Utilizing experiential therapy, animal assisted treatment, in unison with traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) teens 13-18 are able to heal and grow from developmental challenges, depression and anxiety symptoms, emotional dysregulation in a safe and private setting that encompasses holistic approaches for the whole family unit.
Full Day Treatment
Full day treatment runs from 9-3:30 Monday through Friday. This is a level of care for those whose symptoms can be managed outside of a full hospitalization or residential level of care. Treatment plans encourage high level of support to developing healthy coping skills, emotional regulation, goals setting, and self-advocacy through experiential embodied therapies. Patient will participate in group therapy sessions daily, individual counseling sessions, case management, psychiatric evaluation and medication management and family coordination sessions on a weekly basis. This is a level of care where attending school while in treatment is not an option due to the symptoms being too intense for the patients to navigate treatment and educational responsibilities. Our clinical case management teams will coordinate with local schools to navigate the hurdles and challenges that this presents.
Half Day Treatment
Morning, Afternoon or Afterschool sessions that range from 3 to 5 days a week based on clinical symptoms lasting three and half hours per session. This level of care often is a step down from higher intensity treatment options or can be a step up where additional support is needed from traditional outpatient individual therapies and psychiatric monitoring. Just like full day treatment, patients will be involved in group therapy, individual sessions, psychiatry, and family programming. With this level of care there is a heightened emphasis on long term case management for discharge planning and ensuring there is a solid continuity of care with connection to internal and external treatment providers. At this level of care, we help coordinate patients attending school around treatment hours as we have built up natural supports where the challenges and hurdles of daily schedules have the clinical support to process and manage symptoms.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Animal Assisted Treatment (A.A.T.)?
Incorporating animals into therapy sessions promote physical, emotional, cognitive, and social well-being. It has been proven that therapy with animals can help reduce anxiety, improve mood, and promote social interaction and communication skills. A.A.T it helps engagement by creating purpose through companionship and increase feeling of responsibility and ownership of being involved in treatment. This feels, and reduction of symptoms allows our clinical teams to build a bond with patients and dive deeper into other experiential and traditional clinical modalities.
What types of Animals are used in the program?
Currently, we utilize dogs! We have multiple different types of canines all with different jobs in the treatment process!
What does family involvement look like?
Family sessions are aimed to help coordinate care, educate the whole family unit on symptoms, and strengthen communication, relationships, and coping skills for all involved. We strive to have family sessions as often as possible that is therapeutically healthy. We also have the first of its kind family coaching and education programs, click here for more information.
What is our treatment philosophy?
The adolescent clinical programming at NEMG is built upon the premise that trauma and adverse experiences are whole bodied experiences, and the key to resolving those experiences is through embodied experiential therapy. A central component to our programming happens in partnership with dogs. Through the Arenas For Change model of facilitation, we encourage adolescent participants to tell their stories through the dogs and participants are able to resolve, change, and take control of narratives that have been damaging to their mental health. For adolescents, it can be difficult to express their wants, needs, and emotions, but when allowed to project that onto a dog they mitigate the emotional vulnerability while still working through the symptoms that impact their lives.
With this approach we have seen adolescents who were completely withdrawn socially, academically, and emotionally learn to reengage with their emotions and experiences and have found success when other therapeutic approaches have failed. Generally, participants identify the dog(s) with whom the identify or with whom they bond and then the story telling and sorry changing begins.
Does my insurance cover treatment?
Reach out to our admissions team who can help with insurance verification to ensure coverage and manage expected cost of treatment.
