Treatment Approach
World-class treatments lead to better outcomes
At Enterhealth, a comprehensive treatment protocol is rooted in proven science and highly personalized based on the results of the patient’s multidimensional assessment. Treatments are designed and structured to meet you where you are and help promote short-term healing and treatment that sets the stage for long-term success.
One of the pioneers of using the National Institutes of Health’s research findings and assessment methods that classify addiction as a brain disease, our full continuum of evidence-based treatments continues to advance these standards. We continually review the latest scientific research in our field to stay on the cutting edge of treatments that will enhance healing and reverse the damage to the brain caused by addiction. In addition, our historical research and hands-on expertise in the field over the last 12 years demonstrates that longer treatment stays provide the highest chances for recovery, a critical finding which the Surgeon General’s Report substantiates.
Another crucially important (but often overlooked) factor in successful recovery is the environment in which treatment is administered. Purposely designed to advance healing, Enterhealth’s treatment facilities bring every level of detail to your care. Whether at the Ranch, where each patient has a private room and 24/7 access to individualized care, or at Outpatient, where the focus is on convenient but structured transitional support, and even with advanced online telehealth services, our commitment to continued care sets us apart from an otherwise disorganized and disjointed field.
Once a personalized addiction treatment plan is completed, the patient’s progress is regularly monitored – and treatment is coordinated – by our entire medical, psychological and therapeutic team. Our master level therapists provide regular feedback, including ongoing assessments of mood, level of engagement with treatment, rapport with therapists and other patients, physical health, completion of recovery assignments and response to anti-addiction medications. All information is consolidated into a personal feedback report that will inform the patient and family of recovery progress.
Substance abuse type and severity
Science has revealed to us that different substances damage different areas of the brain, and each person feels addiction’s effects differently. Our comprehensive evaluation protocols look at the type and severity of your substance issues, so we can customize treatment based on your substance choice, frequency, use duration, and any other factors associated with your drug, alcohol, psychiatric, or medical history.
Detoxification from drugs and alcohol – or withdrawal stabilization – is the medical process of safely removing an addictive substance from the body. Because the addicted brain is so dependent on drugs and alcohol, stopping abruptly can be life-threatening. That’s why at Enterhealth, every drug and alcohol detox is closely supervised and managed by our addiction-trained medical experts in a safe and private environment, using the latest evidence-based medical protocols, the most effective anti-addiction medication therapies and a 24-hour onsite medical staff.
Alcohol or drug detox alone is not addiction treatment; however, it is a strong precursor to effective treatment. After withdrawal stabilization, you or your loved one will be treated accordingly based on a personalized treatment plan, as developed by the Enterhealth medical team.
Enterhealth Ranch offers medical withdrawal stabilization for the following (and other) substances:
- Alcohol (beer, wine and liquor)
- Benzodiazepines (Valium, Xanas, Ativan, GHB and others)
- Opiates (Heroin, OxyContin, Codeine and others)
- Multiple Substance Combinations (e.g., alcohol and opiates or marijuana)
Enterhealth was among the first to adopt National Institutes of Health research that recognizes addiction as a chronic brain disease. We continue to pioneer treatment protocols that rely on science to strengthen weakened areas of the brain and restore brain functions. We employ highly trained, PHD Level addiction neuropsychologists, other neuro-specialists (physicians, nurse practioners, nurses) as well as Master’s Level Therapists to administer the following based on personalized assessments:
- Neuro-biofeedback – A non-drug, reward-based training system for your brain that works to change its electrical activity and retrain the brain to be calm, focused and more relaxed in stressful situations.
- Neurocognitive remediation – Therapy designed to improve neurocognitive abilities such as attention, working memory, cognitive flexibility and planning, and executive functioning, which leads to improved psychosocial functioning.
- QEEG – A non-invasive brain scan to determine your individual brain’s natural harmonic frequency.
- MeRT – Alcohol and drug abuse cause brain injuries that prevent our neurons from firing on all cylinders and negatively affect different areas of the brain – changing how we think, learn, feel and act – which in turn complicates the addiction recovery process. For most patients, it takes at least a year for the brain to heal and achieve optimal brain health; however, Neuromodulation can dramatically accelerate the healing process, often producing improvement in only 4 to 6 weeks.
Enterhealth is one of the first addiction treatment centers in the nation to effectively use Neuromodulation, a medically advanced procedure designed to treat injury or illnesses of the brain. From PTSD to ADHD, major depression, and other afflictions, this revolutionary treatment is a safe, non-invasive procedure that helps recalibrate and quickly restore the brain to its healthiest possible state.
Neuromodulation, also called Magnetic e-Resonance Therapy, combines personalized brain scanning (QEEG) analysis and proprietary data algorithms with a protocol of customized and concentrated magnetic pulses (TMS) to bring specific, important brain waves of the injured brain back into harmony. By doing so, it improves sleep and reduces stress/anxiety and depression, which are all critical contributors to ongoing addiction and relapse. By restoring healthy sleep patterns and improving recall and thinking abilities, it can also enhance the effects of other therapies and medications (in some cases, it can eliminate or reduce the need for medications for certain issues). At Enterhealth, we continue to stay on the cutting edge of scientific research to bring you the best addiction treatment for you or your loved ones. Typical Neuromodulation treatment is administered in 2-week intervals for up to 6 weeks. Combined with other therapies, Neuromodulation accelerates the restoration of the patient’s normal brain state, allowing the patient to feel better, enjoy a better quality of life, and reduce the likelihood of relapse.
Addiction causes powerful chemical changes that can trigger intense cravings and overwhelm logic and desires to quit. Fortunately, amazing breakthroughs in drug and alcohol addiction treatment and medical scientific research have greatly facilitated long-term, successful sobriety by utilizing specific FDA-approved medications to shut down cravings in the brain and help patients focus on recovery.
There are many reasons to prescribe non-addicting medications during treatment, and the amounts and types will change throughout a patient’s recovery. Initially, patients at Enterhealth who are undergoing detox will receive specific medications to help alleviate several common issues associated with drug or alcohol withdrawal. These medications help to normalize a patient’s brain and body chemistry without the adverse effects that accompany the abused substance. Detox medications reduce physiological cravings and anxieties, and they can help increase sleep and prevent dangerous medical episodes such as seizures or DTs. Usually, the withdrawal stabilization medications are used for between 7-14 days and then safely tapered off at the end of that time.
Once withdrawal stabilization is complete, some patients could be prescribed additional anti-addiction medications to make it easier to immerse themselves in their addiction treatment programming, thereby increasing their chances for a successful recovery.
Many other psychiatric disorders accompany substance addiction, so it is imperative to recognize and treat these disorders that impact each other so destructively. What sets Enterhealth apart is the intensity of treatment and focus on individualized care. With a low staff-to-patient ratio, patients and families benefit from in-depth and expert treatment that is completely catered around each patient’s unique situation. Enterhealth’s full-time staff consists of highly trained psychiatrists, neuropsychologists and Master’s Level Therapists who work onsite and have expertise in the following areas:
- Treating co-occurring issues
- Leading individual talk therapy on both a daily and weekly basis (vs. only group therapy at other facilities)
- Integrating individual family therapy treatment into patient treatment protocol at both the inpatient and outpatient levels of care simultaneously
- Psychiatric medication management in which only non-addicting medications are used
We understand the impact that addiction has on the family and even how family dynamics contribute to addiction. Where most treatment programs focus only on the addict, Enterhealth works with the entire family to teach them how to heal themselves and avoid falling into the same dysfunctional family patterns that lead to addiction and relapse. We’re one of the only facilities to provide weekly family counseling (that does not include the patient) with onsite Master’s Level Therapists
Enterhealth’s comprehensive treatment program includes a full-time MD, nurse practioner, nurses and other outside consulting specialists who work daily with patients to better connect and adjust the physical and medical care needed to advance their treatment, focusing on:
- Pharmacological therapies
- Medical treatments for conditions like diabetes, sleep apnea, HTN, etc.
- Eastern/Chinese medicine therapies
- Health and wellness counseling, including programs that focus on healthy nutrition, sleep and exercise
- Program to effectively treat chronic pain
Like other mental illnesses, addiction becomes habitual and creates new and repeatable toxic behaviors that can destroy overall health and wellness. The abused substance becomes an addict’s main coping skill to deal with the daily stresses of life. However, learning new, healthy coping skills to identify and deal with stress is critical to a positive lifestyle and a key component of Enterhealth’s treatment protocol. Our behavioral treatment focuses on the following areas to help break the cycle of addiction:
- Group and individual family counseling
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) – Focuses on understanding the connection between thoughts, emotions and the use of drugs and alcohol in order to modify these dysfunctional behaviors.
- Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT) – The main goal of DBT is to teach patients skills such as how to regulate their emotions, live in the moment, better cope with stress, and improve their relationships with others.
- Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) – Short-term form of psychotherapy that helps you identify self-defeating thoughts and feelings, challenge the rationality of those feelings, and replace them with healthier, more productive beliefs.
- Motivational Interviewing (MI) – Motivational interviewing is a psychotherapeutic approach that attempts to take a patient from a state of indecision or uncertainty to a point where they feel motivated to make positive decisions and accomplish established goals.
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) – As traumatic memories are not processed normally, EMDR therapy allows the patient to access and reprocess these events to change the way the memory affects them.
- 12-Step Facilitation Therapy (TSF) – Linking patients with current 12-step members and helping them overcome the barriers and challenges that they face.
- Contingency Management – Encourage positive behavior by providing incentives for abstinence, attending counseling sessions, and meeting goals.
Substance abuse isolates people from members of their support system. This sense of loneliness frequently leaves addicts feeling skeptical that anyone can understand what they’re going through. Enterhealth’s interpersonal treatment focuses on building a multidimensional, personalized, healthy support system that encourages and supports healing during and over the long-term treatment process.
- Family therapy
- Alumni Association
- Alchoholics Anonymous
- SMART RECOVERY
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) provides a framework of more than three thousand years of Chinese medical knowledge. Enterhealth can complement our proven, evidence-based treatments with TCM when appropriate to give patients a more holistic approach to recovery.
- Acupuncture – A system of integrative medicine that involves pricking the skin or tissues with needles, used to alleviate pain and to treat various physical, mental, and emotional conditions. Originating in Ancient China, acupuncture is now widely practiced in the West.
- Acudetox – Well-established method of acupuncture that targets specific points on the ear involving detox and craving pathways.
- Moxibustion – A type of heat therapy in which an herb is burned on or above the skin to warm and stimulate an acupuncture point or affected area.
- Chinese Therapeutic Massage – An ancient therapy with a holistic approach to health care that aims to provide relief from physical ailments. It also relaxes and revitalizes the body and mind by stimulating the circulatory and nervous systems.
- Dietary Therapy – Dietary system consisting of several integrated modalities, including acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, tai chi and qigong, and food therapy.
- Tai Chi and Qi Gong – Healing exercises that cultivate physical, spiritual, emotional and psychical health by gently manipulating an individual’s life energy.