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Podcast Series: The Redpoint Center

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Gina: Hi, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the Harmony Podcast Series and I’m pleased today to be joined with Cody Gardner and Jay Fullam with Redpoint Center in Longmont, Colorado. Welcome.

Cody: Thank you. Super glad to be here.

Jay: Thanks.

Gina: Good to have you here.

Gina: We’re gonna get into talking a little bit more about both of you individually, but before we do that, let’s talk a little bit about Redpoint. It’s an outpatient substance abuse program. Can you describe, Cody, for me what the program is about and what a person can expect when they come into your program?

Cody: Yeah. Thanks, Gina. I started looking at Longmont, Colorado a couple of years ago thinking that there are a lot of people statistically that would need substance abuse treatment services and the lack of resources there drove me to believe that an outpatient treatment center would be very well received by the community. So, what we have built is a clinically-driven outpatient center. We have both day programming, as well as evening programming, which means that people can come in after work, they can come in for the full day if they need more care and they would receive a minimum of 12 weeks of service.

Cody: Our curriculum is really, really really structured towards creating a safe place for people. We want people to come in, feel comfortable and be able to feel like they’re in a safe place where they can actually start to do the work to heal from addiction.

Cody: We also have a number of adjunctive services that we think foster long term recovery, so we have a medical doctor, we have case management, we have drug testing, we also have individual therapy and group therapy and our hope is that people can come from the community, access services that they can find a path for recovery that fits them. Our number one philosophy at the Redpoint Center is that we’re gonna take every single thing we do, we’re gonna look at it on a case by case basis and we’re gonna get somebody the help that they need. If at any time, we don’t believe that we can help somebody, we’re going to get them to the right person and if we do believe we can help them, we are gonna do exactly that.

Cody: So, we are flexible, we are working with people, we don’t have a set idea of what recovery has to look like, we just wanna help people access the services they need. And Longmont has been desperate for that for a long time, so we’re super grateful to be there.

Gina: That’s great. And you guys are fairly new.

Cody: We are. We started working on this in October. I’d been thinking about it for a couple of years, but we started working on it in October and we opened about three weeks ago. We have had a wonderful response from the community. That’s our first and foremost goal is to be a community resource, so we’ve been working with the hospitals and with the Longmont Angels initiative, which is an organization with the Police Department where people can access the resources for treatment to provide that town the resources they need. So yeah, we have many clients, all of our services are open and running and we’re super, super grateful for that.

Gina: That’s great. Just a couple more things. So, you guys take both men and women 18 and over?

Cody: That’s correct. We are 18 and over. We will be offering by mid-summer a adolescent IOP program, Intensive Outpatient, nine hours a week. We currently have adult men and women. Again, both day treatment as well as evening treatment. They can come in for a maximum of about 25 hours of services and our minimum is about nine.

Gina: OK. That’s great.

Gina: Well, it sounds very thorough and it’s great that you guys are opening up in the Longmont area. I’m sure your program will be open to more than just those that are living in Longmont, so if folks wanted to come in it around that area, they could do that.

Cody: Absolutely. And to finalize that, yeah we do intend to have some housing opportunities for people that do need the housing, so if they’re coming from outside the area, or if they’re willing to drive from the Denver/Boulder area somewhere, that would be accessible to them.

Gina: Wonderful. Well so, let’s talk a little bit about your respective backgrounds. And so, Jay, tell us a little bit about what got you into the field of addiction treatment.

Jay: Yeah. So, I think a lot of us, I was that kid who your friend’s parents warned you about. As a kid, I made a bunch of mistakes and I was wounded from a young age and didn’t really have any other ways to deal with pain and suffering and trauma other than what was most successful to me at the time, which was drugs and alcohol.

Jay: After blowing out of a bunch of schools and getting picked up by the police and put in the drunk tank numerous times at 19, I went to treatment and really had no idea that there was a life different than what I was doing, you know? And so, I was had access to really great treatment and ultimately, like any great treatment center, great people, and so I had some really great mentors and people who showed me another way to live my life.

Jay: We all have those people who we think back to and try to emulate and take strides in their shadow and my guy was guy named Andy Pace and there’s a place in northeastern Pennsylvania called Little Creek Lodge that was modeled pretty closely after Jaywalker. The scheme wasn’t as good, but other than that, it was really 12-step focused, mental health concentration and I really got to kinda identify some different outlets of spirituality and didn’t have to think for a little while and just took some suggestions.

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Jay: That’s what they said. Like, what’s the best kept secret in AA? It’s just do what you’re told, right?

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Jay: Cody and I have talked about this on numerous occasions. I was lucky enough to have people and friends and peers and a system set up that I could really thrive within that. And over time, I went to business school, I had other aspirations in media and in tech and when I was six months out of graduating my undergraduate at CU, which was one of the gifts that I got from my sobriety … I never thought I was gonna graduate high school, right? And I was in a job interview at a place called [inaudible 00:06:21] on the Front Range and they asked me what my dream job was. And I was like, “You know, I really would love to work with people in a mental health capacity.”

Gina: And you weren’t interviewing for that?

Jay: I was interviewing on a cold call sales position for a tech company and it more surprising to me, my answer, than what it even was to them.

Gina: Sure. Yeah.

Jay: So, I went home that night and connected with Danny Conroy from AIM House and he really did an awesome job of helping mentor me and giving me an opportunity just based on willingness and just the experience of going through treatment.

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Jay: So, I’m always in debt to AIM House and that crew. And Northstar, like they’re’ all … and since then, I’ve really continued to emulate people and just finished my Master’s degree from [inaudible 00:07:21] program and graduated in May.

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Jay: Really, you know, the evolution of thought and what we hold close is always changing, but I think really, as a clinician first and foremost, and a mentor, I try to bridge the gap between 12-step and mental health and trying to see where both cases are right and integrating them is really kind of what I feel my purpose in this is.

Jay: And that’s actually the short version of all that story-

Gina: That’s great.

Jay: I’ll let Cody speak a little bit on it ’cause he’s got a great story, but yeah.

Gina: Thanks for sharing that. That’s wonderful.

Cody: Thanks, Jay. I hadn’t heard some of that, so that was kinda cool.

Cody: So similarly, I found recover in 2006. I don’t know that I was actually looking for it, but some people intervened on me and similar to Jay, I ran into a guy who has stuck in my life as a mentor and somebody that’s very special to me and he took the time to show me there was a different way to live. And I can remember being early in that process and thinking for the first time really in my adult life that I actually wanted to help people, but I didn’t know what that meant, so I started working in group homes for autistic kids, kids with conduct disorder, kids with substance issues and I did that for a couple of years and by the stroke of luck, a friend of mine when I moved back to Colorado, said I ought to go and see the probation supervisor. He had a good friendship with the person that ran the Boulder Drug Court. Went out to lunch with her and Marcy Becker was able to give me an opportunity to work in the probation department.

Cody: They had a job opening sometime later and I applied and I got the job and started as a foot in the door job, $20,000 a year, no responsibility, my sole location was to take people with felony convictions who worked in drug court and 40 hours a week helped them find jobs, which is usually one of the most missing things in treatment, and I ended up becoming a Probation Officer. I was working in Drug Court in Denver for a number of years, I was the Lead Probation Officer there where we got to start real programming for trauma, for veterans, for young adults and I credit that with being a really informative period in forms of training. Recovery is great and it’s a big part of my life, but it is not a professional skill set. It’s a really nice story for me.

Cody: The professional skill set was something I had to train and learn. And Probation was able to give me that training and I spent about five years doing that. Learning motivational interviewing, cognitive behaviorals therapy, and they sent us out to tour treatment centers and understand where we were referring clients. It was just a wonderful experience most days.

Cody: And from there, I got sucked into the private treatment world, where I have been living for the last couple of years. I’ve helped start companies, I’ve done national marketing for what I would believe is one of the top 10 treatment programs in America, I’ve toured over 500 treatment centers since then, I’ve built friendships and relationships with people all over this country and I never don’t answer the phone when somebody calls needing help. So, I get a phone call probably once a month and they say, “I need an adolescent program in rural Montana.” And I say, “Well, I don’t think that exists.” And then, I actually think about it for a minute and I go, “Wait. I might know somebody.”

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Cody: So, I’ve been very fortunate to do a lot of different things. I’ve spent time with the back end of treatment programs learning how to do the administrative side, the human resources side, so I’ve been blessed to make a career out of this and Redpoint is really the fruition of about 10 years of working with and for other people and seeing what I thought worked and what I didn’t think worked and trying to create something that really allows us to help people.

Gina: That’s great. You guys are both taking your strength, [inaudible 00:11:30] and experience and really paying it forward, which is fantastic.

Gina: Well, let’s talk for a few minutes, Cody, about the MAT program. So, Redpoint’s gonna be offering MAT. Why do you think that’s important today as we work in treatment?

Cody: I think this is a really good question, a really difficult question. Our philosophy internally is … and I’ve already said this, but we are gonna do every single thing we do on a strictly case by case basis. And if we think it is going to help somebody, we’re gonna do it. The second big line that I like to use in our company is the best idea is gonna win. So, if our doctor believes that the best idea for a participant is to be on a medication-assisted therapy regimen, we’re gonna do that. I believe fundamentally in a basic idea of keeping people alive. I believe that medication-assisted therapies can do that. I don’t think it is a black and white issue. I have wishes for the pharmaceutical companies. I wish they would publish certain studies that I could see some more research about.

Cody: But, on a real brass tacks issue, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to people in public policy circles studying this issue and the reality is there is no definitive answer for everybody. If somebody is appropriate for an abstinence-based treatment process, we’re gonna foster that. If somebody is appropriate for a medication-assisted therapy process, we’re gonna foster that.

Cody: The one thing I will say fundamentally is that if anybody goes back, it’s hard to find that because it’s been taken down, but you can still find them on the internet … the initial clinical trials for much of these medications that are on the market today were always done … they were done in Europe in the late 80’s, early 90’s … and they were always done in conjunction with a minimum of nine months of behavioral therapy. So, our goal is to provide that wrap around service. Medications can assist us greatly and I fundamentally believe that. That being said, I still think there’s always gonna be a place for behavioral and emotional therapy.

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Gina: Good point. And we support that decision as well. And I think it’s one of those things where you can’t assume that recovery and treatment expectations are gonna be the same for everybody. You know, you have to be, like you said, responsive individually. So, thank you for that feedback. That’s great.

Gina: So, Jay. Playing off the idea of the word harmony. Briefly tell us what you think it means to live a life in harmony.

Jay: Hmm. I play guitar and I was actually thinking do I know the definition of harmony? And I don’t.

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Jay: But, I think piggy backing off what Cody was talking about, harmony, in my mind I associate it with being right or in sync, right? And I think that’s one idea of how to look at it, but it’s really, as it relates to the treatment industry and what we’re doing, is operating in that kinda gray area in a way that’s ethical and in a case by case basis, how can we best serve the people that come into our lives?

Jay: I think on a personal level, harmony is, from a really basic standpoint, is doing what I say I’m gonna do, you know?

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Jay: And being in alignment with my intentions and my actions. If you can, within an organization, and this was certainly my experience of working at Harmony, it’s people of a team in an organization. You can interview a thousand different treatment centers at any given standpoint and I think it’s different when you’re rating them. Week to week, even. Because systems are important, but at a base level, who are the people that you have and what’s the culture that’s set up and how are people in harmony walking forward in a way that’s together and people are able to ask for help and people are able to make mistakes, you know? Harmonies not about just like this perfect fit. It’s like how do we operate in a competent way with what we’re giving?

Gina: Great. Thank you so much for that.

Jay: Do you have any thoughts on that?

Cody: I think that’s wonderful.

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Cody: That’s a nice way of thinking of it.

Gina: So, if someone wanted to access services at Redpoint, how could they get in touch with you, Cody?

Cody: Absolutely go and check out our web site. It’s www.theredpointcenter.com. They can find the admissions line or the contact page, they can send us an email through there, they can call us through there, there would be somebody most 24 hours of the day other than I think the dead of the morning that will be answering a call and we would schedule some time to really dive in and talk and find out what that person needs and try and help them.

Gina: Sounds great.

Gina: Well, thank you both for taking the time to come up.

Cody: Can I say one last thing?

Gina: Yes.

Cody: Thank you for having us.

Jay: Yeah, thanks Gina.

Cody: Harmony is a wonderfully transformed … I mean, Harmony has been here for 49 years.

Gina: Mm-hmm (affirmative)

Cody: In the community. Helping Colorado. And today was a lovely, lovely experience. You guys have a highly trained staff. Clearly, clearly one of the top treatment centers in the state and we are deeply, deeply indebted to that.

Gina: Well, thank you and I will share that message with others and we look forward to working with you all and seeing the great things that you’re gonna be doing in the community. So, thanks for your time up in Harmony today.

Jay: Thanks, Gina.

Cody: Thanks, Gina.

Mandatory: Making it Worthwhile by Khara Croswaite Brindle

Posted on by Christy Weeks

“I don’t want to be here. I’m not going to say anything. I don’t know. Why should I talk to you?” You may find yourself thinking or saying thoughts like these in response to pressures to engage from a program, family, or friends. Perhaps you aren’t ready to share what’s brought you here, or what the challenges are that you are facing in this moment. Perhaps you feel like your personal freedom has been taken away, your choice to participate of your own free will. Understanding that you may feel angry, resentful, or withdrawn, please consider the following in support of getting the most out of something that is identified as mandatory.

Blocking or Belonging
You may come from a different background or hold different values from those you come into contact with, so what brings people together in this process? Shared experience around homelessness, financial instability, substance abuse, conflict in relationships, or a lack support can help one feel less isolated and alone in their experience. Although each person’s story is their own, the feeling of connection to others and belonging can go a long way in having an experience feel less mandatory and more voluntary. When you observe others engaging in the program or group, you may find yourself asking:

  • Do I feel I can relate to others in the group?
  • Do I feel this community is healthy, approachable, supportive, and willing to engage me in this process?
  • Do I feel supported by staff and helping professionals to achieve my goals?
  • Do I feel comfortable opening up and working on myself in the presence of others?

For many involved in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), they speak of the community as an equally powerful element as the 12 Steps in to their ability to actively participate in their own sobriety. Due to the friendships they make, they feel they have a connection to others in ways that feel encouraging and uplifting in moments of challenge or struggle.

Building Perspective
In addition to identifying a supportive community, how you approach the experience for yourself matters. Do you have realistic expectations of what you can accomplish both short and long term? Can you set yourself up for success in your work with others? When starting this process, it is helpful to understand basic needs as the foundation for progress. Educating yourself on how basic needs such as food, safety, and shelter provide the foundation of stability gives you permission to organize goals for success. Abraham Maslow, who identified this relationship in the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, emphasizes that only when basic needs are met can one focus on higher work around self-esteem, sobriety, and relationships.

Relational Rapport
When exploring relationships, research tells us that therapeutic rapport accounts for more than any other factor when measuring progress towards goals set in therapy. In other words, the therapeutic relationship, unconditional positive regard, and power of feeling seen, heard, understood, and supported has positive results on goal progression. If your past experience involves trust or mistrust, being aware of how therapy and/or relationships have helped or hindered you in the past can put current resistance and reluctance in perspective. A few questions that you may find helpful at ask at the first meeting with a helping professional include:

  • What kinds of clients have you worked with before?
  • How do you work with people who are uncomfortable with therapy?
  • What do you do with feedback from clients?
  • What can I expect from working with you?

All of these questions encourage healthy discussion around the therapeutic process and can provide insight into expectations and measurable goals when engaging a helping professionalin your own growth process.

Mandatory can feel restrictive and stressful when viewed as a loss of control or freedom. What better way to reframe it than to ask yourself, what can make it worthwhile?

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Dr. Wayne Dyer

Khara Croswaite Brindle, MA, LPC, ACS, is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the Lowry Neighborhood of Denver, Colorado. She received her Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of Denver with a focus on community based mental health. Khara has experience working with at-risk youth and families, including collaboration with detention, probation, and the Department of Human Services. Khara enjoys working with young adults experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, relational conflict, self-esteem challenges, and life transitions.

 

The First Call Is Always the Hardest: It Makes All The Difference by Justin Barclay

Posted on by Christy Weeks

I was 29 years old when I went to treatment. It was a nudge from a Judge that drove me to my first introduction to Harmony Foundation when I called asking for help. At that time I couldn’t imagine my life without alcohol, but I did know that I didn’t want to be miserable anymore. Alcohol may have taken away the bad feelings, but it certainly did not take away the misery, it was an unwanted houseguest that had moved in and was planning to stay.

I will never forget that first call. I was scared, uncertain and feeling hopeless. Sharon, a former Union Boilermaker, originally from Pittsburgh, was my lifeline to my new life in recovery. Sharon was kind and understanding, she eliminated barriers, was honest, and insightful. I had tried different feeble attempts of getting sober that all involved managing and moderation. When it was all said and done, Sharon was quick to point out that everything I tried wasn’t working and said, “Try this!” She added that I was allowed to try things once in my life and never have to try them again if I didn’t like it. So, I tried, came to Harmony and by the grace of my God of my understanding, I haven’t found it necessary to pick up a drink or a drug since that phone call.

Whether you’re a friend, family member or just desperately in despair looking for help, making that first call can be overwhelming. Many people perceive addiction treatment likened to Jack Nicholson in “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” In truth, most addiction treatment is not straightjackets, lockdown facilities and Nurse Ratchet’s.

In fact, good addiction treatment and working with someone in admissions is built on compassion, empathy, strength and guidance. As a person in recovery who went through the admissions process, I can say that the first call makes all the difference.

What can you expect when calling for help? First and foremost you should expect to be treated with dignity and respect. Someone who is willing to answer every question you have. You should expect to be valued enough as an individual that your questions will be answered honestly even if the Admission Staff knows the truthful answer may not be what you want to hear. Remember, you are making a call to save your life not giving someone on the other end an opportunity to close a deal. Insurance does not pay for flights, waving of fees and deductible only means that the revenue has to be made up from somewhere or someone else, that someone else could be you. If services provided and allowable items are different on the phone than the programs website, you have a right and self-responsibility to ask why the difference without being challenged. One of the most critical elements to a successful treatment experience is honesty. This critical element will be missing if the admission process revolves around any kind of dishonesty. You should also expect to work with an organization that will inform you if they cannot meet your needs and they will provide you with direction to programs they have a collaborative relationship with to best meet your needs.

Today, I am an Admissions Manager and since my first and only admission all those years ago, I have been given the good fortune to not just experience the admission process once, or twice, or even 100 times but thousands of times. I remind myself on every call how I was treated on that first call with Sharon, and I am committed daily to respond the way she did. People calling, no matter what the motivator, just want to be heard without judgment and respected. Admissions staff is the first impression of the organization they establish the trust necessary for the individual to begin a process of a willingness to change. Being dishonest, pushy and unclear about expectations sets everyone up for failure.

Each time I work with an individual or family, it is a privilege to be the resource that helps them begin their new journey of sobriety. No two admissions are the same. I honor and respect the clients allowing them to experience their own journey with the admissions process the same as I was.

So as you consider treatment and you inquire about what program is the best fit for you. Remember that that person on the other line may have the one thing you need to help you begin again. One thing I can say that is true for me, every time I try anything that involves the admission process, I learn from it, I grow from it, and most of all I love it.

Podcast Series: Amate Institute Boulder

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Gina Thorne: Hi everyone, welcome to the Harmony Foundation podcast series and I’m pleased today to be joined with Eva Malanowski, a clinical psychologist with the Amate Institute in Boulder. Welcome.

Dr. Malanowski: Thank you so much and I’m happy to be here, Gina.

Gina Thorne: We are too. We’re really interested in hearing more about the Amate Institute, but before we do that let’s talk a little bit about your background and why and how did you get into the field and doing what you do.

Dr. Malanowski: Okay, sure, I’d be glad to do that. I’m a clinical psychologist, I have over 18 years of experience, much of it has been in helping people recover from trauma. I grew up in Boulder, Colorado, and growing up here I saw so much substance abuse going on. I remember going to a party for a friend of mine to go to rehab, it was a going away to rehab party and we were both at the age of 13, and of course it was a drinking party.

Gina Thorne: That’s interesting, I haven’t heard of one of those. I guess that’s Boulder.

Dr. Malanowski: I know, it’s Boulder. So I have seen alcohol so often used by people suffering from unresolved trauma, unresolved abuse that happened, or traumatic events that they went through, PTSD, war situations, I’ve worked with a lot of veterans. I just knew that this needed to be part of my work, I needed to address this because it’s such a prevalent issue. A lot of the work I’ve done is inpatient work in inpatient hospitals, PTSD units.

Dr. Malanowski: I did work as the Director of the Aspen Counseling Center and I oversaw the IOP program there. I’ve also worked in the prison system where I worked with a lot of men who had sexual and pornography addictions, and they would often use alcohol to deal with the shame and guilt that they felt from what they were doing and why they were there. I have a lot of experience working with both trauma as well as co-occurring mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse.

Gina Thorne: It’s interesting because it sounds like you’ve really covered the full spectrum in working with all populations. It sounds to me like this issue of trauma is not unique to one unique population that it really does go hand in hand for just about anybody that’s struggling with addiction.

Dr. Malanowski: Yes. I would say that’s true. I think 60% of adults at least have had some kind of significant trauma in their life that they’re dealing with. It’s not just having a trauma, it’s what kind of support a person had when they went through the traumatic event. So for one person, and they may have had a very supportive adult in their life that provided them with that love and security that they needed to get through the trauma, somebody else may not have had that. It really depends on not just what happened but the surrounding support that the person had.

Gina Thorne: And the coping skills that they may have whether it’s very small or quite big really does have an impact on how they respond.
Dr. Malanowski: Yes, very true.

Gina Thorne: You launched the Amate Institute Boulder and this was born from the work with Susan Horton.

Dr. Malanowski: Correct, yes.

Gina Thorne: I know you and I spoke about Susan Horton at one point. Trained in, they call the Amate Growth model. Can you describe for listeners what this means as it relates to emotional maturity?

Dr. Malanowski: Yes, I’d be happy to. The Amate Growth Work method is based on the idea that we get stuck in our emotional development due to traumatic situations. Again, where we didn’t have that love and security we needed, some kind of supportive environment to get through that trauma. What happens is the person stops feeling safe enough to go out there and continue to take the risks that are necessary for them to continue to grow, and they kind of retreat.

Dr. Malanowski: If you imagine like a snail in a shell, like they start building a shell around themselves and they retreat into that shell and start basically hiding from the world. So when they’re not going out there and taking those emotional risks, they are no longer growing. Depending on at what point that trauma happened, the stoppage happened, that would be the emotional maturity age that they would be stuck at. That might be the age of six or it might be the age of 13, and then that person continues to try to navigate their life.

Dr. Malanowski: They’re continuing to grow up mentally and physically, but they’re trying to navigate their life from the perspective of an emotional six-year-old or an emotional 13-year-old, and you can see how that doesn’t work so well. As they continue to grow, because they experienced more trauma and more hurt, their shell continues to grow and get harder and harder. The emotional dysfunction comes more apparent the older they get. It might be cute and funny at the age of 20, at the age of 40 it’s-

Gina Thorne: Not so much.

Dr. Malanowski: … not so much.

Gina Thorne: How does that play a part in what you do with treatment or with therapy with folks around Amate? You’ve created sort of this understanding that you’ve got this almost arrested emotional development that happens due to some sort of trauma-based experience. What’s the work that you do to kind of help move them to that level of emotional maturity?

Dr. Malanowski: The process of Amate Growth Work is a three phase program. In the first phase that’s really that part where we helped the emotional self grow up, and it’s a process called inner work where we really get through the subconscious blocks and go to the depth of the, the inner … Can I start over? Sorry.

Gina Thorne: Yes. When you’re talking about the process of your Amate work with clients that have had this sort of arrested development emotionally, what is it that you’re doing with clients to help them move past that?

Dr. Malanowski: In the first phase of Amate Growth Work we’re doing a process called Inner Work. Inner Work is the process of actually helping that inner self, an inner child grow up and it’s a very systematic process, so step-by-step we helped the inner child be able to reconnect. We reconnect with the inner child and we rework those traumatic situations as they come up, so the person actually naturally has the ability to heal themselves.

Dr. Malanowski: I’m more of a catalyst for the work so I’m not doing the work for them. I’m a facilitator, and a catalyst and I help them along with it. We stop phase one of the work when the person actually becomes emotionally the same age as they are biologically. That’s the end of phase one and then we move into the phase two where they’re trying out now their grown up self to go out and take those emotional risks that they really didn’t do before because they had been stuck and they had been living in that shell.

Dr. Malanowski: Now they’re going out into the world trying things out while they continue to have the support of myself in figuring out how to navigate these now adult situations that they hadn’t learned before.

Gina Thorne: It sounds very appropriate that you create this sort of one and two process because once they get to that point where they’re now emotionally at their biological age, it can be scary. I can imagine having them now move into the world at this age that they haven’t really lived out for such a long time.

Dr. Malanowski: Exactly, really that’s just the beginning. Once they’re out there the work really never ends. Then we do have the third phase which is the aftercare, so this is after they’ve gone through some experiences and actually have reached some challenges where they even reach a state of emotional overwhelm, and I teach them a process of complete surrender. They’re also learning how to connect with their inner guidance, so it’s a very spiritually based approach.

Gina Thorne: That’s one thing about you that I’ve really come to enjoy is that you’ve got a very deep sense of spirituality that you incorporate into your practice which is great. I’m gonna skip around a little bit but playing off the idea of the word harmony. What do you think it means to live a life in harmony?

Dr. Malanowski: To me, harmony is about balance, and it’s really living a life of balance and peace. I think that happens when you reach emotional maturity, and you’re really listening to that inner guidance that I mentioned. No matter how challenging what the inner guidance leads you to do, you are able to step into that and do it. I think living a life of harmony is also about being in harmony with others around you and your world, and so it’s not just for yourself, but when you’re living an emotionally mature life, you’re thinking about others and you’re thinking about what is my purpose here, and how am I impacting this planet?

Dr. Malanowski: This is what I love about harmony, your center here it’s just in such a beautiful place. I always think of harmony as also harmony with nature, and this place just has such good energy and a wonderful connection to nature. I think when you come up here you just get this wonderful sense of clarity, and the clouds kind of move away and you really start to see, okay, what is my purpose here? Why am I here? What am I really meant to do with my life?

Gina Thorne: Thank you for that, that’s a great response. If someone were listening today and they wanted to access services at the Amate Boulder Institute, how could they get in touch with you?

Dr. Malanowski: They can call me directly at 303-242-7824 and I’d be happy to set up a free consultation with them either by phone or in person.

Gina Thorne: Well, thank you Eva for taking the time to visit us today, it was good to talk with you.

Dr. Malanowski: Thank you so much and I’m happy to be here.

Visit www.amateinstitute.com for more information.

Podcast Series: Dylan Rivard, MA, LPC

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Gina Thorne: Hi everyone. Welcome to the Harmony Foundation Podcast Series. I’m please today to be joined with Dylan Rivard who’s in private practice out of Golden and Boulder, Colorado. Welcome.

Dylan Rivard: Thank you. It’s great to be here.

Gina Thorne: Really excited to have you on campus today. Before we get into some details about your practice and what you do, we’d like to learn a little bit more about you first, so let’s talk about your background. How did you get into this field?

Dylan Rivard: Yeah. For me, it really started in working at summer camps in Vermont. It was not specifically therapeutic. It’s was just something to keep me busy between semesters in college. While I was there, I just discovered a fundamental shift in myself. I really like who I was living simply, being so connected to the earth and the woods, and saw that change both in my coworkers, the kids I worked with at this camp. I didn’t know exactly what that meant or how to pursue that. It didn’t really seem like a legit career, right? I just want to be a professional camp counselor.

Gina Thorne: That would be fun.

Dylan Rivard: Right. But then in pursuing it and looking at my options, I actually got an email from my dad pointing towards a masters in wilderness therapy at Naropa University out in Boulder, Colorado, and it was just perfect. It was the exact grad program I could have wanted. It was specifically designed for me, it felt like. And that is what kind of set me on the path.

Gina Thorne: That’s wonderful. I have to say, I was camp counselor as well, actually at Durango, Colorado. I wanted to figure out how can make this a life career myself.

Dylan Rivard: Nice.

Gina Thorne: So, I completely understand what you’re talking about.

Dylan Rivard: Yeah.

Gina Thorne: When I went to your website, I was really impressed by this modality that you have. You have this sort of three prong approach that you work with, but the thing that really stood out for me was that you’re trained in Hakomi, a Hopi Indian word that means how do you relate to all things, also called core therapy. For those of us that are new to this entire practice, can you describe what that means? And more specifically, what these five principles are and how you apply those to the work that you do in your practice.

Dylan Rivard: Sure. Really, the place to start with that is what it means to be a core therapy. As people, and we grow up, often there are incidence in our lives, often when we are very young, where we make some decisions about the world, about people, about ourselves, and these become what we could call core beliefs. Often, later in life, these become completely unconscious. We have not idea they’re running the show, but they’re there.

Dylan Rivard: Sometimes, people experience them in things like, in every relationship, not matter what’s happening, I don’t feel good enough, or I’ve got to stay busy all the time, if there’s open space for whatever reason, I get really anxious, so I just don’t even hangout there, we’re just going to skip right over that. Hakomi is specifically designed to drill into those types of experiences, those types of beliefs. Ultimately, the pain of those experiences, whatever set those up, that will probably never change, but the decisions we made about them, that’s where we really get to have some choice, and maybe even create more options in our lives versus how we’ve been running the whole show.

Dylan Rivard: The five principles of Hakomi, the framework through which we approach all those beliefs is mindfulness. It’s really about studying your experience from the inside out. I might offer some experiment or word, and really the emphasis then is on studying what happens. Suddenly, there’s tension and fear in my chest when you say that, or there are immediately thoughts like, that’s never going to happen. We get to learn more about that in that. I kind of pointed to this, there’s also a focus on a mind body connection, that everything that’s running your behavioral program has some relationship to your body, whether it be gestures or an internal felt sense. We really use that to move out of what’s kind of ordinary consciousness and start to access those realms that are a little more subconscious.

Dylan Rivard: In addition to that, there’s also this principle of nonviolence. Hakomi is not looking at blasting you through whatever the beliefs are, getting you to the other side. It’s really about honoring that whatever is there, it was put there for a really good reason. Actually, a classic Hakomi experiment is actually to just help you do those defenses more, to kind of take that over for you so you get a change to see, what’s it like from the inside of this? Do you get to have a different experience when someone else gets to take that protection for you?

Gina Thorne: Oh, that’s interesting.

Dylan Rivard: Yeah.

Gina Thorne: Really very fascinating. I think it obviously goes in line with your philosophy of what you do within your practice, which is really focusing on counseling wilderness, and also interesting was ceremony. Ceremony is always something that people equate to and they talk about religion, or they’re talking about spirituality. How would you look at that piece as it relates to the work that you’re doing?

Dylan Rivard: For me, I feel like spirituality is central to actually experiencing. A lot of what Hakomi points to is that internal sense of ourselves, that internal world that actually drives everything. And largely in our culture, it’s not given a lot of space. It’s really focused on external achievement, external presentation, but at the end of the day, the things people struggle with most, particularly in the realm of mental health, are these feelings of worthlessness, these feelings of fear, these feelings of emptiness, which are ultimately spiritual experiences. For me, that’s where spirituality feels really like core and central. I don’t mean to define that as any type of particular religion or a particular practice, but more about, how do you relate to your internal experience, and finding ways that actually can create a sense of fulfillment, connection, excitement. These are really things that are our birthright. Human practices have been around since the beginning of humanity. I know in our modern culture, it’s often true for people that those types of things have become really estranged or really distant.

Gina Thorne: And we do, we just disconnect ourselves from it because it’s uncomfortable or it’s not familiar, so we don’t know how to align ourselves with it, and that’s probably where we see a lot of addiction popping in too. Well, thank you for sharing that. That’s very interesting. You have a very unique practice. Just out of curiosity, I’m playing off this idea of harmony because you’re visiting with us from outside. What did it mean to you to live a life in harmony?

Dylan Rivard: It goes back similar to what the Hakomi word means. My mind goes right to, how do I relate to all things, both in the outer world, the people in my life, the nature in my life, but also all of those parts of myself that are online. For a lot of people, if you’ve not really examined yourself, it’s really easy to gloss over those or not even know they’re there, but any one point is like some little three year old inside of me. It was always looking for safety or those parts of myself that feel embarrassed or ashamed, it’s like all of these different things live inside me, and I think harmony is really about having the ability to open to each of those experiences. See them for what they are and not have to get rid of them or change them, but actually be able to work in cooperation with them.

Dylan Rivard: I think a lot of mental suffering comes from people identifying some of these parts, but then immediately going towards, I’ve got to get rid of it. I’ve got to change it. It’s got to be something different, and that’s actually in some way kind of violence towards yourself from yourself.

Gina Thorne: Yeah, you’re right.

Dylan Rivard: There’s really a much more powerful stance that I think where true healing happens where we get to accept those parts of ourselves that we feel like are kind of ugly, or unwanted, or maybe we’re a little less proud of.

Gina Thorne: Which actually makes part of who we are, right?

Dylan Rivard: Right. It’s part of our uniqueness.

Gina Thorne: That’s right.

Dylan Rivard: Often, they contain seeds of our superpowers or greatness as well.

Gina Thorne: It’s hard for people to see it that way because we’re always so focused on the negative and looking at the defects, but not really recognizing that those are actually a part of what makes us so special. That’s very interesting.

Gina Thorne: Dylan, if someone wanted to access your services, your amazing services that you offer, how could they connect with you?

Dylan Rivard: Yeah. Feel free to give me a call and setup an initial consult. That number is 720-633-4311. If you’re also curious and don’t know if you want work with me or not, just want more of a flavor, feel free to go to my website. It’s just my name.com. That’s dylanrivard.com.

Gina Thorne: Wonderful. It was good to have you on campus today. Thank you for coming.

Dylan Rivard: Thank you. It’s been a really wonderful visit. I very much enjoyed it.

 

 

Caring for the Queer or Transgender Person in Recovery by Luca Pax

Posted on by Christy Weeks

The Center for American Progress reports that between 20-30% of transgender people struggle with addiction compared to an estimated 9% of the general population. This statistic is significant for those of us who are transgender, and for those of us who support transgender people in our lives. As family members and care providers, even if we have good intentions in caring for queer or transgender people in recovery, we may need to intentionally adjust our actions, in order to have a positive impact.

What can I do as a provider?

Ask, Affirm
When a transgender person shares an intimate part of their identity with you, honor and affirm their identity by using their correct name, pronouns, honorifics, and gendered or non-gendered terms when referring to them. If you ask someone their gender identity or pronouns, do so in a way that is not interrogative or invasive, but rooted in trust and relationship. Make it a normal practice to share your own gender pronouns, and to ask others’, so that transgender folks are not as singled out, or put into vulnerable situations.

Listen, Believe
If you are given the opportunity to learn more about the identities that your client holds, listen to their self-definition and believe what they share with you. Know that LGBTQIAP+ identities are valid and real, and that people who hold these identities deserve to be trusted in their self-knowledge. Remember that each individual is the expert on their own identity, and challenging or disrespecting a client about a marginalized identity contributes to their lack of safety.

Include, Support
As care providers, our first commitment is to do no harm. Keep this in mind for transgender clients when making room pairings and restroom designations in residential treatment. Consider using inclusive language in your policies and procedures, and in your new client paperwork. Making these changes may require us to deconstruct our own social conditioning about gender norms and stereotypes, in order to best respond to transgender clients’ assessment of their safety. We may also find ourselves in a position to educate, when confronted with discomfort that may arise for cisgender staff or clients.

What can I do as a friend or family member?

Your love and support matters! The 2012 Trans PULSE Project study shows that transgender people with a parent who is supportive of their identity experiences a decrease in attempted suicide rates from 57% to 4%. With a supportive parent, these subjects’ sense of self-esteem increases from 13% to 64%, and their overall life satisfaction increases from 33% to 72%.

Caring for our queer and trans family members in recovery means ensuring that our respect and love for them continues, unaffected by their transition or identities. We can lift some of their burden by explicitly supporting them in the choices they may make to transition or “come out” socially, legally, and/or medically.

As family and loved ones of transgender people in recovery, it is important for us to educate ourselves about what our loved one may be experiencing. It is equally important that we work to maintain clear and healthy boundaries, and that we prioritize our own self-care.

You may consider joining an Al-Anon or ACA group, and utilizing resources from organizations like PFLAG or Trans Youth Education & Support of Colorado (TYES). You may also consider picking up recommended reading like the WPATH Standards of Care, PFLAG’s Trans support publications, and publications by other addiction treatment providers.

For the transgender or queer person seeking recovery, I am here to reassure you that there is community who understands you. Whether you connect with other LGBTQIAP+ folks virtually, through social gatherings, or while receiving therapeutic care, recovering in relationship with others who love and support you is possible.

If you know the pain of isolation, you deserve to discover that freedom is available to you. Connection with people who have walked a similar path as you, and sharing honestly with others, can be your ticket to a life unbound by addiction, and rich in resources that affirm and sustain the health of your truest self.

There will be times when we, as queer or transgender people in recovery, feel very alone. Whether this is a result of an addiction, our environment, or the weight of simply being who we are in a world that often creates no space for us – know that there are people waiting to undertake this work and journey alongside you.

There are many tips online for how you can take small steps throughout your day to regulate and find relief (like 8 Mental Health Tips for Queer & Trans POC, and 5 Awesome, Immediate Self-Care Resources For When You Feel Like Actual Garbage).

You can also get connected to Queer Asterisk Therapeutic Services, a non-profit organization in Colorado run by queer and trans professional therapists and educators who provide queer-informed counseling services, community programming, and educational trainings to promote the inner wellness and social connectivity of queer and trans people. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and sign up for our monthly newsletter, to learn more!

Luca Pax (they/their/them), who is nonbinary transgender, holds a BA in Education and Peace Studies from Naropa University, and works as Director of Community Relations for Queer Asterisk Therapeutic Services.

Edited by RP Whitmore-Bard, Communications Specialist.

Queer Asterisk Therapeutic Services advocates for the importance of excellent individual and community-based mental health treatment for queer and trans folks. Our therapists and educators partner with healthcare providers to ensure that queer and trans clients receive the most inclusive, highest quality of care possible.
We have offices in Denver, Boulder, and Longmont, Colorado.

Reference our Etiquette Guide & Glossary of Terms to support your education.

Podcast Series: Northstar Transitions

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Located in Boulder, CO, Northstar Transitions is a licensed and Joint Commission-accredited facility that serves men, women and families seeking a robust continuum of care for drug and alcohol use disorders.

Gina:   Hi, everyone. Welcome to the Harmony Foundation Podcast Series. I’m pleased today to be joined with Mike [Ferrell 00:00:05] and Bre [Walt 00:00:05] with Northstar Transitions out of Boulder, Colorado. Welcome.

Mike:   Thank you.

Bre:      Thank you.

Gina:   Good to have you both here. Before we dive into who Northstar is, lets talk a little bit about your backgrounds and what got you into the field of addiction treatment. We’ll start with you first, Mike.

Mike:   Okay. Yeah, so I got into the field of addiction treatment after college. I had gotten sober when I was 21, so that’s what got me interested. Throughout college, I worked on my own personal recovery, I went to 12-step meetings, and when I graduated college, I started working for another treatment center as a tech. I really enjoyed my work, and it was kind of a natural transition into starting my own program, trying to help people. I’ve been doing that for the past six years or so now.

Gina:   That’s great.

Mike:   Yeah.

Gina:   Giving back. How about you, Bre?

Bre:      I’ve always been fascinated in psychology. I majored in psychology at CSU, and I also have struggled through my own recovery with an eating disorder. My brother is in recovery from substances. The addiction part of this field was always kind of where I wanted to end up. I made my way through working with psych hospitals and other treatment centers, and now I’m here with Northstar.

Gina:   That’s great.

Bre:      Yeah.

Gina:   Well, we’re glad you’re both here. So, let’s talk a little bit about Northstar. Northstar has this really great continuum care. It starts off with a social detox and soon residential. We’re going to be talking for a few minutes about that. But you currently have day treatment and IOP. Bre, can you tell us a little bit about the services? If someone were interested in treatment at Northstar, what would they expect when they would come into your program?

Bre:     Sure. We are going to be expanding the residential program. Currently, we have seven beds for men, which they can have the social detox, as well as the residential level there. The residential level is really kind of a stabilization period to get re-acclimated to being a sober person. It’s a lot of grounding skills. They spend about 30 days in that level of care, and then they transition into our day program, which is 30 hours a week. They can either live in our sober living. We have currently four men, hopefully soon to be women as well. Or they can live at home and commute. But a big piece of our programming is experiential, so we try and incorporate a lot of hands-on experiences, as well as the CBT, DBT, and trauma processing that we’re doing in group.

Gina:   You guys are obviously primed to be in a great location in Boulder, where you can take advantage of a lot of the outdoor experiential. Have you taken advantage of that and used it?

Bre:     Yes. Our PHP clinician, Robin, she is a former wilderness therapist, so she uses the outdoors as much as possible. That’s really great for our clients as they move through their journey to be able to have those familiar places with sober experiences there too.

Gina:   Great, great.

Bre:     Yes.

Gina:   So, we had the pleasure last year of having [Fatina Cannon 00:03:04], who’s the clinical director for the Northstar IOP program here, and she spent time talking about working with young adults. Obviously, with her experience, it seems to me that you all lean into working with young adults. Can you talk a little bit about what that looks like?

Mike:   Sure, yeah. Being that we’re in a college town in Boulder, we naturally had a younger clientele. We decided in our early years that we were going to focus on young adults, so we initially limited the age range to 18 to 30 years old. We recently kind of expanded into treating anyone over the age of 18 that has a substance abuse disorder, but we remain focused and have a track essentially that treats young adults, where young adults are primarily the ones that are in our sober living homes. We have a morning IOP that tends to still be the 18-to-30-year-old range. A lot of our clients that are taking a leave of absence from CU Boulder or from another college, they tend to be in our PHP programming, whereas our evening IOP, which is on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 5:30 to 8:30, tends to skew a little bit older. It’s people that are in school full-time, have full-time jobs, are parents, and have childcare responsibilities during the day. They’re able to come in the evening and do IOP in the evening.

Gina:   That’s great that you have that flexibility for clients because there are some programs that don’t have that as a resource. So, you have something coming up that’s pretty exciting. This spring, you’re going to be opening up a new residential program. It’s called the Lodge.

Mike:   Yeah.

Gina:   Tell us a little bit more about that.

Mike:   The Lodge at Northstar is something that we’re very, very excited about. It’s a 6,000-square-foot lodge facility. It’s located on 53 acres. It’s about, I think, 10 miles west of Boulder, near a town called Jamestown. Like I said, it’s on 53 acres. It’s surrounded by thousands of acres of national forest.

The types of things that we hope to offer there are equine therapy, ropes course, sweat lodge. We hope to be able to use the landscape to do snow-shoeing and hikes during the day and be able to hold group outside on nice days. On cold and snowy days, we hope to be able to hold group inside by the fireplace. We’re going to have a full gym there. We’re going to have a massage therapist come in, acupuncturist. We really hope to provide just a safe container for people to get away from the city, to get away from distractions and thinking about jobs and other responsibilities that they’re going to have, so that they can just focus solely on their recovery for a 28 or 30-day period before they come down into our transitional housing.

Gina:   It’s great to have additional resources because there’s such a need out there.

Mike:   Yeah.

Gina:   We’re happy that you guys are going to be doing that.

Mike:   Oh, thank you.

Gina:   It helps with some of the pressure. So, Bre, Northstar is a friend of Harmony. Can you share a little bit about your experiences in working with Harmony?

Bre:     Yeah. Harmony’s been wonderful for us because … well, for many reasons. But we need to refer out frequently for medical detox because the social sub-acute detox is what we offer, so you guys have been wonderful for us to refer up to that level of care. Also, right now, while we’re in transition to opening a women’s residential, to have people come up here and be in that residential level of care has been phenomenal. And we’re not that far away, so even better.

Gina:   No, we’re almost neighbors, which is great.

Bre:     Yes.

Gina:   If someone were listening today, and they wanted to access services at Northstar Transitions, how could they get in touch with you?

Bre:     You would call our admissions team: 303-558-6400. You can also call me personally to talk through the programming, ask questions. We can talk through insurance as well. My cell phone number is 720-422-2998.

Gina:   Great. Well, thank you both for taking the time to visit with us.

Mike:   Thank you.

Bre:      Thank you.

For More Information About Northstar Transitions:
http://northstartransitions.com/

 

Movement and Recovery

Posted on by Christy Weeks
Walt Hester

by Walt Hester

I came into recovery, like so many, with extremely low self-esteem. The joke in recovery is that I didn’t think much of myself, but I was all I thought of. While I entered my 12-step fellowship immediately, it took me years to realize that one good habit I brought with me would serve me and my recovery for years to come.

The founder of The Phoenix, Scott Strode, states that something happens when we partake in athletic endeavors early in recovery. As we begin achieving goals, our self-esteem improves. As this happens, our identity shifts. We are no longer defined by the substance or disease that nearly killed us. We are no longer addicts. We become people in recovery; Survivors.

This is not an automatic event, not a switch that is thrown. This attitude takes time. It also takes more than movement. Exercise is not a replacement for the 12 Steps or therapy. Exercise is an adjunct, another tool in our recover toolbox. This, as it turns out, is something with which most addicts, in recovery or not, can identify; if one is good, more is better.

Exercise can by meditative. When one is hanging off of a rock face, forearms pumped, grip wavering, all one thinks of is the next handhold. The same is true with swimming or cycling or running. Just get through the next movement. This keeps us in the here and now in ways that we had not been capable of in the past. We don’t worry about the mistakes of the past or the mysteries of the future.

Similarly, movement can be a form of prayer. Perhaps there is an issue, a problem or challenge that I will take onto the bike during a long ride or even a walk with my family. The movement seems to lubricate those parts of my mind that help me solve the issue. I could explain the science, but then you would click on to something, anything, else. Just trust me on this.

Movement, exercise, athletics, can also promote fellowship. Many addicts, myself included, isolated in the latter stages of the disease. Shame and resentment drove me away from family and friends. Like the 12-Step programs, finding groups of like-minded people to share this experience helps us to break out of that isolation. We build friendships instead of walls. We relearn how to be a part of a community, instead of a part from. This promotes that sense of belonging that we craved but seemed incapable of before. It also begins to promote accountability. Like exercise, if one feels obligated to show up, one is more likely to follow through.

Exercise improves the bodies and brains of people recovering from addiction. It is also so much more. Our minds clear and our spirits are lifted as we lift more, run faster and climb higher. We feel better about ourselves as we encourage others to reach their goals. It’s another recovery tool. We can never have too much of that.

Podcast Series: Colorado Center for Clinical Excellence with Josh Rudder

Posted on by Christy Weeks

Gina:                     Hi everyone, welcome to the Harmony Foundation Podcast Series, and it’s my pleasure to be joined with Josh Rudder, who’s with the Colorado Center for Clinical Excellence. Welcome Josh.

Josh:                      Hi Gina, thanks.

Gina:                     It’s good to have you here.

Josh:                      Yeah, good to be here.

Gina:                     So, we’re really interested in hearing more about the center and what your specific work is, but before we do that, let’s talk a little bit about your background, and what got you into the field of behavioral health.

Josh:                      Yeah, good question. Kind of a long story, but I’ll try to keep it pithy. I experienced behavioral health first hand as a person finding my way in this world, and I guess long story short is, I found help where I didn’t think I would, and it changed my life, and somewhere along the way I was, “I wanna do this.”

And I followed a trail of breadcrumbs, one step after another, finally to a point where I could get some skills, where my skills could catch up with the intent, and my life is really improved dramatically and I just feel like I’m in the right place and so, I found myself here at the Colorado Center, working with people in recovery and addiction, and recovery from complex trauma and all sorts of difficult predicaments.

Gina:                     So you said, “Yes,” it sounds like you just kept saying, “Yes,” and it just kept moving you in the right direction?

Josh:                      Yeah, I did say, “Yes.” I had a friend who described it in his journey, of standing at the edge of the pool, and the pool had no water in it and he was gonna take a leap and trust that it would be filled. And somehow that struck a chord with me because I would say yes, and I had no evidence that this would actually work out, or I was doing the right thing. And sometimes there will be no evidence, and I had to trust and it’s working out really well.

Gina:                     I’m so glad. Well we’re certainly glad to have you part of the Harmony family. As we move into talking about the center, and what you all do, you’re one of nine providers within the center, correct?

Josh:                      Correct.

Gina:                     And you have this unique evidence-based approach that you do call FIT, feedback-informed treatment, and that was new for me, so I’m sure for some listeners it’s probably new for them as well. Can you describe what this FIT concept is about?

Josh:                      Yeah, absolutely, and I wanna say it’s not totally unique to us, there is a national and international body that practices, there’s a lot of evidence, there’s just nobody in our area. So, yeah, feedback-informed treatment is a thing that unifies our entire practice of individual clinicians, and no matter how we work the treatment process, no matter what our education background training is, this unifies us, and the feedback-informed treatment model is a way for us to measure outcomes and the alliance with the therapist, because all evidence, all results are local. So if all nine of us did the same treatment protocol, the results would be different, because it follows the therapist.

A lot of people know that, but how do we actually account for that? So we use ultra-brief measures that have been validated with a big enough sample size to really understand the affect, and we track how people are doing in therapy and then we track the alliance at the end of every session.

Gina:                     That’s fantastic, and it’s great because for somebody who’s looking for treatment, often times there’s this big question mark of, is this actually gonna work? You know, is this really gonna provide any kind of real value to me. But the fact that you are creating accountability for yourselves and building in this FIT model, you’re providing reassurance to your clients, to your patients, and letting them know that, we want you to be successful and here’s what we’re creating.  I wish we saw more of that happening, but I don’t think we do as much.

Josh:                      Yeah, and it makes sense, and I would say two things in response to that is that, the response that I’ve received and generally we receive is one of real interest and appreciation almost like fresh air, “Oh, we’re gonna do this together? Wow.” So that’s really cool. And then there’s also some trepidation as a provider. I’m gonna be asking somebody, and creating this culture of feedback, where I’m gonna be asking, “Am I doing okay? Am I doing well?”

And that can be really revealing.

Gina:                     A good thing though because it takes away some of that power differential too, so it helps the client feel like this is a collaborative effort, and that it’s not just about clinicians being up here, and the client being down here.

Well, it’s a really impressive model and I’m really taken by that. I also learned on your website that you have a multi-dimensional approach to treatment within the center. Can you talk a little bit about how does the practice work to streamline services for individuals seeking help? So if someone were calling in, because you’ve got this great approach with all these different clinicians that are doing different things, how do you all discern which clinician is the best clinician for that client?

Josh:                      Yeah, great question. I think the first thing that I appreciate about the model and the group itself, the Colorado Center, is that we actually meet weekly as a group. A lot of the group therapy-type of agencies will share resources but not take the time out of their day, out of seeing clients, out of seeing patients, out of running groups, whatever it is, to actually meet together. So we have a clinical meeting, we talk to each other, we understand. Even when we don’t want to.

So we know about each other, we know how we practice and, as much as we can, we know how the other people feel in the group, which is really important in treatment. So when someone calls in, we have somebody that’s dedicated each month that’s a clinician, that understands how to do intakes and also understands the rest of the group, so will do the phone screen, will schedule the intake, and generally will refer in-house as appropriate for the best potential fit.

And then having so many providers, if after a couple of sessions it’s not right, we see that in the feedback measures, then we can fire ourselves.

Gina:                     And re-direct them somewhere else.

Josh:                      And re-direct in a way that’s kind, warm, that’s in alignment with the person’s goals, and we’ll do it collaboratively of course. But we don’t wanna get to a point where we need this outcome, we need this client. We don’t wanna be invested in me only, having this result for this person.

Gina:                     That’s great, and that speaks to the ethics of the organization as far as looking at what’s the best need for the client, at the end of the day. Which not a lot of people are open to, but I certainly see where you’re coming from.

So this is your first visit to Harmony. What are your thoughts?

Josh:                      Yeah, I knew of Harmony, and kinda through the grapevine and being in the recovery world, especially. And so I had this preformed notion, and I kinda already held it as the gold standard.

Gina:                     Oh, thank you.

Josh:                      And so you had a high bar, and I think so far I can say honestly it’s lived up to that. My first impression is that it’s a warm inviting space. I know that’s something that I strive for, it’s probably why maybe I’m looking for that where I go. I also really appreciate how important that is in recovery and in this work, and needed, so I’m always looking for that. And it’s a lot of little things. And I just feel like you all have done the little things.

Gina:                     Thank you.

Josh:                      And through some of the questions I’ve asked, I’m getting that idea of constantly checking ourselves, kind of like we do, to see what else could we do, how’s this actually working. So I like that.

Gina:                     Thank you for that, and we appreciate it and we’re equally excited about building that rapport with the center as well.

Just quickly about your practice though, so can you talk a little bit about what you do in your practice and the type of client that you typically look to work with?

Josh:                      Yeah, so the type of client that I typically work with has experienced some dramatic events in their life, whether as a child or an adult, or both; they struggle often times with problematic substance use, or relapse, addiction and anywhere along the scale of contemplating, barely contemplating that this might be problematic, all the way to knowing that this is a problem and not being able to find ways to rectify it. So, anywhere from ages 15 up-

Gina:                     Both men and women?

Josh:                      Yeah, any gender identity, individuals, couples and I also do a lot of group work as well. All of my work is also informed by trauma-informed care guidelines, published by SAMHSA, I think that’s just really excellent guidance right now. We’re always trying to improve how we can better trauma-informed care, so that’s something that is near and dear to me. So I work from that model as well.

Gina:                     And you also cover substance abuse as well?

Josh:                      Yeah, so I thought I mentioned that! Yeah, substance abuse as well. That’s the primary focus.

Gina:                     Great. So if someone were wanting to access services today, and listening to this podcast, how could they get in touch with you all?

Josh:                      Yeah, so my suggestion is to go to the website, which is www.thecoloradocenter.com, and then call us at our main line, 303-547-3700, and probably will leave a message there. One of our intake or forward screen clinicians will reach out and begin that process. And we also, unlike a lot of places, we will publish a lot of information to our website, I think that’s really helpful. Actually a lot of information, including videos of all of us, with the idea that you can get a feel for how we might be, other than just the basic written information. So I think that’s helpful, as well.

Gina:                     Yes, very much so. People tend to go there first before they make their decision, so that’s great.

Josh:                      Yeah.

Gina:                     Well thank you so much for taking the time to visit with us at Harmony, and we look forward to working with you.

Josh:                      Yeah, thank you so much, I appreciate it.