By: Lakeview Health
John Ferris from Seastone of Delray discusses Seastone’s substance abuse treatment program and its unique trauma centered men’s extended care program.
Podcast Transcript
Gina Thorne: Hello everyone, this is Gina Thorne with Lakeview Health and we’re here today with John Ferris at Seastone at Delray and we’re excited to talk with you about Seastone and the services they provide. Welcome, John. John Ferris: Hi. Thank you for having me. Gina: So can you tell us a little bit about Seastone at Delray and what are some of its unique aspects? John: Well I think the thing that makes Seastone unique from a lot of the programs is it’s a trauma-centered men’s extended care program which is a very unique niche in this business. The clinical director and myself have discussed it and one of the things that we feel is missing in terms of addiction treatment now is the very specific treatment of trauma in men. There tends to be this generalized blanket treatment of men while they’re much more specific in terms of treatment for women with trauma and the gender, so we just feel that it’s time that the treatment of men is brought to the forefront especially in terms of the trauma because there is so much associated with it, in terms of toxic shame and other things, so it’s very important to us that we provide these services to men and give them the opportunities. Gina: I know that there’s a lot of modalities that are used for treatment of trauma. What would be uniquely different about the work that you do with men in trauma than for women? John: Well I think it would be similar in terms of the modalities. One of the things, we do CBT, DBT, we’re using EMDR, we also want to use Trauma Egg and some of the other work as well as breathing techniques, we’re looking at implementing equine therapy because we feel that’s very viable. The one thing that I wanted to touch on is the use of DBT because as a lot of folks know in the addiction field, when you’re treating trauma, other things start to come out, some of which are process addictions, and the DBT is good because we’re implementing the use of mindfulness as part of the treatment modalities especially in terms of things like SLAA, which we are going to be delving into during the treatment with the trauma that tends to be a big one for men, and some of the other process addictions as well. Gina: That’s great, it sounds very comprehensive which is very important, especially in extended care. Recognizing that you guys are extended care, I understand that you have five stages that you have the men go through. Can you describe a little bit about that program and how it relates to the recovery work that you do? John: Well initially there are two ways of approaching our program. We are good for the man who has been through multiple treatments and has not had necessarily a great amount of success. He can come in on the Stage 1 which is essentially a PHP level of care. He would be in that program for about 60 days initially getting really intensive therapeutic work done. He would then, depending on how he’s doing, go to Stage 2, which is more of a combined PHP and IOP schedule and transitioning him, then Stage 3 would allow him to start the integration in terms of stepping down to ¾-way housing. By then, the expectation is sponsor, support group, he is possibly looking for work, he’s already done the family workshop so he’s now moving into the later stages; 4 and 5 are essentially reintegration stages allowing him to get used to living back in society again, having already done this work. Or the other approach is having someone come in who has been to a program such as Lakeview and has done already a tremendous amount of work up front, as we are a primary addictions facility, but now the clinicians have maybe felt that there needs to be further work done or there has been some form of trauma that has been recognized and then at that point, the feeling is we are going to have him go to Seastone for extended care work. He would then come in on Phase 2 which is essentially the transitioning into IOP and then the reintegration process from there. Gina: Which is exciting to hear because for years people talk about how treatment is episodic and doesn’t look at long-term care and how recovery is a long-term care experience, so it sounds like Seastone is really trying to capture that for its clients when they come through. John: Well we are. And what’s difficult for the inpatient in our residential programs is that the intention is that they would like to do that, unfortunately with managed care and everything that goes on, it often is very difficult to do so, so we want to be the trusted resource for these programs so they know that their patients are getting the best possible care on the back end. Gina: That’s great. So, your first time visiting Lakeview Health, but you and I spoke earlier and you said you had some exposure to Lakeview prior to coming to campus, so tell me what your thoughts or impressions are of our program. John: Lakeview is exceptional. It’s a preeminent program in the country and they have more than proven themselves clinically and ethically and now seeing the campus for the first time, I understand why a lot of people speak to highly of the program and what you do. And just the people that I’ve met that work for the program, Crystal and Derek and some of the other folks, the quality of individuals that you have working for you really speaks volumes about what the program is about, because my first impression is not anything more than the people that I’m meeting and the quality of the people that I’ve met so far, to me, is indicative of the quality of your program. So without question, it’s a great opportunity for me to be here. Gina: Great! Well we really appreciate you taking the time to come and visit with us and for your kind words about our program. We are very excited to have a relationship with Seastone and we invite those that are listening, if they needed to access services at Seastone of Delray, how would they get in touch with you? John: My work cellphone number is always on 24 hours a day, my number is 561-430-1847 and you can also look us up on the web at www.seastoneofdelray.com. Gina: That’s great. Well thank you John for joining us today, we really appreciate it. John: Thank you very much for having me. Gina: For those of you that are interested in learning more about Lakeview, we invite you to visit us at lakeviewhealth.multiplica.dev or you can reach us at [Direct].
