Often the last-ditch treatment option, Residential Treatment (RTC) helps people with mental health issues and substance abuse problems. It provides around-the-clock care and support, allowing clients to focus on recovery in a more comfortable, homelike environment than hospital-based programs.
These facilities provide a full menu of therapeutic modalities to help individuals with addiction and other behavioral issues recover. These include counseling, group therapy, psychoeducational sessions, and holistic treatments.
Peer Support
Peer support in residential treatment programs is a key element of successful recovery. It provides a safe environment for patients to practice social skills such as regulating emotions, disrupting negative thought patterns and coping with conflict and stress.
Peers are nonclinical health care extenders who use their lived experience of mental illness and substance use disorders to promote mind-body recovery and resiliency. Their role may include facilitating education and support groups, providing one-on-one coaching or mentoring and working as a bridge linking people to services.
In addition to promoting mental health and substance use disorder recovery, peer support also supports individuals living with HIV/HCV. Studies have shown that peer support services promote better health outcomes among those with these diseases than routine clinical follow-up.
State policymakers are increasingly incorporating peer support specialists into their health care systems to help expand access to behavioral healthcare. They are using various methods to support these efforts, including updating training and certification processes and increasing reimbursement opportunities.
Authenticity
Authenticity is an important aspect of residential treatment. It can help clients maintain a positive relationship with their counselors and peers by staying true to their values and beliefs even when they are faced with significant challenges or pressures in their lives.
The four components of authenticity include awareness (knowing one's own motives, emotions, preferences, and abilities), unbiased processing (objective self-evaluation without distorting or denying information), behavior (acting in ways congruent with core needs, values, and preferences), and relational orientation (being sincere in close relationships). Researchers find that each of these components relates to aspects of healthy psychological and interpersonal adjustment.
Developing authenticity over the lifespan is an ongoing process that involves exploration and self-reflection. In adolescents and young adults, it is often related to a desire to discover what feels right for them in their social, emotional, and physical lives. In middle age, it may involve exploring and assessing whether choices in their lives have provided them with fulfillment and purpose.
24-Hour Supervision
Residential Treatment offers 24-hour supervision in a non-hospital setting for people with mental health or substance abuse issues who are struggling. During residential treatment, individuals may stay for weeks or months to receive intensive therapeutic programs and recovery support from expert staff.
This type of care can be especially helpful to those who are unable to self-direct their behavior and must rely on others to provide them with guidance or supervision. For example, a person with severe cognitive impairments such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia may need assistance with daily routines because they can’t remember to get out of bed, eat a meal, or use the bathroom.
Individuals with physical disabilities who are recovering from a major surgery or traumatic injury also need to be monitored for safety at home. A professional caregiver can help with navigating complex medical needs, managing wound-care and medication schedules, and ensuring that they’re moving safely at home. This level of care can prevent injuries and help seniors maintain their quality of life in their own homes.
Personalized Treatment
Residential treatment offers around-the-clock guidance and support to help patients overcome addiction. Each client’s struggle with drug abuse is unique, and it must be addressed accordingly.
The residential treatment program also aims to provide a therapeutic community where clients can practice new skills and work through old feelings. It allows them to reshape their bad habits and counterproductive thoughts into a more balanced daily routine, which is vital to long-term recovery.
A residential program also offers a structured schedule of activities and routines, which can help clients develop healthy exercise and dietary habits. They can learn to manage their time more effectively and build positive relationships with others within the community.
Personalization is a key goal of healthcare reform, and it has influenced various approaches to treatment in recent years. Some pathways toward personalization may include medication algorithms, genomic-based treatment selection, or analysis of judgments and decision making.
