David explains how a week at Coastline works for clients in Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP) for drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
One of the things that we try to create in the clinical and the experiential program here at Coastline is getting into patterns and getting into routines, kind of knowing what to expect. While we do things sometimes that are kind of a surprise or different out of the regular norm, generally as clients move through the week they pretty much know what to expect. And that kind of frees them up to focus on the content of what's being delivered whether it's in addiction recovery groups, or to focus on themselves, or their peers, and their own self-care.
When clients come in on Monday morning one of the first things they do is we go down a list of if you're a certain client of the job what's your skill communicating your schedule so that we know where you're going to be at all times. And sort of learning to embrace that level of accountability and that level of communication. We have clients go through a quick 12-step program audit. Where am I on my 12 step program on this Monday? What are the things that I've been making strides in and how is it changing my behavior?
So there's a series of about 20 questions that clients are asked to answer every single Monday. We take their answers we look at them we study them and we look to see is there any growth. Planning out your week, kind of auditing and do this kind of a self-inventory on how am I doing in my sobriety. Getting some quick immediate feedback on how I'm looking across the board. Have I been going to AA meetings every day this week? Do I have an AA sponsor? What AA step am I on?
There is a level of peer to peer accountability. Usually, when you walk into the Coastline culture most clients have a sponsor. We have found that when others see the client’s working the program and working with their sponsors that they are more likely to do the same.