Treatment Model
The Gold Bridge Treatment Approach
At Gold Bridge, we approach treatment as a collaborative process. We don’t see ourselves as experts in who you are, but we are experts in how to help people make the changes they want. This means that instead of dictating all aspects of your treatment, we are here to help guide you through your experience of self-discovery and healing. In doing this, we’ve developed an overarching framework to provide direction for the work you will do here. Within this framework, we collaborate with you to decide what areas to focus on and what you need most in order to achieve your goal of a balanced, healthy life of recovery. Our treatment framework is made of three areas for personal growth:
Insight you want to develop
Skills you want to learn
Plans you want to make for your new life
As part of our approach, you will be required to participate in daily groups. Some of these will cover pre-determined topics, but many of them will address content that is determined by you and your peers. You will also work with your assigned counselor to develop personal work that you will do on your own time while you are in treatment. Through these group and individual experiences, you will have the opportunity to participate in a number of evidence-based treatment modalities that include:
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT):
You will learn to observe your thoughts and feelings in the present moment without getting caught up in them. This allows you to tolerate difficult emotions and make decisions that are in line with your values.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT):
You will learn how your thoughts contribute to emotion and in turn, to behavior. With CBT, you will learn to challenge some of your thoughts, which will result in desired behaviors.
Family of Origin Work:
You will have the opportunity to explore patterns of thought and behavior that were developed through your experiences with your family of origin. This is not a process of blaming family, but of understanding yourself in the context of your family system. As you recognize the impact of this system, you will develop new ways of addressing how you see yourself, others, and the world and how you cope and function in your daily life.
Mindfulness:
You will develop increasing awareness of your thoughts, emotions and behavior. Developing mindfulness skill takes practice, much like developing a muscle. We will provide you with many opportunities to strengthen this skill so that it is readily available to you as you enter your new life of recovery.
Narrative Therapy:
You will learn to identify dominant stories about yourself that have been holding you back and discover the positive, empowering stories that have been there all along.
Nonviolent Communication:
You will learn to identify underlying needs which drive emotion and behavior. Learn to communicate these needs to others.
Shame Resilience:
You will learn to recognize and understand shame and how it contributes to addictive behavior. Develop shame resilience in order learn to live with “courage, compassion and connection.” (Brené Brown, Connections, 2010)
Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT):
We support the use of medication assisted treatment when indicated and when such treatment is prescribed by a licensed health professional. We work with a psychiatrist, who will meet with all clients and will make recommendations as appropriate and will monitor clients who utilize medication assisted treatment.
Family Counseling:
More often than not, family members and loved one’s lives are disrupted and damaged by addiction. Family counseling focuses on repairing broken relationships and setting fair and healthy boundaries for those relationships. It teaches effective methods of communicating and expressing your needs and expectations in relationships.
Exercise Therapy:
Physical activity can reduce stress and release uncomfortable emotions. It has been proven to increase the brain’s natural ability to reset the neurotransmitters and endorphins involved with addiction (dopamine, serotonin, etc.) to normal levels.
Meditation Therapy:
Recovery can be a very stressful endeavor and meditation has a positive effect on anxiety, depression, and overall mental health. Mindfulness meditation is a way to maximize the benefits one gets from treatment and is a technique that is easily integrated into your ongoing recovery.
Art Therapy:
Art therapy provides ways for people to practice self-reflection. It allows a person to explore aspects of their life that they may not be able to explain with words in a conventional way. When used in conjunction with other therapy types, art therapy assists in your ability to express and identify parts of your life that give you insight and meaning.