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Clients
and family members tell us that they could sense something
special, something spiritual about Burning Tree from the
minute they arrived. We have developed a
unique, specialized treatment program with highly trained
passionate staff members that set us apart from other
facilities.
Burning Tree was the vision of one man, manager
David Elliott.
Having been in several treatment centers yet still unable to
establish long-term sobriety, David landed in a long-term
residential treatment center that helped change his life.
Burning Tree is the manifestation of David's great love for
recovery and recognition of the need for specialized
treatment for the group of alcoholics/addicts called
“chronic relapsers.” David maintains a personal interest in
the recovery of every single client. He routinely
co-facilitates Community Group, serving to inspire the
clients through his passion, commitment and sense of
discipline.
“Love, Service, and Excellence: We are here to serve!”
This is our team motto. Our team is totally committed to
ending the suffering of our clients. Supervising the team to
assure we maintain our commitment to provide effective
treatment is Curt Maddon, Chief Operating Officer.
Curt is committed to making every single detail in
the client’s treatment experience productive and integral to
preparing the individual for recovery.
Initial contact with Burning Tree is through Admissions Specialist
Bethany Lutz or Laura Nesmith, Business
Development. They assist prospective clients and their
families with making arrangements for admission. Julie
Willingham, BA, LCDC, and David Vaughan, BA, LCDC,
ACRPS are Burning Tree's Program Directors. They will
conduct a thorough assessment with the potential client to
assure that we can meet his or her needs for treatment.
Sonya Kimbrell, Chief Financial Officer, will walk
the family through the financial process once the individual
and family are prepared to commit to treatment at Burning
Tree.
Julie and David assign the new client to
the program and counselor they feel is the best match for
that client, then the new client will go through an intake
process with Bethany. The
new client completes the paperwork and personal belongings
inventory and is introduced to his or her counselor and
buddy.
All of our counselors get the initial clinical assessment
underway within the first 24 hours of admission to
treatment. They will gather necessary data regarding the
client’s history from both the client and from family
members. All members of the treatment team make personal
contact with the client and provide input so that we may
construct a realistic assessment of the client's attitudes
and behaviors. We determine the client's personalized
treatment plan on a daily basis, thereby effectively
addressing aspects we recognize that are blocking the client
from maintaining personal recovery.
The Buddy System plays a very important role in the
behavior modification as part of our treatment program. The
buddy is a senior member of the client community who is
responsible for providing peer introductions, rules and
schedule orientation as well as role modeling. It is a
vehicle for those further along in their treatment to
confront their own self-centeredness by being of service to
others. We use the buddy system to teach the clients a
wealth of important values including the importance of
“community,” of taking a positive stand in a community and of
being responsible “to” not “for” others.
The daily schedule at Burning Tree serves to establish a
disciplined, consistent routine, which our clients will be
taught to establish on an ongoing basis, both during and
following treatment. Clients receive group therapy nine
times weekly in Small Group, Client Group, and Gender
Groups.
Treatment is in no way over when the clinical staff goes
home for the night. In fact, one of the ways we distinguish
ourselves from other facilities is we have a staff of
specially trained Mental Health Technicians that coach our
clients to apply Life Skills and Problem Solving Skills -
whether they are performing chores, serving on the dinner
cook crew, or enjoying recreational activities. You’d be
amazed at how their everyday behavior during these simple
tasks reveals their resistance to taking responsibility for
themselves and their recovery. We have an expression: “Your
behavior speaks so loud that we cannot hear your words."
This is so we can illustrate for each client how they are
being dishonest in their behavior, how their actions do not
match who they think they are nor whom they want to be.
The
passion we have found for our clients and their recovery is
evident in everything that we do. Staff is constantly in
communication with one another so that clients cannot "fall
through the cracks" or "slide through treatment," like they
may have done in other facilities. Most of our clients are
treatment-savvy, having been to multiple treatment programs,
and are able to perform in a compliant manner in treatment
without actually surrendering. This does not go unnoticed by
us! At Burning Tree, the term “compliant” has a negative
connotation, as it indicates dishonesty on a spiritual level
and the likelihood of relapse and personal failure is high
following treatment. Rather, our staff is very direct in
showing clients how a client demonstrates the lack of a
sincere willingness to do what it takes to remain sober.
The
goal of Burning Tree is to see our Alumni go on to lead
sober, productive lives of excellence. The commitment,
dedication, and consistency of the staff are a testimony to
that end and the rewards are great. |
