Right Step becomes the nation’s first residential addiction treatment center for teens to implement collaborative problem-solving, a skills-based approach to improve problem-solving among struggling teens. Dallas, TX (PRWEB) January 21, 2014 – The staff at Right Step’s adolescent drug rehab in Dallas has become Tier-One certified in collaborative problem-solving. This makes Right Step the nation’s first residential addiction treatment center for teens to implement collaborative problem-solving as part of its approach to adolescent recovery. Collaborative problem-solving is an innovative model for working with teens with social, emotional or behavioral challenges. Rather than viewing struggling teens as unmotivated or manipulative and attempting to motivate them through reward or punishment, collaborative problem-solving addresses teens’ challenges by teaching them the skills they lack. Dr. Stuart Ablon, one of the founders of collaborative problem-solving and the director of Think:Kids in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, describes collaborative problem-solving as an evidence-based, trauma-informed, strength-based and neurobiologically grounded model that empowers youth and the family voice. The approach has been used effectively in residential treatment facilities, schools, juvenile detention facilities and inpatient psychiatric units, among other settings. “Even if teens want and intend to behave in certain ways, they may lack the skills to follow through,” said Nathan Bradley, LMSW, the adolescent program coordinator at Right Step Dallas. “Rather than trying to force compliance, we work with them to fill the skills gaps so that they can rebuild their relationships and lives while staying clean and sober.” At Right Step, every staff member who works with clients, from the direct care staff, counselors and nurses to the administrative team, has been trained in collaborative problem-solving. This allows the entire team to speak the same language and utilize the same approach when caring for adolescent clients. As part of the intensive training, the Right Step team learned how to assess deficits in five core skill sets: executive skills, language processing skills, emotion regulation skills, cognitive flexibility skills, and social thinking skills. Collaborative problem-solving has already been integrated into various components of treatment at Right Step, including interventions and the family program, and will be further expanded in the coming months. Phase two of the training, which will take place later this year, will focus on implementing the collaborative problem-solving philosophy and tailoring the approach to the specific needs of Right Step clients. Right Step is also creating an interdisciplinary panel made up of counselors, nurses, residential assistants and others, which will meet weekly to drive implementation at the facility. Right Step utilizes collaborative problem-solving as a complement to the EQUIP program, an award-winning method that combines life skills training and positive peer support. Adolescents in the Right Step Dallas drug rehab program also participate in weekly individual and family therapy, experiential group therapy, onsite 12-step meetings, art therapy, fitness and meditation. Right Step’s teen substance abuse program is gender-specific with separate staff, housing and programming. “Collaborative problem-solving is a highly effective complement to addiction treatment at Right Step,” said Jesse Tucker, RN, BPN, the regional director of nursing at Right Step Dallas and a psychiatric nurse with 10 years of experience working with adolescents. “We look forward to introducing this philosophy to our clients and their families, as well as others in the community, and using it to help teens develop the skills they need for long-term recovery.”
About Right Step
Right Step is a network of outpatient and inpatient addiction treatment centers in Texas. Since 1990, Right Step has provided compassionate, comprehensive substance abuse treatment at an exceptional value. In recognition of its high-quality programming, breadth and depth of treatment services, and commitment to personalized care, Right Step has earned full accreditation by the Joint Commission. Today, Right Step is the largest, most trusted private chemical dependency treatment provider in the Southwest. For more information about Right Step, call (888) 859-1408 or visit www.rightstep.com. Right Step is part of Promises Behavioral Health, a family of behavioral health care programs that also includes Promises Treatment Centers, The Ranch, The Sexual Recovery Institute, The Recovery Place, Lucida Treatment Center, and Journey Healing Centers. Elements offers comprehensive, innovative treatment for substance abuse, sexual addiction, trauma, eating disorders and other mental health disorders. We are committed to delivering clinically sophisticated treatment that promotes permanent lifestyle change, not only for the patient but for the entire family system. For more information about Promises Behavioral Health, visit elementsbh4.wpengine.com.