mass of patients? Do you have issues with which you struggle but shame experienced – even in treatment settings – prevents you from discussing such? Are the names on the organization’s letterhead on-site and meeting with clients? Are the staff members educated, credentialed, and experienced? Is the company investor-owned and focused on the bottom line and returns vs. long-term recovery? Does the company make decisions based on what is best for the client or what is solely best for the company?

 

At Santé Center for Healing, our clients, doctors, and therapists collaborate to customize individualized addiction treatment plans that include goals and objectives. The integral component of our addiction treatment program is daily involvement and multi-disciplinary evaluation of each client’s progress. This evaluation is completed by Santé psychiatrists, primary therapists, nursing team, and additional contributing team members. This joint effort establishes open, honest, and direct communication between the clinical and medical team and each client. The client community is additionally fundamental to the healing process. This is a collective approach to individual trauma resolution, accountability, family restoration, and long-term recovery.

Therapists

Do the programs’ therapists have a master’s degree or higher? Are they licensed? Have they been trained and certified in different types of therapy?   Santé’s primary therapists all have master’s degrees; one is even a Ph.D. psychologist. Santé’s primary therapists are committed to ongoing development and have achieved additional credentialing such as CSAT (Certified Sex Addiction Therapist), CMAT (Certified Multiple Addiction Therapist),  EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy), CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy), CPT (Cognitive Processing Therapy), EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy), shame resiliency, psychodrama, relapse prevention, and grief and loss training.

Therapies

Does the program offer different types of addiction therapy? Is all implementation didactic? Is there self-directed learning? Customized assignments? Individual therapy? Experiential therapies utilized? Evidence-based programming? At Santé Center for Healing, each client benefits from a customized treatment plan targeting complexities and core issues. Treatment plans involve but are not limited to:

The idea is to identify and work through the core-level issue underneath the substance use, problematic sexual behavior, disordered eating, and other compulsive behaviors. Clients and their supportive treatment team identify underlying causes of the addiction(s), triggers, coping alternatives, and how the client can ultimately achieve long-term recovery.

Setting

Is there a warm and inviting environment for the client to feel comfortable in? Within tree-lined paths and rolling hills, Santé offers semi-private rooms with full-size beds (two per room) with fresh linens and private, recently remodeled bathrooms. Our beautiful campus in Argyle, TX, expands 16 acres, offering serene settings, large decks, and beautiful scenic viewpoints. There are many vantage points from which to view and appreciate the campus – from the walking trail, sand volleyball court, Frisbee golf course, covered pool, upper and lower decks, Circle of Joy, and much more. Here, clients can escape external chaos and do the work of early recovery in our scenic and peaceful environment.

Family Involvement

Family involvement is important. Does the program offer family therapy and other family support services? At Santé, we know that addiction impacts everyone in the family unit. Families and friends experience the damaging chaos, suffering, neglect, and isolation that accompany trauma, addiction, and mental illness. We believe that the family can play an integral role in addiction treatment and supporting long-term recovery for their family and friends. Outcomes improve when the family and community of friends are active in the recovery process. Santé offers a Family and Friends Support Group multiple times/week (virtual and in-person), a three-part Family Therapy Series when a loved one first admits to residential treatment and a two-day family intensive customized to the client and their family. All family programming experiences stress the importance of self-care and supporting oneself while a loved one is in treatment, as well as strengthening the emotional bonds and communication with the family.

“Santé was a place that offered that hope and that process not only for my daughter who was going through treatment but for her mother and I and ever her brother, as they were helping us all understand the effects of trauma, the effects of addiction not only on that individual but on that family.” – Rick, whose daughter completed Santé’s Residential, Intensive Outpatient and Transitional Living programs*

Health and Fitness

Does the program care about client’s overall health? Being sober isn’t about what you gave up; it is about what you gain. Recovery is about developing healthy habits and lifestyles. Newly sober clients need healthy routines such as fitness and proper nutrition to channel their energy. Santé offers trainers, exercise facilities, a basketball court, sand volleyball court, scenic walking trail, swimming pool, and meditation classes. Santé also has a chef on staff to provide fresh meals and a licensed dietitian who can offer a dietary consult to each client.

Continuing Care

Does the program provide care once the individual is released from treatment? Is the attention solely focused on what happens within the program?

At Santé, we don’t approach residential treatment as the destination; it’s an important part of the journey. Recovery is the destination, an on-going process of learning and personal growth. In addition to a recovery continuum of care with various levels of support including an Intensive Outpatient Program and Transitional Living, Santé provides discharge planning, relapse prevention work and plans, referrals to professionals in your home community, monitoring, and life-long alumni support. The Alumni program offers opportunities to apply recovery skills, develop new habits, deepen recovery knowledge, live out relapse prevention, and heal past and current relationships while making new relationships based on the foundation of recovery. We are committed to setting up our clients for lifelong success beyond their stay at our facility.