Addiction Services

Addiction counselors at Menninger collaborate with fellow inter-disciplinary treatment team members to develop plans, provide counseling and give feedback on progress of adolescents and adults with co-occurring disorders. At Menninger, two of every three patients have co-occurring addiction, brain and behavioral disorders.

Throughout the specialty inpatient programs, the addiction counselors follow patients from assessment through discharge planning for substance-related, gambling, sexual, spending, technology and other addictions. The counselors and treatment teams treat the patients simultaneously for the co-occurring disorders.

Goals of the Addiction Services counselors are to:

• Provide quality addictions treatment to all Menninger patients struggling with a co-occurring disorder.
• Foster hope.
• Provide treatment based on evidenced-based methods in areas of motivation, recovery planning, relapse prevention, neuroscience and family dynamics.
• Provide patients with a model of treatment that will effectively promote acceptance of their disease, teach ways to make changes and foster recovery.
• Tailor treatment to the individual based on the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) principles of effective treatment.

NIDA principles of effective treatment

1. No single treatment is appropriate for all individuals.
2. Treatment needs to be readily available.
3. Effective treatment attends to multiple needs of the individual, not just the drug use.
4. An individual’s treatment and services plan must be assessed continually and modified as necessary to ensure the plan meets the person’s changing needs.
5. Remaining in treatment for an adequate period of time is critical for treatment effectiveness.
6. Counseling (individual, group or a combination) and other behavioral therapies are critical components of effective treatment for addiction.
7. Medications are an important element of treatment for many patients, especially when combined with counseling and other behavioral therapies.
8. Addicted or drug-abusing individuals with coexisting brain and behavioral disorders should have both disorders treated in an integrated way.
9. Medical detoxification is only the first stage of addiction treatment and by itself does little to change long-term drug use.
10. Treatment does not need to be voluntary to be effective.
11. Possible drug use during treatment must be monitored continuously.
12. Treatment programs should provide assessment for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis B and C, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases and counseling to help patients modify or change behaviors that place themselves or others at risk of infection.
13. Recovery from drug addiction can be a long-term process and frequently requires multiple episodes of treatment following relapses. Participation in self-help support programs during and following treatment often is helpful in maintaining abstinence.

(Source: NIDA: nida.nih.gov)

Addiction treatment services

A patient admitted to a Menninger specialty treatment program receives an individualized plan developed from the following services that are designed to assist the individual with engaging in a recovery lifestyle.

• Addiction counseling
• Addiction recovery groups (relapse prevention, stimuli awareness, step work, pain of addiction and recovery planning groups)
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• Dialectical-behavioral therapy skill-building groups
• Relapse education
• Discharge planning
• Expressive therapies (music, art and others)
• Family education and therapy
• Group psychotherapy
• Individual therapy services
• Medication education and therapy
• Mentalizing education and therapy
• Nutritional counseling
• Neuroscience education
• Trauma assessment, education and therapy
• Twelve-step program participation (AA, NA, SAA, SLAA, GA, Al-Anon, and others)