Friday, January 11, 2008
Spy Games - How It Works
A client may be referred to STC from a primary care facility (e.g. The Betty Ford Center) and literally brought to the doorstep. With his/her belongings in duffle bags and the ubiquitous cigarette dangling, the clients are admitted. The intake process requires extensive paper work, pictures taken with a Polaroid, and meetings with directors and their particular Case Manager. The initial questionnaire provides the first intelligence information on specific addictions and personality issues. The client must reveal which drugs are preferred, how often, and in what form (intravenously, orally, or inhalation), in addition to providing basic information like age, sexual history, family systems, and so forth.
The Case Manager quickly becomes a most trusted friend or the worst enemy within days of admittance. He or she will be the one to processes the information the client provides and produce a written assessment that becomes part of a permanent dossier, the first step in "intelligence gathering."
After the initial in-take sessions, the client is placed into one of 13 houses STC manages. An "intake house" holds clients who have less than thirty days of sobriety. Client placement strategy is elusive to say the least. Only the Director of Operations has the authority to move clients from one house to another, and sometimes there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the moves. A client may be relocated three or four times during their 90-day stay. Problems with house mates can be a reason for changing, power struggles account for a few, but in most cases, the Directors oversee the progress and confers with the House Parent as to where the client would be most successful in his bid for sobriety.
The Director of Operations oversees all decisions and all special operations, backs all the tactics of his "field agents." The term "field agent" will be used to describe any staff employee who is not involved in the clinical side of treatment. It is interesting to note the length that the D.O. will go if forced to defend one of his staff members. In an effort to manipulate, clients have become skilled in lying and spreading misinformation to parents in order to achieve their own goals. STC is adept at running through the obstacle courses thrown up by disenfranchised addicts and their enabling parents.
This brings up the issue of parental involvement. Much of the clinical and operational staff's time is spent on dealing with parents. There are times when it is necessary for parents to receive more clinical attention from a client's case Manager than the client receives. More often than not, it seems the parents need treatment as much as their addicted children.
The Case Manager quickly becomes a most trusted friend or the worst enemy within days of admittance. He or she will be the one to processes the information the client provides and produce a written assessment that becomes part of a permanent dossier, the first step in "intelligence gathering."
After the initial in-take sessions, the client is placed into one of 13 houses STC manages. An "intake house" holds clients who have less than thirty days of sobriety. Client placement strategy is elusive to say the least. Only the Director of Operations has the authority to move clients from one house to another, and sometimes there seems to be no rhyme or reason for the moves. A client may be relocated three or four times during their 90-day stay. Problems with house mates can be a reason for changing, power struggles account for a few, but in most cases, the Directors oversee the progress and confers with the House Parent as to where the client would be most successful in his bid for sobriety.
The Director of Operations oversees all decisions and all special operations, backs all the tactics of his "field agents." The term "field agent" will be used to describe any staff employee who is not involved in the clinical side of treatment. It is interesting to note the length that the D.O. will go if forced to defend one of his staff members. In an effort to manipulate, clients have become skilled in lying and spreading misinformation to parents in order to achieve their own goals. STC is adept at running through the obstacle courses thrown up by disenfranchised addicts and their enabling parents.
This brings up the issue of parental involvement. Much of the clinical and operational staff's time is spent on dealing with parents. There are times when it is necessary for parents to receive more clinical attention from a client's case Manager than the client receives. More often than not, it seems the parents need treatment as much as their addicted children.
Labels: Drug-Addiction-Rehab, Spy-Games, teen-drug-abuse
