Treatment

Treatment

Effective Treatment Plans

An effective treatment plan is a comprehensive set of tools and strategies that address the client's identifiable strengths as well as her or his problems and deficits. It presents an approach for sequencing resources and activities and identifies benchmarks of progress to guide evaluation.

There are many approaches to treatment planning. The severity of substance abuse-related problems must be determined, since this is the basis for appropriate placement in a treatment program. In addition, the presence of concurrent mental disorders must be assessed because these may limit the type of treatment approach and identify the need for psychiatric care. Also important is assessing factors such as pro-criminal attitudes and psychopathy that may suggest persistent criminality unrelated to substance abuse. The degree to which the individual is motivated to change behaviour and lifestyle is another critical factor that has a bearing on whether motivational enhancement interventions, sanctions, or more self-directed treatments are appropriate. Finally, the clients should be involved in developing their treatment plan so that they can be referred to appropriate services in the community.

Trained & Experienced Counsellors

At Stillwater we have a team of highly trained and experienced counsellors that are passionate about recovery. Through years of experience across many different institutions, we have developed a formula that is grounded in best and transparent practices that delivers results.  To put it simply, every person requires an individualized approach, treatment plan and release program and we build our program around this methodology.  It is about the person not the program.

We build this individualized approach into everything that we do.  It is the reason why we limit ourselves to only 10 clients and ensure two one-on-one sessions per week. It is also why the last two weeks of our standard program* are dedicated to the individual and their success potential.  We need to work with each individual to both understand and meet their unique needs but most importantly to ensure the on-going success.  Our support does not stop when our clients leave our treatment centre: they are welcome to attend weekly aftercare for life.

We are so confident in our proven client-centred philosophy and approach that, should a client slip and relapse, they are welcome back for free a week, as long as no detox is required.** (see footnote for details)

We understand that confidentiality is paramount. You will be able to share your concerns, worries and the impact of traumatic life experiences with your counsellor(s) and your peers.   You will feel safe and cared for at Stillwater.

The following are topics that will be a focus of conversation:

  • Developing a Relapse Prevention Plan
  • Returning to Work
  • Relationship Issues
  • Clean and Sober Fun
  • Creating an Outside Physical Fitness Program
  • Finding a Primary Care Physician Who Understands Addiction
  • Developing a Sober Support System
  • Defining a Recovery Plan, i.e. What Will My "Program" Look Like
  • Locating an After-Care Group
  • Learning to Say NO
  • Anger Management
  • Coping With Friends Who Relapse
  • Talking About Your Recovery to Others
  • Monitoring and Re-Entry Programs
  • Dealing with Cravings and Urges to Drink / Use
  • Creating Accountability
  • Post-Acute Withdrawal Systems
  • Creating Balance in Your Life
  • Spirituality and Recovery
  • Explaining Why You Don't Drink or Use

Stages of Treatment

First stage: Stabilization and assessment

Stillwater Treatment Centre offers a light medical detox. The client will meet with our doctor and be prescribed the necessary detoxification medications to help alleviate any discomfort the individual has while withdrawing from their drug of choice in a safe and controlled environment.  This stage can last anywhere between 1 and 7 days depending on the client. Please note that during the detox period and shortly there after one on one sessions may not take place until the client is stablized

Next the client will be assessed by one of our certified counsellors, then assigned a primary care counsellor based on their assessment in order to help better meet the client’s individual needs. A long intake profile will be conducted with the client that will ‘follow’ the client and be updated throughout the program. This essentially is a one-page summary of the essential information for the client’s individualized care program.

Second stage: Treatment

The client will receive private one-on-one counselling three times per week with their assigned primary counsellor. During these sessions, the client and their counsellor will come up with a treatment program based on the individual needs of the client.

  • Clients will have 2 to 3 group sessions per day covering a wide assortment of group topics to further help educate and guide them towards a healthier lifestyle. They will also be taken to outside meetings from AA, NA, and CA.
  • Clients will also have 2 individual 1 on 1 sessions with trained counsellors.
  • We offer a 2-week light detox, 30, 45, 60 and 90-day treatment programs.
  • In the 2-week detox, we focus on safely bringing the client back to sobriety and introducing them to elements of our treatment program.
  • CBT
  • DBT
  • Living With Change
  • Coping With Stress/Anxiety
  • Stages of Change
  • Communication
  • Structured Relapse Prevention
  • Codependency
  • Assertiveness
  • Healthy Boundaries
  • Grief and Loss
  • Goal Setting

Third stage: Transition

Your primary care counsellor will guide you through your exit strategies to help improve your success rate. If the you need transitional housing, continued care or any further services to help aid your recovery process, the primary counsellor will make the appropriate calls to ensure that every service needed will readily available for you upon discharge.  This is a critical stage of the program and one where we like to put more emphasis.

In the 30-day program, we only can spend a limited amount of time on this stage as the majority of time is spent in getting healthy and in program.  For this reason, we do not recommend this program as it limits this critical phase and, in our opinion, dramatically affects the program’s overall success.

  • In both the 45-day and 60-day programs, we work one-on-one with you to develop an individualized release program that will see to both identify, resolve or structure a resolution for your unique situational issues prior to release. This stage focuses on ensuring that the external structures and foundations are in place for a successful release and addresses issues such as finances, environment, relationships, work, family, emotional and other personal and external factors that may impact success.  We feel that this is the more important area of focus once an individual has a maintained a clean lifestyle for 45 days.

Fourth stage: Maintenance 

Stillwater offers lifetime aftercare once per week. Clients will have a two-hour group session to further their recovery process.

  • Substance abuse and alcoholism are life-long diseases and, although over time and through hard work the cravings and urges may become less and less, it is imperative that individuals continue to care for themselves on an ongoing basis. Post-acute withdrawal syndrome can last anywhere from three months to two years, so it is not a recommendation but a necessity that the individual continues working on their substance induced related issues.

Also, clients who sign up for our 60-day program are allowed to come back for a week refresher at no charge if there happens to be a relapse or the individual just needs a tune up.