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Outpatient Groups

After you are admitted to our outpatient program, you and a case manager will formulate a specific treatment plan that will guide your recovery process. Your case manager will also coordinate care with other providers and assist with linkage to housing, employment, and social services. Individual and group counselors will provide counseling to help you meet your goals. We are here for you.

Adolescent: This group is for patients age 14-18 who use substances. Motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy are used to help patients develop healthy coping skills, manage stress and negative emotions, identify triggers, build positive relationships, hone decision-making skills, explore how substance use affects their lives, and recognize thought patterns and situations that lead to substance use. This group meets once a week for 60-90 minutes.

Aftercare: This group is for patients who are beginning to transition out of treatment. Motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and person-centered and solution-focused therapy are used to support patients’ healthy choices. Patients learn how to balance work, family, relationships, legal obligations, spirituality, and recreation with recovery.  This group meets once a week for 60-90 minutes.

Co-Occuring Disorders Step-Down: This group is for patients with substance use and mental health disorders who are already engaged in mental health services outside of the UHS system. It draws on material from the Matrix Model and Living in Balance with Co-Occurring Disorders to teach patients how to identify triggers and high-risk situations, use thought-stopping techniques, manage negative emotions, develop a sober support network, and participate effectively in twelve-step programming. Patients learn about the complex relationship between substance use and mental health and are encouraged to maintain engagement with their mental health services. This group meets for 60-90 minutes per day, two days per week. Please note, patients getting mental health treatment from the UHS Outpatient Mental Health Clinic can engage in co-occurring disorders treatment there.

DWI Group: This group is for patients with a recent or pending DWI charge. It uses cognitive behavioral therapy and educational materials to help patients learn about the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors; understand the societal and legal consequences of driving under the influence; and prevent further impaired driving. The educational curriculum includes New York State statistics and laws, managing stress and emotions, how behavior is learned and changed, and understanding relapse and recidivism. This group meets for 60-90 minutes per day, two days per week.

Early Intervention: This group is intended to prevent disease progression in patients with mild substance use disorders. It uses cognitive behavioral therapy and components of the Matrix Model to help patients address the impact of their substance use. Patients learn about the short- and long-term physical and psychological consequences of substance use; the disease of addiction; triggers; the relapse process; relapse prevention; thought-stopping techniques; decision-making skill;, and how to build healthy relationships. Tobacco cessation, holiday safety, and self-care are also discussed. This group meets once a week for eight weeks, for 60-90 minutes.

Emotions Management: This group is for patients who need support with emotional and behavioral issues related to their substance use. It uses dialectical behavioral therapy techniques to teach patients: how to cope with difficult emotions such as anger or sadness; improve self-esteem; build positive relationships; develop effective communication and problem-solving skills; use healthy stress management techniques; and manage cravings and triggers related to emotions. This group meets for 60-90 minutes per day, two days per week.

Gender-Specific Aftercare: We offer both men's and women’s aftercare groups. These groups use motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and person-centered and solution-focused therapy to help patients find positive solutions to the recovery-related problems they face. Common discussion topics include parenting in recovery, re-establishing trust in relationships, navigating social services, managing negative emotions, building a positive self-concept, understanding codependency, and changing behaviors. These groups meet once a week for 60-90 minutes.

Intensive Relapse Prevention: This group aims to prevent relapse in patients with previous treatment history and/or multiple relapses. Patients work to gain insight into relapse patterns, triggers, and warning signs. They use group discussion and workbook assignments to explore past attempts at recovery, trauma history, family systems, and other factors contributing to their substance use. Patients graduate with an individualized action plan formulated to help them avoid future relapses. This group meets for 60-90 minutes per day, three days per week.

Reform Group: Designed for patients with recent or active substance use, this group combines motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, and person-centered and solution-focused therapy to help patients enter recovery. Patients learn emotional regulation and stress management tools, refusal skills, boundary-setting techniques, strategies for forming sober support networks, and ways to have fun sober. They are taught life skills including job readiness. Educational topics include the disease of addiction, the relapse process, codependency, and the physical and psychological consequences of substance use. This group meets for 60 minutes per day, four days per week.

Suboxone® (Buprenorphine/Naloxone) Aftercare: This group helps patients prescribed Suboxone® (buprenorphine/naloxone) build an individualized recovery program. Acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy are used to address patients' psychosocial problems, enhance stress management skills, and support long-term treatment goals. Special attention is given to patients' feelings about and societal stigma around medication for addiction treatment. This group meets once a week for 60-90 minutes.

Step-Down: This group is for patients who have achieved sobriety and wish to strengthen the skills necessary to maintain it. Motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and person-centered and solution-focused therapy help patients identify triggers and high-risk situations, recognize and address cognitive distortions, and manage negative emotions like guilt, shame, and embarrassment. Patients learn how to create a sober support network and effectively engage in 12-step programming. This group meets for 60-90 minutes per day, two days per week.

Treatment Court: This group is for Binghamton Adult Drug Treatment Court, Driving While Impaired (DWI) Court (DWI), and Veterans Court participants. Motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, rational emotive behavior therapy, and person-centered therapy are used to enhance patients’ coping skills, build self-esteem, manage stress, deal with anger and conflict, navigate difficult relationships, form sober support networks, build healthy relationships, and identify and change behaviors that may lead to relapse. This group meets once a week for 60-90 minutes.
 

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