An addiction center in South Florida is helping to change the approach to sobriety.
The U.S. is facing a growing alcohol, pill, and heroin epidemic. But while overdose rates have reached record levels, a beacon of hope sits in sunny Palm Beach County: Futures of Palm Beach.
Futures of Palm Beach is a luxury drug and alcohol treatment center that provides highly personalized care that goes beyond the traditional treatment program. Its integrated approach handles co-occurring disorders (such as anxiety and depression), manages a connected alumni base to help graduates stay committed, and draws from a team of licensed, experienced professionals, including nurses, a triple-board-certified medical director, licensed mental health counselors, and licensed clinical social workers. Since opening its doors in October 2012, the facility has helped nearly 1,300 people flocking to the Sunshine State from Texas and the Midwest, the New York tri-state area, New England, and elsewhere along the Eastern Seaboard.
“Accommodations are fantastic. But, the key thing, as nice as the place is, is that the clinical aspect of the program matches its surroundings,” said Futures Clinical Director John Maguire. “We truly have a holistic approach to a disease that affects you biologically, psychologically, socially, and spiritually. It’s our belief that when you’re seeking recovery, all those aspects of life need to be addressed.”
Clients fill their days with a variety of group and one-on-one therapy methods, including art and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), with the idea that the crux of addiction lies in what drives a person to drug or alcohol abuse. They also attend and participate in educational lectures, exercise with physical trainers, consult with physical therapists, as well as meet with a nutritionist to learn how to take better care of themselves in a comprehensive way. Unlike many other facilities, clients engage in their therapeutic activities all day, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:20 p.m., and have ample opportunities to engage in mindful activities within the comfortable setting of a five-star campus.
Futures of Palm Beach also smartly focuses on life beyond the program. A case manager is assigned to each client immediately upon arrival so they can start planning how to maintain sobriety when they finish their 30 days. In one of its most innovative strategies, the facility runs an alumni program that connects its clients for life. They’re able to return to the center for three-day stints, to participate in an event called “Days of Ascent,” and go through a mini-recharge, as long as they’ve maintained sobriety and active alumni membership.
“Alumni bring their experiences and their hopes back to show people in treatment how they’ve done. In addition, it allows the alumni to realize how far they’ve come, enabling current clients to see what life can be like once they’ve finished treatment,” said Maguire.
Futures of Palm Beach encourages its members, during treatment, to attend Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings outside the facility to start learning how to build a social network of sober friends. Although it isn’t a 12-step program itself, the organization is 12-step friendly and believes in the importance of a community that understands the challenges of being an addict and supports its members. For similar reasons, alumni should enter sober-living facilities that Futures of Palm Beach staff have vetted, upon completion of the program. Clients should also seek the support found in intensive outpatient programs.
“If you socialize with people who know what you’re going through, then you don’t feel different,” said Maguire.
Through its comprehensive and personalized treatment plans and five-star service, Futures helps clients develop the coping skills and a detailed life plan for preventing relapses into old patterns, and promises to forge a new way to a recovery that actually works.
“Nothing is more rewarding than seeing the human spirit make the transformation from broken to empowered,” said Maguire.