In Balance is dedicated to providing top-quality, interactive services for a chemically-dependent population with moderate to severe drug problems.
In Balance Intensive Substance Abuse Program for Adolescents
Adolescence is a very difficult time, much more today than it has been in the past. Under the best of circumstances, it is hard for young people to balance their life between school, family and friends. Once drugs get involved, there is no longer the balance that is so critical for a successful adolescent experience. The program, working together with families, tries to put young people back in balance so they can go on and enjoy this period of adolescence and develop into successful young adults.
Stabilization
Adolescent Client Component Often times the most difficult part in a young person’s giving up illegal substance is not actually doing without the drug itself. It is far more difficult to leave behind the culture in which they and their drug habit existed. If you plug these young people into 9 hours a week of group work with other young people in recovery, it starts to shift their values and alliances to a new culture. This culture shifts emphasis to pro-social values as part of the recovery. Breaking free from the values of drug use and the elements that make up the drug culture is essential. Because it is so critical to the stabilization process, In Balance goes to great lengths to build cohesiveness within the new culture; to create a cohesive group where clients feel safe and where they can share openly and become a support system for one another. During this phase, clients will be exposed to experiential or adventure based therapy. This enhances the ability for clients to get to know each other, to work together as a team, and to have sober fun together. For many young people, this is the first time they have had fun outside the drug using experience.
Traditionally, young people will be in the group anywhere from 30 to 39 sessions, depending on the severity of their drug use, their response to treatment and their ability to remain drug and alcohol free.
Multi-Family Component Essential to the period of stabilization is the change that takes place in the family. Thus, the multi-family work is part of the stabilization process and involves bringing the family to the meetings as well. During the first hour and a half, the families meet with their own facilitator while the clients meet with their facilitator. The parents will look primarily at parenting strategies.
The following list is a partial list of topics currently addressed by In Balance:
- Use, abuse and denial
- Value Clarification
- Stages of Change
- Relapse Prevention
- Setting Boundaries
- Healthy Expectations
- Cooperative Problem Solving
- Effective Parenting Techniques
The group will then come together in a larger group and do the psychoeducational piece of the program that looks at all the harmful drugs that young people are using currently and the side effects that come along with their use. Parents and siblings aged 12 and over participate in one meeting per week for 3 hours.
Treatment
In this phase, the continuity with the prior phase is emphasized while young people are taught the importance of making sure that they have the four elements of their being in balance: their physical, emotional, social and spiritual aspects. They are taught about how to take care of each. Different components are used to accomplish this, both within the group process and the ongoing step work. During this phase, young people will be taking part in a curriculum developed by Patrick J. Barrasso that is rooted in successful literature and techniques that have been developed through Patrick J. Barrasso’s work with recovering youth. Each week the young people will work on a step. These steps help them develop an attitude of success and help guide them in how to set goals and develop strategies to accomplish those goals.
Transition Program
This Phase of treatment involves young people being invited to participate in the aftercare program. A determination will be made in their 8th week of treatment as to whether or not they have fulfilled their contract to the In Balance program and whether we believe that they are taking their recovery seriously and have a commitment towards the next phase of their recovery program. A ceremony will be held at this time and they will be recognized for their leadership in the program and they will be formally invited by the entire community to participate in the transition phase, which will then terminate and they will go into the aftercare program. The transition phase involves three additional weeks where they would quit coming on Tuesdays and Thursdays and they would only attend on Saturdays and Thursdays in the aftercare program. This transition phase will take place for 2 weeks, at which time they will then quit coming on Saturday and come only to the aftercare program on Thursday evenings from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Please note in the following paragraph they will be asked to sign:
You have been invited to participate in the In Balance Aftercare. By signing this contract, it will say that you will go through a transition period where you will be coming on Saturdays only to In Balance and Thursday nights for the Aftercare Group. There will be a two week transition followed by your official graduation from the In Balance Program. At the end of that two weeks, you will no longer come on Saturdays and Thursdays and will come to aftercare only. The Aftercare meets at 6:00pm on Thursday evenings and will go until approximately 9:00pm. The first part is a relapse prevention group and the second part is attending an AA Meeting.
We are also asking your parents if they will commit to drug testing you for up to nine months and providing In Balance with the results of those drug tests. Therefore, there is a signature line on this contract for both you and your parents. By drug testing we really only mean random, which often is just once a month and is minimal expense. Therefore, we ask the parents to participate in your aftercare as well.
Graduation
A graduation ceremony that each young person goes through is an important marker of completion, completing the initial intensive phase of the program. Rights of passage are an important psychosocial factor in adolescent development. Adolescents often go to great lengths to accomplish this, sometimes in destructive ways, including drug abuse, gang involvement, and all sorts of antisocial ways.This program is designed to create a right of passage that recognizes their accomplishments when exiting the intensive phase of the program. Also encouraged in the graduation ceremony is a shift in cultural affiliation. In doing so they change the symbols of recovery. Each is given a folder that includes different symbols of recovery as well as an In Balance t-shirt. Families also attend the graduation ceremony.
Aftercare
When young people successfully graduate from the first part of the In Balance experience, which is the intensive three meetings a week process and they also complete their three week transition program, they will be offered an opportunity to participate in the aftercare component, meeting once a week. This aftercare is comprised of the members of the community that they have worked with in the intensive phase. This piece will be facilitated by a young person in the recovery that has been well versed in group process, has a year or more of sobriety and is active in 12 step work. This is made available at no additional charge. Research tells us that if young people can be connected to a community of recovery for up to a year, they are more likely to succeed in the recovery process.
Experiential Therapy
Experiential based therapy is an important part of the treatment experience that In Balance is committed to.
If I see it, I will forget it;
If I hear it, I will remember;
If I experience it; I will understand
Experiential based therapy allows young people to learn about themselves by doing rather than by talking. This therapy combines traditional group therapy techniques and outdoor adventure activities such as hiking, rock climbing and working on rope courses to enhance personal growth and to help adolescents begin to explore their unproductive behavior. In Balance provides outdoor adventure activities every week. Combined with ongoing experiential activities, experiential based therapy helps adolescents gain insight into their behaviors at a much faster rate than traditional methods alone. The program is committed to physically and emotionally safe therapeutic experiences. Only professional trained staff are involved in experiential based therapy and activities. Celebrating sobriety and working with young people coming from a place of mutual respect and reinforcement of positive interactions, draws the participants back. It is through regular attendance that clients improve. If they don’t attend the group, that opportunity for change is not created. Therefore, offering activities that excite young people as part of the group process is essential in working with adolescents. One night a week they celebrate sobriety by especially marking each young person’s anniversary date of sobriety. They are to receive recognition and are given symbols of that anniversary date. Each of these evenings include sharing pizza as part of the ceremony. While each meeting has two breaks where soda and snacks are supplied, In Balance group members appreciate having the snacks and dinner to break up the hard work they do within their recovery process.
Cost of the Program
The cost of the program includes all of the fees of the adventure based therapy. It also includes the lab testing as well as the graduation ceremony incentives, snacks and sodas each night in the program as well as once a week pizza. It also includes the aftercare component for nine months. This program is paid in full or partially by most insurance companies. Please check with the program administrator regarding the cost of the program and whether your insurance may cover it.
Drug Testing
Young people in the program will be drug tested as part of the program a minimum of three times. The drug testing will be testing for the 10 major drugs of abuse by today's youth including:
Methamphetamine (street names: uppers, pep pills, speed, meth, crystal)
Barbiturates (street names: downers, reds, yellow jacket, blue devil)
Benzodyazapine (street names: tranks, downers, blues, yellows)
Cannabinoids (streets names: grass, pot, ragweed)
Cocaine (street names: coke, snow, nose candy, crack, flake, white lady)
Ethol alcohol (street names: booze, hooch)
Opiates (street names: heroin, junk, china white, juice)
Phencyclidine (street names: PCP, angel dust)
The lab used is J2Labs, which is a federally certified lab. Drug testing takes place right at the program; young people will be asked to provide a urine sample under supervised condition upon request in the program and they will be processed within 3 to 5 days and those results will be given to the parents at the next multi-family group.
Meeting Times of In Balance Adolescent Program
Tuesday 6:00-9:00pm Multi-Family Group
Thursdays 6:00-9:00pm Adolescent Only
Saturdays 10:00am-1:00pm Adolescent Only Experiential Groups
Please call (520) 722-9631 in the Tucson area or Toll Free 1 (877) 304-3329 for more information.