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Aurora Psychiatric Hospital

• Podcast on the latest on adolescent drug and alcohol abuse

Adolescent Substance Abuse Program

The Adolescent Substance Abuse Program at Aurora Psychiatric Hospital has been offering evidence-based treatment for adolescents and their families since 2002. Our program is built around the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (ACRA), a highly popular and effective counseling approach for treating adolescent substance abuse problems.

The Community Reinforcement Approach

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 help adolescents and their families recognize the particular personal, family and social factors that promote or reinforce substance use. We also identify factors that might reinforce healthier behaviors.

Our therapists motivate and teach each adolescent to increase his/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 14-18 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 the 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 needs 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 components 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

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

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

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. We offer several different levels of care including:

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

Admissions & 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.

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