Informed consent is considered to be the foundation of all treatment at TCW and each patient is expected to be an active participant in his or her treatment and discharge planning.
The Treatment Team, Including the Medical Director, the Program Director, and the Case Manager work with each patient to develop an individualized treatment plan based on the strengths, abilities, needs, and preferences of the patient. If a patient wishes to decline services that are indicated, he or she may do so against medical advice. TCW will continue to provide medical, pharmacological, and counseling support and appropriate referrals to other resources. An important part of treatment planning is to provide the patient with the means to operate in an informed, self-directed, and independent manner.
Narcotic replacement therapy is one of the most effective forms of treatment for narcotic dependence. Withdrawal from maintenance treatment is neither mandatory nor indicated in every case. A patient may remain in treatment for as long as clinically indicated provided that he or she is in compliance with facility rules and regulations. Conversely, a patient may request a medically supervised withdrawal from narcotics. In either case, the ultimate goal of treatment is the restoration of functioning. This treatment goal is achieved through individualized treatment and discharge planning.
In addition to issues of dependency, many patients have other psychosocial, emotional, occupational, and educational needs that must be addressed in order for treatment to be effective. TCW staff is well equipped to address the issues of dually diagnosed patients and our philosophy reflects a commitment to provide stabilization, restoration, and maintenance of functioning as well as symptom reduction.
Methadone treatment can be conceived of as a continuum of treatment. On one extreme, one can consider Methadone treatment as “risk reduction” – if we are able, at the very least, to decrease the frequency of IV drug use then we are achieving a small victory. On the other end of the treatment spectrum, we have patients who are actively pursuing sobriety and recovery and these patients take full advantage of range of services available at TCW.
We offer a therapeutic milieu to facilitate positive change in the patient. TCW treatment philosophy is firmly based in counseling theory, which embraces the idea that our patients ultimately decide “how well to be”. We can neither force recovery nor dictate the extent to which a patient “improves”. Those decisions are for the patient to make with the support of the treatment team.
