“At The GateHouse, we’re treating the whole person, and that means helping them gain access to all of the resources they need to maintain recovery.”

– Kendrick Westmoreland

 

When a client leaves one of our Residential Extended Care facilities and returns to their community, life in recovery begins. That transition can be overwhelming and is often a time when a client needs our support more than ever.

Kendrick Westmoreland was one such client.

Kendrick walked through the doors of The GateHouse as a client years ago. Today, he’s paying it forward through his work as our Clinical Director of Outpatient Services. Kendrick supervises the implementation of each of the outpatient services, making sure that each outpatient client has what they need as they continue on their recovery journey.

Outpatient Services at The GateHouse

At The GateHouse, our outpatient services are one more way we help clients successfully transition back into their communities. Our outpatient programs provide client-centered services, which means services can look different for different patients.

So, to better understand the various types of outpatient services at The GateHouse, we sat down with Kendrick to discuss the ins and outs. He shared not only a wealth of information with us about outpatient services, but also the story of one outpatient client affectionately nicknamed the ‘pink unicorn.’

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TGH: The GateHouse provides multiple levels of care under the umbrella of ‘Outpatient Services.’ Can you break down each level for us?

KW: Definitely. Outpatient clients come to us after they finish treatment at one of our residential treatment centers. At The GateHouse, we have three levels of treatment that fall under Outpatient Services; Partial Hospitalization Treatment, Intensive Outpatient Treatment and General Outpatient Treatment.

Our clients who need the most support in recovery after they leave our treatment center transition into our Partial Hospitalization Treatment. Our partial hospitalization treatment clients usually need short-term housing as they determine the next steps they’ll take in recovery. They also typically need additional education and relapse intervention support.

Outpatient clients receiving partial hospitalization treatment meet four times a week. Each session is five hours. There they’re given access to further life skills education. For one treatment session, we hosted Penn State and its extension program. We had a guest from the University give clients a 6-week nutrition education course, teaching them how to eat healthy on a limited budget. We provided food that the clients cooked and prepared in class. They loved it.

One level down from partial hospitalization treatment is Intensive Outpatient Treatment. Under the outpatient services umbrella, this is the level of care that clients enter if they still need some support but are employed and living in the community in housing they’ve secured on their own – not in one of our transitional living residences. Usually, these clients are also in an Alcoholics Anonymous program or some other outside recovery service beyond The GateHouse.

Intensive outpatient clients participate in group sessions three days a week for three hours each session. These sessions are led by our matrix model, an evidence-based curriculum where we match the needs of each client in the group and then base each session’s topic around those needs. They also attend a one-on-one weekly session with one of our counselors.

General Outpatient Treatment is the final level of care within our outpatient services. General outpatient is for a client who is well-established in the community, employed, and able to care for themselves, but just need periodic reinforcement of the skills they learned during treatment.

Our general outpatient treatment includes relapse prevention, identifying the warning signs or triggers of relapse, navigating the recovery process, and much more.

The depth of skill development and the time commitment to general outpatient treatment is based fully on the client’s needs. One client may need one group session per week, while another may need a bi-weekly group session with weekly individual sessions. General outpatient is completely tailored to the client.

TGH: Your outpatient services sound like they take place over the course of several months, even years. How long do most clients stay in outpatient treatment? And, especially for those who need longer-term care, does The GateHouse work with clients who need financial assistance?

KW: We don’t put a limit on how long a client is with us. They participate in our outpatient services for as long as they need to while working towards the ability to live a healthy life on their own. We’re with them through recovery. So, for as long as they need us, we’re not going anywhere.

As far as finances go, The GateHouse is wonderful about helping our clients navigate the financial barriers that may exist when they’re working to access our services. We’ll help them apply for medical assistance or find other sources of funding. We’re also fortunate to have a pool of supportive donors who give us the ability to offer some funding. The bottom line is that we don’t let a lack of income or insurance coverage get in the way of our clients receiving the care they need.

TGH: Can you tell us about one of your clients and how these outpatient services really made an impact on their recovery?

KW: Absolutely. The client who immediately comes to mind is a 70-year-old gentleman we affectionately nicknamed the Pink Unicorn. He was a heroin addict with serious health issues that required him to see several specialists. He didn’t have any family or support system. So, we set him up in one of our recovery houses to take care of his immediate housing needs. Next, we connected him with Penn Medicine and a team of specialists.

From there, his outpatient treatment focused on providing him the tools to maintain recovery and live independently. So, beyond his addiction treatment, we connected him with a 6-month money management plan that we run here at The GateHouse. The plan helped him save enough money to eventually rent an apartment.

TGH: Wow, so you and your team are often supporting clients beyond the outpatient services that you provide directly.

KW: Yes, we go to where the need is. In the case of this client, he needed long-term recovery treatment, housing and medical care. So, we found those for him.

It’s important to remember that many of our clients live in communities that aren’t healthy. If we had only focused on this client’s addiction recovery and sent him back out into his community after treatment, we’d be sending him back into an unhealthy community without the resources he needs – in his case, proper housing and health care. It’s hard to maintain recovery in a community that’s isn’t well.

At The GateHouse, we’re treating the whole person, and that means helping them gain access to all of the resources they need to maintain recovery.

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The GateHouse offers outpatient services for long-term addiction recovery to clients throughout Lancaster County, PA. We help our clients access the services and resources they need to return and contribute to their communities. Kendrick and our entire team at The GateHouse would love to help you with your next step in recovery. Reach out to us today!

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“We see a family’s eyes open when they realize what their loved one is going through and that they can have an impact in their recovery.”

– Verlina Velazquez-Millings

 

Verlina Velazquez-Millings, Director of Programs at The GateHouse, has been in the long-term addiction recovery field for the last 20 years. She’s spent three of those years with The GateHouse, overseeing our residential program and facilitating family education within our Family Support Program.

We sat down with Verlina to get an understanding of why family support is so important to the long-term recovery of our clients.

TGH: Can you start by telling us why support for clients’ families is a central piece of The GateHouse’s recovery program?

VVM: Absolutely. Many clients have other family members at home, and they often rely on those family members for support. So, we need to bring the family into the treatment setting and teach them how to contribute to their loved one’s overall long-term recovery.

Families who get involved come into the process from various perspectives. Sometimes we find that a father or mother with a child suffering from substance abuse has very little understanding of addiction or how it feels to be an addict. We have other families who enable the behaviors that fuel a client’s addiction.

Addiction is a disease that doesn’t happen in a vacuum. People suffering from addiction are impacted by their home environment. When our clients make enough progress that they can return to life and their community, that same (potentially harmful) home dynamic is waiting for them if we don’t also work with the family to improve that environment.

When we educate the family about addiction and give them the tools to best support their loved one, long-term recovery is much more likely.

TGH: What types of tools are you providing to families? What does Family Support look like for families who go through the program?

VVM: Our Family Support Program has two components: Family Education and Family Sessions.

Family Education helps families better understand addiction, what their loved one is experiencing on a physical, emotional, and mental level, and the role they play in long-term recovery.

The education portion of the program is broken down into three modules that we teach over the course of our client’s treatment. The three modules are:

• Module #1: Family Roles & How Families Impact Addiction
• Module #2: Co-dependency & Self-care
• Module #3: Families and Recovery from Addiction

The Family Education portion of our support program is a service we only offer when our clients are in treatment in one of our Residential Extended Care residences, not those in any of our outpatient treatment centers. Family Education is meant for those clients just starting treatment and who need the highest level of support we offer.

A big incentive for our families to participate in Family Education is that the completion of all three modules is required before we give our clients in treatment a family pass. A family pass is a day pass allowing the client to leave the Residential Extended Care residence to visit with family members. To earn their pass, the client has to be in good standing and up-to-date on their treatment work.

The other component of the Family Support Program is a series of Family Sessions. Unlike the education modules, family sessions are client-facing counseling sessions where we bring our client and their family together once a month.

Each family session is client-centric, meaning the discussion is framed around the needs of the client at that time. And, sessions only take place if and when the client is ready. The goal is to get the client and the family talking through issues they have, which many times are the issues hindering the client’s recovery.

TGH: What are some examples of the discussions that take place in a family session? And what are some common issues clients and families work through?

 VVM: Addiction is a challenging topic for families to discuss, so a lot of what we do centers around the encouragement of constructive communication and understanding.

Each family session is led by one of our counselors. Counselors know each client’s history and whether any childhood trauma or family issues exist, or if there’s a family history of substance abuse. So, before the initial session, our counselors understand the family’s needs. This lets them suggest topics to address.

As an example, we’ve worked with clients who’ve experienced issues with their mother and worked through underlying anger about the mother’s history of substance abuse. We may also conduct a session that allows our client to share his or her feelings about their addiction with family members for the first time.

The topics and lengths of the discussions depend on what the client needs. But they all aim to provide a safe opportunity for clients and families to find understanding. These sessions are often the first time clients have addressed these bigger issues with their family members.

Ultimately, we’re supporting everyone involved as they grow and rebuild their family relationships.

TGH: Is this level of family support unique to The GateHouse?

VVM: While other treatment centers offer some level of family support, at The GateHouse, we’re providing a higher level of care by offering treatment as well as programs that create structure and stability for each client. Our Family Support Program is one very important piece of the full approach we take to empower our clients and teach them how to be successful in early recovery.

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The GateHouse offers its Family Support Program to families supporting our clients through long-term addiction recovery.

Verlina and our entire team would love to share more about how The GateHouse can help you find the addiction treatment your family member needs and support them in their next step in recovery. Reach out to us today!

A Centralized Intake Process Lets Us Provide Faster Addiction Recovery Support to Our Clients in Need

 

Every client we work with has a unique set of needs that requires a personalized recovery plan. For many, this means continued support beyond one of our treatment centers where they can create a foundation for long-term recovery. Our safe, caring transitional recovery housing program is set up to do just that.

One of the biggest indicators of successful life-long addiction recovery is how quickly a client begins receiving the support they need to transition back to daily life. The longer it takes for a client to go through the application process, be approved, and then be assigned to a home, the harder it is for that client to transition. And, not coincidentally, the greater their chance of a relapse.

For all of these reasons, The GateHouse recently moved to a centralized intake model. Streamlining our intake process will let us get clients in the door of their transitional recovery homes faster so they can quickly get the support they need.

Cyndi Reinhold is the Centralized Intake Coordinator at The GateHouse. We spoke with her to learn more about the importance of a centralized intake approach and how she’s helping clients quickly get the care they need to successfully transition back to their lives. Here’s what Cyndi had to say.

TGH: First, tell us what transitional recovery housing is at The GateHouse and where in the addiction recovery process someone lives in transitional housing?

CR: Transitional recovery housing at The GateHouse, which we call GateHouse Transitional Living, is one piece of the larger program we’ve created to help people transition back into daily life and do so successfully. After a client’s addiction treatment program is complete, most need additional support to make the transition back to their lives. At this stage, a client can apply to move into a transitional recovery house.

Transitional housing can mean a lot of things in terms of the type of support a client receives. Most go through our 12-step program which includes things like attending group meetings and events with other residents, getting a sponsor, as well as getting the ongoing treatment support they need.

Our goal with transitional recovery housing is to determine what each client needs to transition back and give them the skills and support to do so successfully.

TGH: How does the shift to centralized intake make it easier for a client to get into a transitional recovery house and get the support they need?

CR: The faster we can get a client in our transitional housing program, the better it is for their health and long-term recovery. By moving to a centralized intake model, we’re minimizing the steps they need to take to apply and get into the program.

Each transitional residence has a coordinator. These are clients who have done particularly well in the program and serve as a bridge between The GateHouse and other residents. Previously, the intake process would involve each GTL coordinator. It took a fair amount of time for me and each individual coordinator to meet and determine the best house for each client.

Now, with our centralized approach, I’m able to put each new client in the home that’s best for their particular needs. This frees up the coordinator to focus solely on the house and the clients they’re working alongside. So, not only are clients getting into the transitional house they need faster, they’re getting more attention and support from the coordinator while they’re there.

Another example is our application process. Applicants used to have to come to our administrative building in downtown Lancaster and physically fill out the application. We’re now moving to an online application which is much easier and takes much less time. This should greatly reduce the time it takes us to get a client into transitional recovery housing and get them the support they need.

TGH: How is transitional living at The GateHouse different from other programs?

CR: Someone working to overcome addiction usually lives in a traditional halfway house for about three months. These residences tend to provide a place for someone to live as they transition back to their life, but don’t always focus on community building or other emotional and social aspects of recovery.

At The GateHouse, our residents typically stay with us for longer than three months – most live with us from six months to a year. There’s no shortage of evidence showing the benefits of support for long-term recovery. We want our clients to stay with us until they’re ready to move on, and a longer stay gives them more time to transition at their own pace.

We also recognize, though, that there’s a much greater likelihood of a client successfully living in recovery on their own if they make the transition within 12 months. We don’t push them out before they’re ready, but we also set them up to be ready to transition within their first year.

TGH: Why is community building an important aspect of The GateHouse’s transitional recovery housing program?

CR: We put a large emphasis on community-building at The GateHouse – throughout all of our programs and treatment facilities, not only within our transitional recovery houses.

The support system residents build together is extremely empowering as they work toward beginning a new chapter in their lives. We believe that our clients are more successful when they have a strong community of peers behind them helping them down the path to long-term recovery.

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The GateHouse offers transitional recovery housing services through GateHouse Transitional Living for long-term addiction recovery with locations throughout Lancaster County, PA. Cyndi and our entire team would love to help you with your next step in recovery. Reach out to us today!

Long-term recovery from substance use disorder is deeply intertwined with sustained employment.

Substance use disorder is a disease that slowly erodes a person’s ability to go to work every day, hold a job, and become financially independent. Substance abuse ultimately creates a domino effect of negative consequences that can consume a person’s life, and recovery takes much more than simply removing the substance.

When our clients enter one of our treatment facilities, they undergo an assessment with a case manager and create a series of goals to achieve during treatment. Finding employment is a top goal on nearly every list. Just as much as treatment for their substance use disorder, our clients need us to teach them the skills necessary to find stable employment so they can rebuild their lives.

That’s where James comes in.

Meet James, Our New Employment Specialist

 

James Ivery is the newest addition to The GateHouse serving in our newly formed role of Employment Specialist. He spent the past five years working with other recovery programs in Central Pennsylvania in a number of roles. Not only does he bring a great deal of experience to The GateHouse, but he also brings empathy and understanding to the clients he supports.

“I came out to this area in 2013 from western Pennsylvania with nothing but a trash bag with some clothes in it and without a dollar to my name,” James said. “I’ve experienced what it’s like to be unemployed, to be at the bottom. I found an addiction recovery treatment center in York, and they helped me find a job. It literally saved my life.”

He was most recently employed as the lead coordinator of medication-assisted recovery services for a Central Pennsylvania treatment center. He’s created connections throughout the addiction services community, partnered with businesses and other organizations dedicated to addiction recovery support, and helped countless people live healthy, productive, purposeful lives free of addiction.

Employment Provides a Sense of Purpose, a Key Element of Long-Term Recovery

When a client’s goal after treatment is to enter the workforce, James goes in and surrounds them with support. Sometimes they need writing skills, computer skills, or to develop a strong work ethic. Whatever skills or support they need to land a job and maintain employment, he finds it for them.

At The GateHouse, our employment support is client-driven. James isn’t finding them just any job. He’s working with each client to understand what it is they want to do so they can go out and build a career. This leads some clients to enter the job market immediately following treatment, while others get training through a trade school to prepare for the career they want.

James is Creating Connections Between Clients and Employers Where Everyone Benefits

Our employment services are focused on creating stronger connections between our clients and employers across our community. Our clients need employers who believe in second chances. They also need flexible employers willing to schedule work around their treatment schedule.

“We have some great partnerships with employers right now who are working with us to help our clients find a career path,” James said. “What we also see is how much employers benefit from this program. Our clients want to work and they want to succeed. These businesses are hiring dedicated, reliable employees which is good for everyone.”

The Road to Life-Long Recovery

During his time in treatment, James saw a lot of people get discouraged when they couldn’t find employment. The fear of leaving treatment without a job or any way to support yourself afterward can be terrifying for clients; a feeling he’s experienced firsthand.

“After going through treatment, having a job is what gave me a sense of purpose. It lifted a weight off my shoulders,” he said. “I had been homeless for a long time. Getting a job boosted my confidence which boosted my recovery.”

Employment is directly linked to long-term recovery, which is why our employment service is so important for our clients during and after treatment. By helping our clients reenter the workforce and sustain employment with our new employment specialist, we’re teaching them how to take back control of their lives.

“Learning to live life without drugs, positively cope, to go work every day, be committed, take responsibility – this is what we’re here to help our clients achieve,” James said.

The GateHouse also offers gender-specific transitional recovery facilities at separate locations, as well as gender-specific residential community-based treatment services. This is in addition to our general and intensive outpatient treatment services and Partial Hospitalization program that includes a housing component if needed Our amazing team would love to help you with the next step in your recovery. Reach out to us today!

It would be nearly impossible to get through the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic without the help of others. Those fighting through the early stages of recovery need that support more than ever.

Residents at The GateHouse know this firsthand. While leaning on each other has always been part of the program, it’s been a godsend for seven women participating in the Marietta Transitional Recovery program during the quarantine.

For women in the final phases of onsite recovery treatment at GateHouse Transitional Living (GTL), the transition program is the last step before they return to their families and homes or start a new life. It provides positive influence, structure, and access to resources, such as 12-step meetings, clinical support, and life-skills coaching from professional team members.

 

The Typical Transitional Living Routine

 

Typically, the program houses women in addiction recovery for up to one year.

During that time, they make meals and share in household chores. They attend weekly outpatient group therapy and bi-weekly individual meetings with counselors. Sunday evenings the women gather together for house meetings.

They often see one another in passing as they go about their daily lives at The GateHouse. In preparing to transition to independent living, the women enjoy several overnight visits a month with family and friends. They work, run errands, go to doctor’s appointments.

 

Life in Quarantine: A New Wrinkle in Recovery

 

Under quarantine, life for everyone at The GateHouse has changed.

Several women with essential jobs continue to work while the others have been laid off until the quarantine is lifted.

Like many facilities that have remained operational during the pandemic, The GateHouse implemented extra safety precautions. But along with temperature checks and face masks, the women struggle to deal with one of the most difficult aspects of addiction recovery—seclusion.

“The quarantine adds a whole new level of isolation,” said Shanon, the women’s house manager and fellow recovery resident. “We all have to sit with our thoughts and feelings and confront our realities.”

The quarantine could have been an easy excuse to give up or return to old habits.

Yet, Shanon said the women she’s with are emerging stronger than ever.

 

The Separation Struggle

 

Initially, the pandemic created anger and fear, she said. The residents couldn’t leave for overnight visits with their kids or meet up with friends.

“There was a lot of depression,” Shanon, a mother of three, said. “Going through treatment is physically and emotionally isolating. Having to deal with your feelings is hard enough without being quarantined.”

As time went on, Shanon said the women came to grips with their emotions.

“We realized that once we’ve gotten this far in recovery, we can get through anything,” she said.

The women heavily rely on one another, she added.

“We’ve been there for each other,” she said. “An ear to listen, a hand to hold. Overcoming addiction is all about the support you receive.”

 

One Day at a Time

 

“Not every day is perfect,” Shanon said. “If you can get through those hard days without using, it makes you stronger.”

The quarantine has also given the women a new perspective.

“We’re really grateful for our jobs now, whereas before it was easy to complain,” Shanon said. “When this is over, we all want to make a conscious effort to appreciate things more.”

The women can reach out to family, friends, and their sponsors, but they aren’t able to visit them during the quarantine. They have the option to meet in person for group sessions, but most have opted to attend via Zoom until the quarantine has lifted.

Sometimes, the best people to lean on are others going through recovery because friends and family may be in active addiction or simply don’t get it.

“People who don’t have an addiction don’t understand the physical and mental part of it,” Shanon said. “They think you can just get over it.”

But anyone who’s ever suffered from addiction knows it is way more complicated than that.

“It takes time to get back everything you destroyed—relationships with your children and family, losing homes and jobs,” Shanon said.

Oftentimes, patients must make the difficult decision to cut ties with family or friends because they can’t support them in their recovery.

“It’s hard cutting people off, especially when it’s a family member,” Shanon said. “You have to grieve the loss of that person in your life.”

That’s where the recovery community comes in.

 

Finding Connection and Building New Bonds

 

“It’s very important to have support,” Shanon said. “You need people to talk to who understand what you’re going through and what you have to deal with just to stay clean every day.”

“The quarantine has brought us closer together,” she said. “Having someone to vent to when you’re having a bad day is so important.”

As much as they’ve come to rely on each other, the women do look forward to the quarantine being lifted so they can reunite with loved ones and get back to work. They’re extremely grateful for the support they’ve been able to give and receive while they’ve dealt with two incredibly difficult situations at once—recovery and quarantine, but this was certainly an experience these women will always remember.

The  GateHouse also offers a transitional recovery program for men at a separate location, as well as inpatient and outpatient treatment services for addiction. We would love to help you with the next step in your recovery. Reach out to us today!

Note: The GateHouse transitional housing residents, whose work schedule ranges from part-time to 50 hours per week, pay for their own food and rent. Insurance typically covers the rest.