Continuing care planning…

Research indicates that individuals who continue therapy following inpatient treatment have a higher likelihood of maintaining recovery behavior. Understanding the value of aftercare, our treatment staff places a strong emphasis on developing a comprehensive aftercare plan reflective of each patient’s individual needs.
Each discharging patient is provided with continuing care referrals responsive to their needs. These might include: continuing residential care, psychiatric follow-up and medication management services, individual and/or group therapy, intensive outpatients programs, 12-Step meetings and psychological services if necessary. Dates and times of first appointments are routinely set before the patient leaves Cottonwood.

A new tool for recovery

You may remember we wrote about the importance of tools for recovery for maintaining sobriety. 12-Step meetings are definitely one of those tools for many people in recovery or those seeking sobriety. But there are times and circumstances that make it difficult or impossible for one to get to a meeting. Maybe you need to work late, maybe you are sick or someone in your family is sick. It could be you have no transportation. It could be you are traveling. So you work your program, you call your sponsor, you read from the Big Book, perhaps you journal.

Today we learned about a new tool – TRIBEof9.

TRIBEof9.org

The U-T San Diego (Union Tribune) published an article today that featured a new anonymous social networking tool. This new software is the creation of four men who live the North County section of San Diego County. According to the article:

“We are not trying to compete with or replace AA, however people communicate differently today and our goal is to enable people to interact anonymously to take the fear of judgment out of the equation,” said one of its creators, a 38-year-old Carlsbad software designer who uses the moniker “Chuck” on the website. (The U-T agreed to withhold his name because of TRIBEof9’s commitment to anonymity.)

If you are having trouble viewing the video you can see it here.

You can check out TRIBEof9

If you are interested in learning more about this latest online intervention tool, then you can visit their website. Take a look around and see what you think. As Aaron White, the program director of College and Underage Drinking Prevention Research for the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, MD, explained to U-T San Diego, there have been limited studies as to how well programs like TRIBEof9 work; however, online support may work great for some people.

VCReporter also published an article about this new online tool. They spoke with a case manager, Wendy Cardone (a licensed marriage and family counselor), at a psychiatric hospital which specializes in stabilization and safety during the detoxification process.  She offered the following observations and suggestions:

• Having many options when it comes to support is ideal.
• Anything that helps people to connect is good, but at the same time I want to make sure there are precautions put in place.
• Concern rests in the detoxification process that could result in life-threatening seizures for those addicted to alcohol. “Alcohol is still one of the deadliest to quit,” said Cardone. “It would be really important to know the quantities being consumed and if they [the patients] are being honest. I guess in an online setting, I don’t know if they would be or not.”
• Cardone agrees that using multiple resources is the best bet for those seeking assistance…“Any group is good for people recovering, because they feel an instant bond with those dealing with the same issues.”

Chuck Farley, one of the co-founders of TRIBEof9 sums it up: “We’re not claiming we have the answer, it’s just a space where people talk and can find some help. It’s really just providing a space for conversation.”