Discovery Program Description

Purpose

Phoenix House Discovery Program is located at the Caledonia Work Camp in St. Johnsbury, VT. The Discovery program provides residential treatment services utilizing a therapeutic community modality to incarcerated males with substance abuse and criminal behaviors related to substance abuse and dependency. The Discovery is a 50-bed therapeutic community which addresses substance abuse or substance related charges.

Eligibility

In order for a resident to be found eligible for the Discovery program they must first be found eligible for the work camp. In order for a resident to be eligible for the work camp they must adhere to the following: minimum custody level, non-violent current charge, no recent major Disciplinary Report (DR) convictions, acceptable institutional behavior, no past or present sexual offenses (to include sexual DRs upheld), medically cleared and willing to work and make reparation for criminal activity. Final Approving Authority:  Director of Classification.

 The Discovery Program is not a sentencing option and inmates should not be sentenced per mitt to Discovery. Inmates are classified upon entrance into a Regional/Central facility and those that have substance abuse as a primary need area may be eligible for Discovery. Residential treatment is based on a resident’s minimum release date.

A resident must be in the program not less than six months and not more than one year. The minimum sentence for entry into Discovery will be 15 months upon arrival at the Work Camp.

Inmates sentenced to the Work Camp who participate in Discovery should not have a minimum sentence which exceeds 27 months.  Furthermore, inmates in Discovery are limited to no more than one year in the program. In the event the sentence structure exceeds 27 months, the inmate may be identified for Discovery and placed in another facility awaiting entry into the Work Camp.

Duration

The ages of residents served vary extensively between the ages of seventeen through residents in their sixties. The residents go out into the community on work crew supervised by the Department of Corrections employees Monday through Friday. Thus, work crew is their main priority. Treatment starts at 6:15 am with morning meeting Monday through Friday and then reconvenes at 2:30 when the residents come back from work crew. In addition, treatment services are carried through the weekend. The program is a minimum of six months and a maximum of twelve months lengths of stay are based upon the residents’ minimum sentence.

Program Description

Philosophy

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A modified Therapeutic Community (TC) model is the milieu that is utilized. The Discovery unit is designated as a treatment unit.  As such, it is “Our House.” The moment residents step inside the door they are in the “house” and are expected to treat their environment and everyone in it with respect, pride and responsible concern (this responsibility actually extends throughout the facility and to the outside crews).  Peers and staff alike are part of the Discovery family and everyone should maintain an active awareness of this relationship and do their utmost to support and foster it. In a therapeutic community the residents are the agent of change.  This also includes the environment in which they reside.

The Phoenix House Discovery program recognizes the interdisciplinary nature of substance abuse and the need to work with many outside agencies and professional in addressing a client’s needs in a comprehensive manner. These agencies may include doctors, mental health providers and voluntary HIV testing. We will make every effort to include significantly contributing collateral providers in the treatment and aftercare process.

All residents will enter treatment with a comprehensive assessment. The tools include, but are not limited to the Phoenix House Client Assessment and Treatment System (CATS).  All residents are required to complete a minimum of four individualized treatment plan while they are in the Discovery program.  The treatment plans are based upon the residents’ strengths, needs and preferences. The plan will identify, in the residents’ words, problems that the resident and their counselor have agreed upon.

Accepting responsibility for their treatment and their circumstances is one goal of the program.  No one can not or will not be forced to change. It is their decision.  The community process, however, is designed to bring residents to the point of decision by utilizing all therapeutic means available. Lasting change is solidified by Acting As If.   The program encourages Trial and error learning. Everything in the Discovery community is earned, never given.

Keeping ones awareness up at all times is important.  Be willing to confront peers and situations that seem negative or which concern someone is the backbone of the therapeutic community: To Be Aware Is To Be Alive. It is expected that ones negative patterns of behavior will become evident in the course of daily living in the community. The tools of the encounter group and learning experiences provide opportunities for residents to identify, reflect on and correct these behaviors as a function of an overall commitment to living differently. Principles of Right Living are a main goal of the Discovery Program.

It is expected that ones negative patterns of behavior will become evident in the course of daily living in the community. The tools of the encounter group and learning experiences provide opportunities for residents to identify, reflect on and correct these behaviors as a function of an overall commitment to living differently. Behaviors are identified by peers or staff in some cases these behaviors will be reviewed with residents in Encounter Group or in Incident line.

In both the encounter group and Incident line residents will have the opportunity to design a learning experience or behavioral commitment that relates directly to the residents behavior.   There are a variety of learning experiences that the Discovery program utilizes.  Learning experiences are not intended as punishment, but are designed to provide residents with both insight and opportunities to work with negative, unproductive behaviors. Some of thee include. Essays/Compositions: These are designed to help an individual explore and issues in depth. Group Challenges:  These are assigned to several residents together who have been pulled up for various or similar behaviors.  They are designed to break down negative images and challenge individuals outside of their “Comfort Zone”.  This may include singing songs, leading cheers, and putting on skits, etc. before the family at a designated time. Individual Challenges are  designed to break down negative images and tend to move individuals outside their comfort zones. Loss of unit privileges may include no TV, radios, video games, none-recovery literature, games or activities and restricted telephone privileges.  It may also include such things as speaking bans (inability to speak to other than assigned family members) unit restriction, early lockins, loss of good time, etc.  Clinical Work Contracts an individual placed on a clinical work contract is obligated to perform cleaning duties on the unit during the treatment day and sometimes into the evening.  Clinical Performance Contracts: are usually given as a result of poor clinical performance rather than behaviors and require that an individual intensifies his level of work in groups and in the community. Spare parts contracts have residents reflect the fact that the resident has not been reached by the previous therapeutic interventions and has lost his right to function as a family member, without being removed from the community environment. 

Structure

At the Discovery program, everyone has a level of responsibility.  All residents are assigned a resident advisor (RA). The resident advisor is peer that has been in the program, knows the expectations and helps the new resident become acquainted with the TC.  The Discovery Program consists of seven different departments with varying level of responsibilities. Every new resident starts in the service crew. After the resident has successfully completed orientation the resident then can start to move up into other departments depending on the individuals’ level of engagement in their recovery and behaviors’ exhibited in the unit. The other six departments in order of responsibilities are Inspiration, Information, Education, Orientation, Community Relations, Expeditor, Two Assistant Seniors, One Senior and Mentor. Mentors act as a liaison between the community and staff and have completed all of the requirements of the program.

The Discovery Program is structured in 3 phases: Orientation, Main Stage, Re-Entry. During orientation phase residents will learn about the program and life in the TC.  Residents in the orientation phase will be at the lowest level of privileges and must earn their way to the next phase of treatment and the privileges that go with that.  The main learning goal of the orientation phase is for residents to accept their role as a functioning participant of the Discovery Program Community.  Orientation phase lasts about 14 days. In main Treatment residents will begin to learn about and address their substance abuse issues. Residents begin to recognize and apply tools of the therapeutic community. They become a responsible community member, moving to higher functioning and levels of privileges.  The main learning goal of the Main Treatment is for residents to assume personal responsibility for their patterns of substance abuse and criminality and high risk thinking and behaviors. During Main Treatment residents are making serious gains in the areas of self-understanding and positive, productive behaviors.  Residents will likely be asking to assume major roles of responsibility within the community structure and function as a reliable role model.  The main learning goal of Main Treatment is for residents to demonstrate their ability to identify and intervene in the high risk thinking and behaviors that lead to negative impacts on their life and the lives of others. During the re-entry phase residents will be preparing for their return to life in the outside community. Residents will begin to put together relapse prevention plans and take steps to prepare for a return to the outside community.   Residents will be functioning as a highly productive member of the TC family, assuming a leadership role and using their knowledge and skills to help others grow in the program.    The main learning goal of the Re-entry phase is for residents to practice and refine the skills of daily living as if residents had returned to the community at large.

All clients receive an aftercare plan based on their clinical needs.  Residents who complete the Discovery program also create a Relapse Prevention Plan. Ongoing self- help programs will be an important part of the aftercare plan for every client. Residents who complete the program are required to attend an Intensive Substance Abuse Program (ISAP) for a minimum of three months for aftercare. 

The Discovery Program is very structures.  There is a daily schedule for residents to follow.  Residents are active in treatment from 6:15 in the morning till 8:30 in the evening.

Services

The Discovery program provides a modified therapeutic community experience for its residents.  All residents participate in active programming on a daily basis.  Some of these services and activities include The following is a list of core groups that residents are required to attend as a participants in the Discovery Program; Morning Meeting, Evening Meeting  Encounter Groups, Caseload Group, Orientation Group, Seminar, AIDES  and Self Help Groups.

In addition, all residents are assigned to a work crew for the facility.  Here they learn vocational skills and practice them between the hours of 7:30-2:00.  The work camp also provides educational opportunities for residents who do not have their high school diploma or GED.

Outcomes

The Discovery program has been in operation since January 2002.  Since that time the program has admitted a total of 553 residents.  A total of 240 or 43 % of the residents have successfully completed the program.  The average length of stay in the Discovery program is 7.5 months.

Program contact

Cheryl A. Bowen

Program Director

802-751-1469

802-345-1987(cell)