New Directions For Women Inc
PROGRAMS
Whole Woman Program
During the residential portion of a woman’s recovery at New Directions, she participates in our Whole Woman Program, which includes therapies and activities, such as trauma therapy, art therapy, reiki, yoga, and Back Bay walks. Psychiatric visits are also included in our Whole Woman Program, along with culturally diverse groups, such as Wellbriety. The Whole Woman Program starts when a woman enters residential treatment at New Directions. During their full-time residential stay, women work with professionals to address multiple areas of health requirements — emotional, behavioral, physical, and mental health — and address behaviors that fortify addiction. Each woman is personally assigned a Masters Level Primary Therapist or a Certified Addiction Counselor. With their designated specialist, women create an individualized treatment plan. Every addiction is unique to each woman, requiring that rehab services follow suit.
New Directions for Women has a 20% higher success rather than other treatment facilities, with a 12-month abstinence rate well above the national average. Intake data also shows a high percentage of our patients report symptoms of depression, anxiety, and trauma when they enter treatment, and post-treatment data shows a small percentage report having these co-occurring conditions twelve months after treatment. Symptoms of these conditions decrease about 45-55%, from intake to 12-months post-treatment, indicating the effectiveness and expertise of our trauma-informed clinical team.
Healthy Woman Program
Healthy Woman Program provides three balanced meals a day to the women and children living on campus for residential treatment. As a gender-specific, dual-diagnosis facility, our intake reports show at least one third of our clients exhibit symptoms and behaviors of disordered eating so providing three nutritious meals daily, and educating the women and children in our care about the importance of healthy eating habits, is critical to our mission. We also host a weekly Alumnae group and dinner for about 20-30 women, so our food program is an integral part of our mission and lasts beyond treatment.
About 44% of New Directions patients reported behaviors typically associated with eating disorders in the 30 days before starting treatment—compensatory behaviors (i.e. purging, fasting/skipping 2 or more meals, intense exercise, using laxatives/diuretics), binge eating, potential anorexia—which is slightly higher than the national norm. The percentage of our patients reporting disordered eating behaviors declined substantially during treatment.
Family Program
Our Family Program includes all family therapy and groups, the family psychoeducational series, parenting classes, and childcare for the children living on campus with their mothers while they heal. Our weekly family education group teaches loved ones about the disease of addiction, how addiction operates, and the tools to support their loved ones. Our weekly family processing group gives families the space needed to process their experience with a clinician and receive additional education or support if necessary. The program also includes therapy for our children through our partnership with California Family Institute, and an evidence-based proactive prevention program, BISKIDS. When someone suffers from addiction, it doesn’t only affect them. It also affects everyone around them, specifically immediate family members such as a spouse or children. The role of the entire family during addiction rehab is important. All the family members can be a support system for the client, but to do so, they need to understand that addiction is a disease. Family therapy can help family members understand addiction and its effects on the family. It can also help the family system learn new communication and problem-solving skills. Family therapy is usually done in addition to individual therapy for the client.
Our patients are substantially more likely to heal their closest family relationships, with the percentage of patients rating their relationships as excellent or good increasing from 30% at intake to 85% at six-months post-treatment. They also had fewer expensive medical interventions, such as ER visits and unplanned hospital stays, than would have been predicted based upon their pre-treatment year. This is huge emotional and financial relief to families and communities. Patient evaluations also indicate how informative family group sessions are, with more than 82% of participants reporting the sessions help them understand the disease of addiction better.
Scholarship Program
New Directions for Women provides scholarships to women who are ready to transform their lives and families but need help either accessing or extending care. We provide full scholarships to women who have limited to no resources, and we consistently cover the costs of children staying with their mothers residentially when the mother cannot afford it, which is most of the time. We also provide partial scholarships to help fill the gaps for women who need to extend their length of stay, but have exhausted their insurance or private funds. We want all women to receive the appropriate intensity and duration of care they need to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma and attain lifelong recovery. Sending people home before they are fully prepared to leave treatment affects the mental health and wellbeing of individuals and their families, and exacts a toll on society, from lost productivity, to increased healthcare, social services, education and law enforcement costs.
New Directions clients who responded to a 12-month follow-up survey had fewer expensive medical interventions — E.R. visits, unplanned hospital stays, etc — than would have been predicted based upon their pre-treatment year.
The length of a client's treatment impacts abstinence success rates with the greatest success among clients who spent more than 80 days in treatment. However, insurance typically covers about 28 days of care, and sometimes they only cover a few days. Financial support is vital to ensure that women in need can access the individualized and holistic treatment program offered at New Directions.
CONTACT
New Directions For Women Inc
2607 Willo Lane
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Ariel Gale
agale@newdirectionsforwomen.org
Phone: 310-200-9886