Transcription:
Recovery is Possible - You Don’t Have to Do It Alone

Melanie Cole, MS (Host): Welcome. This is Bryan Health podcast. I'm Melanie Cole. Today we’re discussing alcohol and substance abuse treatment. Joining me is Brad Decker. He’s a counselor and community outreach liaison for Bryan Independence Center. Brad, thank you so much for joining us. What’s the first step for those new to addiction treatments? How do you access treatment? How do you get started?

Brad Decker, PLADC (Guest): Well you know this can be a challenge for a lot of people, especially if individuals and families are experiencing addiction for the first time. It can be overwhelming for a lot of people and also a very emotional process trying to figure out where to start, who you think you can trust to turn to for information, and truthfully who you really think you can trust with the information you're about to share. So for many people there can be some personal embarrassment or even some family shame, which you could imagine, and it usually creates additional family tension as everyone faces the reality of possibly facing potential addiction. The Independence Center provides information online through our website at bryanhealth.com under alcohol and drug treatment services. Our site includes education about the disease of addiction and even includes a free screening assessment for addiction and other common mental health concerns.

Also on the site you'll probably notice tips on what may be appropriate for a family intervention. You can find out how to contact us for an evaluation. Really the substance use evaluation is the key piece to beginning any addiction treatment with us because the evaluation will help us to determine the most appropriate level of care for that individual. We have several people available to answer questions when you're not sure where to start. So most of the time all you need to do is just call the independence center and we can discuss with you what may be appropriate for your current situation. We can definitely get you pointed in the right direction.

Host:   Well then tell us about the different levels of care. Is it one size fits all? How do you work with people individually for real personalized treatment?

Brad:   This is something not a lot of people are aware of with our services. The Independence Center actually offers five different levels of care helping serve individual needs for both adults and adolescents. So let me just briefly go through that list with you. We are set up to accommodate adults requiring what we call medical detoxification from alcohol and other substances. Many people just refer to this as detox, but we have short term residential care where people can eb with us for a few weeks depending on their current situation. We also provide a partial day treatment program where a client is with us from about 8:45 in the morning to about 4:00 in the afternoon Monday through Friday. They're receiving the same treatment opportunities as our residential clients. It’s just without the overnight or weekend stays.

Beyond our residential services we offer an intensive outpatient program as well as a relatively flexible outpatient level of care. Our intensive outpatient program is often known by our participants as IOP. It can be attended either in the morning’s Monday through Friday or in the evenings three nights during the week. So those are the five different levels of care that we offer, but we also believe in adequate family and community support. So we encourage family visitations throughout treatment. Also want people to connect with our network of recovery and support services. This includes a counselor facilitated family workshop, a private family session, and a family parent support group that is open to the public. We like to emphasize the importance of individualizing our treatment with each client. So even though there may be a similar schedule of program of attendance for everyone to be a part of each week, there are different aspects of that program which allows us to cater to those individual’s specific needs as well as with the client’s family. Everybody hopes for that more personalized treatment outcome.

Host:   Well they certainly do. Thank you for that explanation. So Brad, what’s it like during care for those patients? How long are they generally there?  I know it certainly depends on their level of addiction, but what are the facilities like? What will their day to day be like?

Brad:   These are obviously great curiosity questions that many people wonder about. We were certainly blessed by the support of our community a few years ago to continue our services in a newly designed building, which we opened in 2014. This has given us the ability to house three detox patients and 26 residential clients for overnight stays. Our website actually offers a great video tour of our facilities. So I encourage listeners to take just a couple of minutes to watch this virtual tour. Now regarding our services, the medical detox experience would be similar to being a patient in a private hospital room with nurses, technician staff, and physician availability all throughout the day and the night. Our professional staff monitors a person’s status 24 hours a day and are ready to medically intervene with any early signs of those potentially life threatening withdrawal symptoms. This detoxification process can often be a two to five day health stabilization for most people.

Then typically after detoxification what can follow is admission into our short term residential program. This is where the person is under our care and supervision for 24 hours a day for generally a few weeks. They would be attending daily scheduled treatment programing. The short-term residential setting typically offers a shared double occupancy room. So you’d have a roommate. You’d also have access to a workout room, a recreation room, TV lounge. We also have private phone rooms, laundry facilities, and three meals each day at our Bryan West Hospital cafeteria. The treatment programming keeps people active in their recovery with many different lecture topics, treatment group discussions, and individual counseling sessions with both their primary counselor as well as with a spiritual counselor. We also offer additional specialty groups which address grief concerns, dual diagnosis, or even just some healthy forgiveness strategy.  

Host:   How much does it cost? Is it covered by insurance? Tell us about that.

Brad:   Sure. Affordability of treatment is always important. We work with each person to make sure services can be available to them. The Independence Center is a long standing well connected substance use treatment facility which has been around since 1971. Not a lot of people have known that. It actually developed within the original Lincoln General Hospital system. Our current facilities, programs, and services are a result of dedicated community support, well managed budgetary needs, and several sources of revenue. We are able to offer high quality professional care from a full team of caregivers including physicians. There's nurses, tech staff, and also a well-seasoned group of dually credentialed counsellors. So we are confident the value of care we’re able to provide the community is comparable to our professional fees. The great benefit of being part of a hospital system is to have the personnel, which considers several different avenues. Our patient financial services team verifies coverage for major medical carriers, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and United Healthcare just to give a couple examples. Also supplemental sources which help our services remain competitively affordable for everyone receiving care from us. We also offer private pay options and manageable payment plans in some cases. Additional supplemental assistance can be available. We frequently encourage people to contact one of our admission counselors just to ask questions about coverage options available to them.

Host:   Well it’s so important. What great information. So before we wrap up and you're giving us your best advice, please speak about what patients can expect after treatment and how their families are involved, if at all, in this treatment program.

Brad:   Basically education is key in understanding where you may be at with your alcohol and substance use. Either the person suffering from the addiction or for the family members involved. I’d like to emphasize again our website has been specifically designed to help inform and educate people seeking information and services. This includes also a simple and quick screening quiz for people curious about their own substance use or other common behavioral health concerns. On the site you also read through story testimonials from previous clients that many people can relate to on a personal level. Some of them actually talk about what’s been extremely helpful for them as they work beyond treatment. Also what I believe helps set Bryan Independence Center apart from a number of different facilities is an attitude of genuine care that truly lives within the core of our team members. Many of us have recognized our own personal life struggles and can often relay that empathy to our clients who are often seeking a better life for themselves beyond their substance use. So when you couple all of that with one of the best designed and maintained facilities held to what we believe are some of the highest ethical services standards the Independence Center offers treatment that goes beyond time with us. Because ultimately we want people to know that there is hope. Recovery is possible for people. You don’t have to do it alone.

Host:   Beautifully put. Thank you so much Brad for joining us today. That concludes this episode of Bryan Health podcast. For more information on the Bryan Independence Center, please visit our website at bryanhelath.org for more information to get connected with one of our providers. Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast and all the other Bryan Health podcasts. I'm Melanie Cole.