Addiction and Mental Health Disorders are legitimate diseases requiring systematic treatment. “Our patients are not bad people trying to get good; they are sick people trying to get well.”
All patients come to treatment with ambivalence. This is why they are here. It is not our patients’ job to have anything figured out.
We are here to facilitate a spiritual program of recovery. Everything we do is for this purpose. We recognize that spiritual, physical, and mental health are wholly interrelated and so we use all resources in our power to help our patients identify and overcome barriers to working a program that leads to spiritual awakening.
We are temporary stewards of our patients’ health care. We are part of a lifetime team committed to individuals’ health. “Our” patients are not, in fact, not ours.
What we do (part 1)
Educate, treat, and coordinate care. These are all equally imperative and failure in any of these areas is malpractice. This includes:
Actively educating patients, family members, and others involved about the disease of addiction and how it is impacting them.
Working a systematic method of treatment including assessment, and treatment planning. Good care is not off the cuff no matter what Dr. House says. We are responsible to know where the ship is at all times.
Progress in treatment plan goals
Progress in 12 Step work
Family/referent/other professional involvement
Projected discharge and continuing care plans
Communicating with family members, referents, and the team here, directly and often. This is not simply something to check off a list, it is critical for the care of each patient. The importance of this task cannot be understated.
What we believe (part 2)
We are all professionals and are responsible to act as professionals. We are all responsible for our own actions and performance.
We are all responsible for our work environment. We, as professional, educated adults, are all required to actively participate and contribute, taking ownership of the quality of our team.
What we do (part 2)
We strive to be excellent stewards of our resources including, and especially the resource of time.
We are efficient in meetings by being prepared before hand and mindful during.
We are intentional in our weekly scheduling.
We practice the principle of the 10th step in our work. We self-police and constantly seek to take honest inventory of our own performance:
admitting when we are wrong,
asking for help when it is needed,
demanding of ourselves what we would expect from a health professional from whom we are receiving services.
We volunteer quickly whenever we can and we are committed to creating a professionally supportive environment for everyone.
We demand healthy communication and eschew unnecessary negativity.
When we have an issue with a person we always speak to that person about it before taking any other action.
WE DO NOT GOSSIP. We recognize gossip as a destructive force and we do not engage it or engage in it.
