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Aurora Psychiatric Hospital

Adolescent Substance Abuse Program

The Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at Aurora Psychiatric Hospital has recently implemented a new approach and program philosophy. Our staff members are now using the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (ACRA), a highly popular and effective counseling approach for treating adolescent substance abuse problems.

Following a comprehensive evaluation, we work with adolescents and families to develop a treatment plan to improve the adolescent's health, promote positive social activity and peer relations, and improve family relationships while promoting abstinence from drugs and alcohol. Our staff helps adolescents and their families recognize the particular personal, family, and social factors that promote, or reinforce each adolescent's substance use. We also identify factors that might reinforce healthier adolescent behaviors.

Our ACRA-trained therapists motivate and teach each adolescent to increase his or her own healthy reinforcers. We help adolescents' families to develop school, family and community resources to support healthy behaviors. The program's structure and after-school schedule enable students to participate in school while recovering from drug or alcohol problems.

Our staff of addiction therapists and psychiatrist provide intensive outpatient and outpatient treatment for adolescents aged 12-18 who have alcohol and/or drug problems.

Our goal is to help adolescents to:

• Stabilize moods and emotional--behavioral problems
• Develop and implement various skills that help to understand feelings and effectively cope with emotions
• Gain ability to minimize risk to relapse of self-harming behaviors and maximize one's ability to live a comfortable and responsible life without the use of illicit drugs
• Recognize the possible need for other treatment interventions, such as prescribed medication to address psychiatric and dual diagnoses
• Identify the family's need through education, crisis management and family therapy

Treatment

The adolescent substance abuse program is a structured, extensive bio-psycho-social treatment approach that includes interventions encompassing:

• Withdrawal and biomedical conditions
• Emotional and behavioral health syndromes
• Co-existing psychiatric disorders
• Family, school, and other community systems

Treatment approaches

This treatment program addresses the relationship between substance use and adolescent development and has integrated effective interventions and treatment strategies with this in mind. Treatment interventions include:

• Screening and assessments
• Peer group, parents support group, multi-family group, individual and family therapy
• Educational lectures and family education
• Homework and take home assignments
• Crisis and safety management
• Medication management
• Urine drug screens and breathalyzer tests
• Aftercare services

Continuum of care

We place patients in the least restrictive level of care while ensuring patient safety. Outpatient services, intensive outpatient programming and partial hospitalization offer an intensive treatment environment. These treatments provide less disruption to the patient 's lifestyle than inpatient treatment.

The Adolescent Substance Abuse Program utilizes various approaches to treatment including:

• Cognitive restructuring
• Relapse prevention training
• Affect modulation
• Assertiveness building
• Effective communication
• Wellness understanding

Levels of care

• Inpatient detoxification o Intensive outpatient program (IOP)
• Outpatient services

Admissions and assessments

Outpatient referrals can be made through the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at 414-454-6586. Referrals for inpatient detoxification can be made by calling the Aurora Psychiatric Hospital Intake Department at 414-454-6777.