Friends Hospital, a 200-year-old psychiatric hospital in Northeast Philadelphia, opened the city’s first recovery-oriented inpatient psychiatric-care unit Friday.
“Recovery-oriented care can drive some of the most remarkable life changes I have ever seen in my 20 years as a clinician,” said Dr. Ken Glass, CEO of Friends. “Recovery from mental illness and addiction is always possible, but it happens most effectively when the patient embraces their program of care and is an active and engaged participant in their treatment. In recovery-oriented care, we make this possible by speaking to the individual’s soul, not just their symptoms.”
In the recovery-oriented care model, patients are helped to reconnect with their community and their families and to develop new hobbies and pursuits. Counseling is supported by former hospital patients, known as peer-support specialists, who have successfully went through the process.
Glass said the movement to recovery-oriented care for the mentally ill and addicted is a departure from traditional models where the focus is on getting the patient stabilized, medicated and discharged.
The goal of Friends Hospital’s 24-bed inpatient recovery-oriented unit is to create a “collaborative, working relationship with each patient” and to have that patient leave with a new life plan that “incorporates continued therapy with each individual’s interests, support systems, hobbies, strengths, community connections, and aspirations.”
Upon admission at Friends, each individual will be assessed to determine whether or not the recovery unit will be the right fit for them. Friends will continue to operate general and specialty units.
Dr. Arthur Evans, director of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services, supports the recovery-oriented care model.
“I have long believed that the journey of recovery begins at the point that a person reaches out for help and throughout their journey in the treatment system and beyond,” Evans said. “Inpatient services play a critical role in people’s recovery, and the fact that Friends is taking seriously and responding to the national call to improve recovery outcomes for individuals with behavioral health conditions is commendable. Friends has an incredible opportunity to become a national leader in this area and the department is 100 percent behind these efforts.”http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2010/01/11/daily44.html
http://www.healthnewsdigest.com/news/Mental_Health_430/Friends_Hospital_Opens_Philadelphia_s_First_Recovery-Oriented_Inpatient_Psychiatric_Care_Unit_printer.shtml
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