What does Pavillon’s Extended Care program do?  And who is it for?

The Extended Care program at Pavillon helps to: strengthen one’s recovery when recovery by itself is in decline; address patterns of recovery and relapse when they are repeating over time; manage the complexity some people experience that routine treatment does not usually provide.

Example 1:  Slowly losing altitude.

Among those sustaining abstinence, or those in personal recovery for a number of years, some really struggle.  They struggle in a way that individual counseling or working on their recovery program just doesn’t seem to help enough.

• In the big picture, by way of comparison, it’s like the plane is slowing spiraling and losing altitude over months and years – no matter what work the person does to try to get a healthy and vibrant recovery dynamic going again.
• Something seems to be in the way even though they haven’t returned to use yet, or only had a small slip.

Example 2:  Patterns of relapse and recovery.

Among those managing recovery, some people experience patterns of getting fully better and sustaining that, then returning to use and getting really sick again for quite a while, then get back into full recovery for some years, and then return to a full relapse, and so forth.  And in spite of the knowledge and experience they’ve gained from their previous treatment, counseling, or involvement in mutual aid (like AA, NA, SMART, Celebrate Recovery, etc.), these patterns of relapse and recovery keep happening.

• In the big picture their insight into the recovery process and into the relapse dynamic just doesn’t seem to help
• Something seems to be in the way even though they acknowledge their disease and really do know what it means to work a personal program.

Example 3:  Complexity that routine treatment doesn’t usually address.

Among those in a primary treatment program, like an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) or a residential program, some people present with core issues, personality factors, a family of origin that was really problematic, or a current family situation that’s really difficult.  These are the kinds of problems that get in the way of sustaining full recovery in the first 90 days after primary treatment, and make sustaining a vibrant and enduring full recovery for the first year far less likely.

• In the big picture, the good but routine treatment they are in will address the basics that they need, but for them that still won’t be enough, given the undertow of these other problems.
• Something more will be needed following their primary treatment.

Our Extended Care program at Pavillon is specifically designed to address these kinds of issues.

To address these problems that truly are beyond the focus and reach of a good, routine primary addiction treatment program, we use a variety of methods:

• Psychological and psychiatric care
• Identification and management of Post-Acute Withdrawal, Triggers, and High-Risk Situations
• Constructing a personal recovery and relapse timeline
• Trauma-focused therapy
• Creativity and experiential work
• Psychodrama
• Personal relapse warning sign identification and management
• Addressing family of origin, core issue, and personality factors through a Relapse Prevention Therapy lens
• Planning and taking an Extended Therapeutic Leave during their stay, and then returning to process that leave prior to completing the program
• Early Intervention Planning
• Mirror imaging work, such as sitting in the first group of primary treatment designed for newcomers, and chairing mutual aid meetings
• An included relapse prevention return week 3-12 months after their date of exit
• Safe practice issues for professionals

During the Extended Care program, within a smaller community of peers who are all focused on similar therapeutic work, deeper barriers to on-going and vibrant recovery tend to reveal themselves.  As they do, that awareness is incorporated back into the work with a very practical focus: the planning of deeply personalized and ongoing disease management and recovery management.

As the patient looks back at their patterns of previous difficulties, and while their planning for recovery in that context is being completed, living well today with that understanding is practiced.  Taken together, this appreciation of the past, healthy and realistic anticipation of the future, and the difficulties of today all help inform what it takes to be and remain well in a vibrant and sustainable personal recovery.    

Creativity work, trauma-focused therapy, psychodrama, and practical living all come together to help prepare the person to plan a therapeutic leave that they take during their stay.  Upon their return from their therapeutic leave, they process how their leave went.  This kind of work helps the person identify and anticipate their personal, signature relapse dynamic before it takes on too much force, or is too out-of-awareness for too long.  During our Extended Care program, relapse prevention planning and development of an early intervention plan are empowered by that kind of information.  And the result is highly personalized.

Freeing one’s self from the undertow of significant family of origin problems, core issues, relapse dynamics, and personality factors is powerful.  And applying that collective awareness to the practical daily actions that promote a vibrant and personal style of recovery is liberating and empowering for those to whom this kind of work applies.

But our Extended Care program goes even further and includes a Relapse Prevention Therapy return week.  The RPT return week is scheduled before discharge.  The patient attends this return week 3-12 months after their exit from Extended Care. When they come back for their RPT return week and process their time since their exit, they can look at their relapse dynamics and recovery processes since their exit, and make possible adjustments.  In doing so they bring and share the lived experience of their recovery back into the setting, receive input from the fresh eyes of others in the program along with feedback from the clinicians who knew them during their stay.

Overall, our Extended Care program does offer a service with a special focus for those that need that kind of work.  The program may be entered as a transfer following completion of an IOP or a residential primary treatment program as the next phase of care.  Or the program may be entered later after practicing recovery, if the need arises.

And as a graduate of Pavillon’s residential programs, following their stay, our Alumni Services are always available for our Extended Care patients.