Why I Do What I Do

This is my strategy because in my experience a range of services delivered regularly over time get you better outcomes than a series of crisis interventions.

In its essence, the experience of addiction has nothing to do with addiction! It's related to trauma, anxiety and depression and emotional imbalances - and the person experiencing addiction attempts to regulate and relieve his or her level of pain. We acknowledge the pain and look for ways to relieve it in a healthy and responsible way.

I assist families in creating action-oriented goals, developing practical family recovery skills, increasing sense of self-efficacy and individuation, and utilize clinical (thru referral) and peer-based interventions to model and support maintenance of long-term sustainable, healthy change.

Knowing that addictions and emotional issues affect the entire family, I guide families to evaluate family strengths and find solutions to unresolved problems, enhance communication skills and setting boundaries, and provide emotional support and guidance while the individual transitions.

Following a holistic approach, I guide families to develop a skill set that fosters empowerment, connection, strong interpersonal relations and achievement of goals. Most importantly, I guide families to create meaningful lives while maintaining long-term recovery.

What makes my services unique?

I serve a peer-based, guide role, but have the educational and experiential knowledge base to appropriately (through clinical collaboration) assess families, provide interventions, crisis management, and assess for safety;
Frequent meetings with all family members; accessing my guidance in between scheduled sessions as this is when life happens and help is needed;
I work with each individual to help best support accountability and structure for various life skills and recovery support;
I collaborate with community professionals in supporting those with both substance use and eating disorders, as well as other co-occurring behavioral health challenges;
I focus on all aspects of an individual’s life and create a Master Life Plan individualized to the needs of each client I support;
I have thousands of personal connections to recovery and regularly engage in personal growth opportunities including Onsite and The Bridge to Recovery and individual therapy;
I will work collaboratively with a clinical team for ongoing assessment, progress updates, and treatment recommendations.

My approach strongly encourages my clients to engage with clinical professionals in evidence-based, therapeutic modalities such as Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioral and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, EMDR, Rapid Resolution Therapy, as well as peer based experiential elements.

These are the essential pieces of a successful plan:

Safe and Smooth Transitions Between All Levels of Care;
Interventions for Substance Use, Substance Misuse and Eating Disorders;
Client Empowerment;
Education and Training;
Step-by-step Guidance in All Stages of the Change Process;
Resumption of Use Prevention & Long-term Care Maintenance;
Quality of Life Enhancement;
Full Continuum of Support;
Ongoing Assessment of Needs and Proper Referrals. (see Recovery Capital Index)

Daily Therapeutic Treatments With Clinical Professionals in the Community

Unlike most residential recovery facilities offering only weekly individual therapy (mostly you get group therapy), I encourage, at first, daily therapies utilizing ZOOM, with a range of fully qualified, experienced and registered practitioners in your area;
I only seek out therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists that are leaders in their fields;
Daily therapies are more conducive to the development of deeper therapeutic relationships and on this basis practitioners are more able to develop a comprehensive assessment of your needs, in the least time and with greater depth.

Daily Exercise & Physical Fitness

Your emotional and physical wellbeing are interlinked which is why we aim to always improve your physical fitness through sustained exercise, body work and physical movement.
I encourage a wide range of physical training options including resistance and cardiovascular training, walking, yoga, martial arts, controlled stretching and a range of sporting activities to suit your interests.

Flexibility & Responsiveness

Recovery support communicates frequently with each other and the treating team to share their observations and experiences of you and provide feedback to practitioners;
This enables the program to respond daily to your shifting needs, allowing the flexibility necessary to promote maximum growth and recovery.

Focus on Nutrition & Natural Supplements (Food and Mood)

To bring you to optimum health in the least amount of time, diet and nutrition are important factors in your recovery (people are biochemically unique);
Natural supplements, including vitamins and minerals, get to be integrated into your recovery plan and these will be prescribed and monitored by an experienced naturopath and/or herbalist.

Develop Your Creativity & Passion

I encourage you to have fun, to engage in your surroundings and to discover greater meaning in your life;
I encourage excursions such as hikes, bike rides, and other outdoor activities that help to rekindle your appreciation of being part of a living, sustaining environment;
I also encourage your participation in activities that promote creativity and focus, for example - dance, art, martial arts and music;
My aim is to help you recognize your own undiscovered capacities to harness your inner strengths and passions, shifting your reliance away from maladaptive behaviours and negative cognitive patterns.

Research & Data to Support Our Approach

“There are about twenty controlled research studies that have been conducted since the late 1980s to examine the various types of help available following the completion of residential or outpatient treatment. They suggest that interventions lasting at least twelve months or in which greater efforts were made to reach and engage clients—for instance by visiting the home, approaching clients by telephone calls, use of incentives such as money, or involving significant others—appeared to be the most effective. And two studies showed that “recovery management checkups” can help get people back in treatment when needed and significantly increased days of abstinence following treatment.” - Anne M. Fletcher. “Inside Rehab.

One of the few consistent findings in addiction treatment research over the past 30 years is that people have better treatment outcomes the longer they stay engaged (Simpson, 1979; Simpson, Joe, Fletcher, Hubbard, & Anglin, 1999; Siegal, Li, & Rapp, 2002).

Of the people admitted to the U.S. public treatment system in 2003, 64% were re-entering treatment (including 23% for the second time, 22% 3-4 times, and 19% 5 or more times) (OAS, 2005).

The majority of individuals discharged from addiction treatment will relapse within 3 to 12 months after discharge, most within 30-90 days (Wilbourne & Miller, 2003; Hubbard, (Flynn, Craddock, & Fletcher, 2001; Scott et al., 2005b).

Instability of recovery continues throughout the early years of recovery (Scott et al., 2005a).

Post-treatment recovery outcomes are compromised by the low rate of participation in continuing care activities following discharge and the substantial drop-out rate of recovery support group participation in the year following treatment (McKay, 2001).

Findings such as those above have prompted leading researchers to speak of addiction and treatment “careers” (Anglin et al., 1997), which calls for the reconceptualization of addiction as a chronic disorder on par with cancer, diabetes, asthma, and hypertension (McLellan et al., 2000; Scott & Dennis, 2006; Dennis & Scott, in press), and advocates a shift to models of sustained recovery management similar to those used in the treatment of other chronic diseases (White et al., 2002).

What factors contribute to the chronic nature of the experience of addiction?

Greater personal vulnerability (e.g., family history of AOD problems, early age of onset of AOD use/problems, developmental trauma),

Greater problem severity (e.g., amount of use, number of problematic/dependence symptoms),

Greater problem complexity (e.g., co-occurring medical/psychiatric illness, personal and environmental)
Lower recovery capital (e.g., fewer internal and external assets that can be used to initiate and sustain recovery) (White et al., 2002).

Sustainable Recovery ™
Timothy Harrington
323-804-5555

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