The ASC Treatment Program
The Anne
Sippi Clinic for the treatment of the long term mentally ill holds out hope for
those patients that have seen treatment failure after failure. Our principles of
treatment are basic. We believe that all people afflicted with severe mental
illnesses want to change, but don't know how. We must help them find direction.
It is our responsibility to help them change.
We think that given an
optimistic atmosphere, which respects our patients integrity and their needs for
an independent life style, that they can be encouraged to "make it in the real
world". Treatment with this population is typically restrictive not allowing
them the opportunity to actively participate in decision making that involves
their survival needs. We think they should be able to participate in treatment
negotiations. The hypothesis is simple. These are human beings that may be more
dysfunctional than they need to be. We hold that this is a result of the world
around them that sees them as strange and unable to cope. This attitude becomes
a self fulfilling prophecy. We believe they can do much to help themselves if we
have an understanding of them as unique individuals with the need to succeed
given the opportunity and the guidance they require.
Our program provides
a variety of treatment methods that lead to healthy relationships, a sense of
dignity, and productive living. Our treatment program is specifically designed
to provide immediate quality of life improvements for its residents. Today, the
best research points out the importance of utilizing a variety of treatment
methods, which operate in a contiguous manner, to affect the best treatment and
outcome.
It is important to state that we are treating the individual,
not the diagnosis. We must consider each person and their individual differences
and design a program that fits their specific needs. We want to help them
improve the quality of their lives, which of course, also means keeping them out
of psychiatric hospitals.
As we outline the treatment modalities we use,
it should be understood that these methods are not implemented without some
understanding of the client's tolerance to the stress factors involved with
activating and stimulating therapeutic activities. Bearing this in mind may
require a period of treatment preparation.
The following is a list of
what we offer each resident:
1. Our approach emphasizes Psycho-Social
treatment.
2. Daily psychotherapy, reaching toward and developing with
the patient achievable treatment goals. We are not looking for insight as much
as we are trying to motivate the patient to work in collaboration with the
therapist, to act differently, and behave in more socially acceptable ways. We
remind you that our patients are not early onset cases.
Group therapies
follow a whole range of approaches to sharpen social skills and direct patients
in their rehabilitation efforts. Throughout the years, traditional treatment has
focused on pathology and forgotten the healthy parts that exist in all human
beings. Our concentration is on patient strengths rather than weaknesses. It is
our opinion that these efforts reduce pathology and reinforce
strengths.