Frequently Asked Questions:

We use the term trauma in a broad way to include any and all emotional pain. We understand major losses, veteran’s issues and private emotional pain; we strive to create a community of trust and openness so all can share their deep hurts, burdens and stressors so our clients can live life free of addiction and self harming behaviors.

People react differently to divorce, abandonment, grief, and other life issues that everyone goes through although we share a common sense of hurt. Repeated self defeating behaviors to cope with life’s wounds can create and re-create trauma as well. The Refuge clinical approach is to help our clients explore and resolve their core issues and put an end to a cycle of pain and painful behaviors.

The Refuge clinical staff, and many of the support staff, have been trained in PTSD/Trauma treatment. We are a staff who understands and supports the healing that can occur from PTSD/Trauma.

Clients are allowed to use tobacco products in selected areas of The Refuge at certain times. For many, tobacco use is a final coping mechanism for dealing with deep emotional pain. During the course of treatment we will strongly encourage and motivate tobacco cessation and our physicians resource many strategies to help our clients become tobacco free as part of the client’s holistic recovery.

The Refuge serves meals buffet style and we always have a selection of meals to accommodate the vegetarian, vegan and kosher diets. For those clients who need support with their eating patterns we can – to a limited degree – offer support such as an eating buddy and a support group to eat with during meal time. For our ED clients we will work on resolving the underlying core issues related to unhealthy in parallel to working on recovery based eating behavior. Our goal is to work with our clients establishing the desire to be well, live fully and eat healthy.

Our dining area is family style fostering an atmosphere of healthy community. We encourage our clients to eat together and there is clinical and support staff at every meal as well.

The Refuge has men’s and women’s groups in addition to mixed gender groups. Selected client caseload and trauma groups are gender specific and The Refuge will absolutely address the needs of our clients individually. Our objective is to create and maintain an emotionally safe environment so our clients can heal.

We do have mixed gender groups as we present real life opportunities for our clients to share in their healing process, in their recovery and in the shared experience of working toward recovery.

Our philosophy is that addiction – not just Chemical Dependency – is fueled by unresolved underlying trauma or traumas. We do offer specialty groups addressing Sex and Love Addiction, Eating Disorders, Grief and Loss, Relapse Prevention and the R.A.D. (Rape Aggression defense) course for both men and women.

The ultimate objective is to provide the forum to speak openly, freely and securely about our hidden truths in an environment that can sooth the nightmares and end the suffering that accompanies addiction and obsessive compulsive behaviors

The Refuge employs a contract psychiatrist in addition to having two full time ASAM certified physicians on property and a full staff of nurses. Every client is screened and evaluated during their first few days in treatment. The Refuge psychiatrist, physicians, nurses, therapists and counselors are well trained in working with addiction and co-occurring disorders. We will do our best to gather as much past history as possible and work diligently in accurately assessing and helping everyone of our clients becoming healthier and happier.

While we do promote abstinence from mood altering substances, we are open and sensitive to the medication needs and history of our clients and our treatment is individualized. Regarding those with self harming behaviors we are equipped to work with helping our clients eliminate self harming behaviors and resolve the core issues that fuel this behavior.

Our population is generally an even mix of men and women, young and old. The Refuge staff will make sure that every client feels comfortable and safe. Many of our clients enter treatment extremely alone, fearful, anxious, depressed and isolated. The feeling of despair and hopelessness is common among our clients when they first enter treatment – we understand and recognize this and our entire staff – from the support workers to the administrators – know this and are sensitive to having all our clients feel as comfortable and emotionally safe as possible to do this very sensitive emotional work.

Along with having CSAT (Certified Sex Addiction Therapist) therapists. specialty groups and trauma tracks and assignments narrowly focused on Sex and Love Addiction, The Refuge has been successful in having a mixed gender rehab population working on this addiction. The Refuge individualizes treatment so some SLA participants will have very guided plans and support mechanisms to allow them to heal and normalize their relationships, their behaviors and the core issues that triggered the addictive behavior.

The Refuge does have real life co-ed interaction and situations during meals, large process groups and in some of the specialty groups where being in a mixed gender rehab setting is a significant aspect of healing.

The Refuge offers a number of support arrangements to our clients after treatment and much effort is put in to Aftercare planning. A strong Aftercare Plan with accountability has been shown to be greatly effective in maintaining successful and rewarding recovery. The Refuge has referral connections with therapists, sober houses, halfway house, psychiatrists and specialty programs across the country and with international resources.

The Refuge treatment program includes one year of recovery monitoring and case management assistance with Southworth Associates. In addition to providing this highly successful monitoring service, our clients are linked with 12 step recovery resources and involvement with a strong Alumni program that offers multiple recovery events throughout the year with an annual Alumni Reunion. The Refuge will make all possible efforts to address any individual or specialized needs prior to a client’s discharge to ensure their greatest success during the initial year post treatment; this may include housing, case management issues or other related client needs.

The Refuge is committed to providing ongoing assistance to all of our alumni and remains a resource for support, encouragement and referrals in support of recovery.