Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Choosing a treatment program that meets your needs is an important decision to make. Our policy has always been to be ourselves, present our information, and let a person decide. Whether people decide to stay or go, we too are assessing if they meet our standards.

As for our groups, we want to make sure that people don’t have a psychotic disorder and can reason. It can disrupt a group if somebody gets suspicious because voices are telling them that we are in a plot against them.

I worked at the first Mental Health Urgent Care center in the country. For 11 years, I didn’t know who was going to walk into the facility on a daily basis. There is a Diagnostic Manuel, the DSM which lists out psychological ailments, and at this facility, about 90% of those ailments would show up regularly. 7,000 clients I saw while I worked there and the staff often joked about the worst-case scenarios. Once it happened to me. I asked a person if they heard voices, and they said yes, I asked them what were the voices saying, and they said the voices said to kill someone. Then I asked who the voices wanted them to kill and they said the voices want me to kill you. Yeah, that wasn’t a great feeling, that’s for sure. I asked the person if they really wanted to harm me, and they chuckled. “No, I just came in to get my medication.”

I did my county work long enough and now choose to work with people that have better impulse control, and are motivated to get better. If people are doing this to only appease the courts or their families, they are referred out. When in a group setting, an energy is built, and if one person is not interested it can spoil the pot.  

On the other hand, it is natural for clients to assess the program. Are there enough staff members? What is their training? Do they have expertise with my specific issue? If not, is the program teaching great enough tools that will address my specific needs? I think the overall item to look for is if you are comfortable with the people who work there.

 

 

Let’s face it, we are all screwed up. I am not saying this to put everybody down, I am saying this because we all have issues and to let you know that nobody is perfect. And how beautiful is this? We as a staff don’t claim to be perfect, but we claim to be caring. We also admit that when people enter the program with their issues, we have our issues too. The difference is our staff has supervision, we use the tools we teach on ourselves, heal in the process, and are more stable as we continue to work with others. How can we help people if we are triggered by something a client is dealing with? Ongoing therapy for staff then becomes essential in this line of work.

I recommend people to interview program directors and find out what their healing strategy is, or if they have one. Is it a behavioral program in which people have to repeat things over and over again? Is it a cognitive program, meaning does the program only focus on thinking patterns and changing them? Or is it an emotional program that addresses the emotional wounds with approaches like Gestalt therapy or NLP? If they focus on one aspect of you it could wreak havoc on your whole self. Ours addresses all of these with a spiritual aspect – applying love to our wounds.

To be honest, people tend to search for a program that is inexpensive. We get it, times are hard for many, and paying out more money, after money may have been spent on numerous treatments in the past can be frustrating. We say you get what you pay for. If treatment was for somebody you loved with all your heart wouldn’t you want the best treatment for them regardless of the cost? No, ours isn’t expensive. $7,200 for our PHP outpatient program compared to the $45,000 I was charging for the residential treatment program is an amazing saving! And we accept major insurance and have payment plans. So, with us, the money issue should not be a deterrent.

I had a friend who had a bad injury when a saw fell from a cabinet and hit her in the face. She was in tremendous pain, then her face swelled and turned purple. She refused treatment because it cost too much and two days later was dead.

Because we are transparent, you could read about how we conduct treatment in my book, “Self Helping”, which is available on Amazon. It spells out the tools we use, though doesn’t spell out experiencing the program live which is very caring and understanding to all. We don’t shame because we feel that love heals, not tough love. For 28 years I have been practicing it and if you choose to, read the reviews that others have written.

Currently, as the person struggles to decide whether to remain in the program or not, I stand tall. It is not my job to sell the program to anybody. If it is a fit, they will stay. I have however seen them putting their all into the exercises and are surprised that they work. Still, I am patient, and understand that when I was going through my early counseling, I sat next to the exit and was waiting for an excuse to run out. I am sure glad that I stayed. I hope this person stays too because it is an experience they will remember for their entire life.

Compassionate Care is Always Available

There are many more tools and strategies you can use in your pursuit of happiness. Here is where we come in. Contact us at Basic Steps Mental Health and let us support and educate you on this journey back to your loving heart center. Imagine living a heart-centered life, regardless of what is happening externally. We’d love to be of help.

For 25 years, Dr. Scott Alpert, the clinical director of Basic Steps Mental Health, has treated over 7,000 people with mental health and addiction problems, using a Psychological approach that mixes and matches ten of the top approaches used in the industry. We are here virtually and in-person to help you get through this COVID-19 pandemic and many other difficulties you may be experiencing.

May you have good mental health.