Substance Abuse

SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAM

This program is funded by the Massachusetts State Government and managed through the Department of Public Health. It is conducted in partnership with High Point Treatment Center. It is designed to provide initial treatment for recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction through three distinct phases to provide educational sessions, group sessions, and therapeutic intervention for all inmate participants. The program is scheduled five days a week and begins at 8:30 a.m. with a community meeting. The educational and therapy groups are scheduled throughout the day starting at 9:00 a.m. and ending at 4:00 p.m. Inmate participants attend various groups that focus on the definition of addiction and recovery from addiction. The education groups provided are:

Disease Concept of Addiction – A group designed to give the participant the opportunity to address his personal history of dependency and how he can begin to focus on positive change.

Denial and Powerlessness – The participants in this group will be assisted in identifying their denial patterns and difficulty related to powerlessness.

Medical Aspect of Addictions – The physical consequences of alcoholism and drug addiction are presented and explained. The initial health concerns as well as long term complications will be highlighted.

Criminality – This group will explore the nature of criminality and the anti-social behaviors related to it. Participants will be facilitated in identifying criminal thinking and the behavior problems created by this thinking.

Relapse Prevention – This group focuses on identifying thoughts, feelings, and situations that are most likely to trigger relapsing with alcohol consumption or drug use. It reinforces the basic tools for early recovery and the dangers related to relapse.

Anger Management – This group facilitates an understanding of how to deal with our emotions, particularly anger, which is studied as a natural emotion that we all have the potential to experience.

Recovery Group – This group is the vehicle used to clarify, reinforce, and prepare the participant to make a realistic commitment to a personal recovery process. The participants will develop an individualized plan for recovery.

Process Group - This group is intended to assist participants with identifying and processing feelings that may be a source of emotional problems to them.

The program also incorporates the AA/NA model of recovery. Volunteers from the AA fellowship provide a weekly meeting which is held in the unit. The goal of the program is to facilitate the inmate’s commitment to recovery.

Copyright © 2006 [Plymouth County Sheriff's Department]