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ILLNESS MANAGEMENT AND RECOVERY PROGRAM
What is the Illness Management and Recovery Program?
The Illness Management and Recovery Program consists of a series of weekly sessions in which mental health practitioners help people who have experienced psychiatric symptoms develop personal strategies for coping with mental illness and moving forward in their lives. The program can be provided in individual or group formats and generally lasts between 3 to 6 months. With the permission of the person who has experienced psychiatric symptoms, family members and other supporters may be asked to read the educational handouts, attend some sessions, and help the person develop and implement plans for coping with symptoms, reducing relapses, and pursuing recovery goals.
How do practitioners benefit from the Illness Management and Recovery Program?
Practitioners benefit by:
- Learning a comprehensive, step-by-step approach to helping people gain skills in managing mental illness
- Saving time by receiving ready-to-use materials for conducting sessions
- Gaining skills in using motivational strategies, cognitive behavioral strategies, and educational strategies
- Experiencing increased job satisfaction from seeing improved outcomes, such as people reducing relapses and hospitalizations and making progress in their goals for recovery
How does the program compare to what is currently offered at community mental health centers?
This program pulls together the main components of effective illness management programs and provides a comprehensive, structured, step-by-step approach. It provides materials that have a recovery orientation and are user friendly both for practitioners and for persons who have experienced psychiatric symptoms. The program also heavily emphasizes helping people put knowledge into practice in their every day life.
What will people learn in the Illness Management and Recovery Program?
The following subjects are covered in educational handouts:
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1)
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Recovery Strategies
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2)
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Practical Facts About Mental Illness
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3)
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The Stress-Vulnerability Model and Treatment Strategies
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4)
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Building Social Support
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5)
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Reducing Relapses
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6)
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Using Medication Effectively
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7)
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Coping with Stress
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8)
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Coping with Problems and Symptoms
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9)
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Getting Your Needs Met in the Mental Health System
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What resource materials do practitioners receive as part of the Illness Management and Recovery Program?
- A Practitioners’ Guide, with practical tips for teaching people about mental illness and helping them develop strategies for each of the 9 topic areas
- Educational handouts, checklists, and planning sheets for each of the 9 topic areas
- A short introductory video
- Informational brochures
- A fidelity scale to measure whether the program is being implemented as designed
- Outcome measures to assess whether the program is having a positive impact on participants
INTEGRATED DUAL DISORDERS TREATMENT
What is meant by “dual disorders”?
This refers to the presence of both a severe mental illness and substance use disorder.
What is effective treatment?
Integrated dual disorders treatment has been shown to work effectively for both disorders. People with dual disorders have a better chance of recovery from both disorders when their mental health practitioners provide combined mental health and substance abuse treatments.
Why is information about integrated treatment for dual disorders important to mental health practitioners?
Dual disorders are common.
Dual Disorders are so common that providers should expect consumers with severe mental illness to have a dual disorder.
Dual disorders lead to poor outcomes.
People with dual disorders are at high risk for many additional problems such as symptomatic relapses, hospitalizations, financial problems, family problems, homelessness, suicide, violence, sexual and physical victimization, incarceration, serious medical illnesses, such as HIV and hepatitis B and C, and early death.
Referral to separate substance abuse services is not effective treatment.
Sending people with dual disorders to substance abuse treatment programs or to self-help groups such as AA, without offering substance abuse treatment in the mental health setting, is not an effective approach.
What are the basic components of integrated dual disorders treatment?
Providing effective integrated dual disorders treatment involves the following:
Knowledge about alcohol and drug use, as well as mental illnesses
Clinicians know the effects of alcohol and drugs and their interactions with mental illness.
Integrated services
Clinicians provide services for both mental illness and substance use at the same time.
Stage-wise treatment
People go through a process over time to recover and different services are helpful at different stages of recovery.
Assessment
Consumers collaborate with clinicians to develop an individualized treatment plan for both substance use disorder and mental illness.
Motivational treatment
Clinicians use specific listening and counseling skills to help consumers develop awareness, hopefulness, and motivation for recovery. This is important for consumers who are demoralized and not ready for substance abuse treatment.
Substance abuse counseling
Substance abuse counseling helps people with dual disorders to develop the skills and find the supports needed to pursue recovery from substance use disorder.
How does one get effective training and information?
Learning dual disorders treatment skills requires knowledge, training, supervision, and practice.
Order an Integrated Dual Disorders Treatment Implementation Resource Kit.
This provides you information, training materials, annotated bibliography, and references to other training resources.
Explore implementation and training centers.
Since practitioners learn in different ways, implementation and training centers offer readings, workbooks, training videos, courses, job shadowing, supervision, and consultation.
Learn from consumers.
Many consumers will be in recovery from their substance abuse. Ask them what their recovery process was like, and what treatments were helpful. Read consumer writings about the dual disorder recovery process.
Attend AA, Al-Anon, or other self-help group meetings.
Many self-help meetings are open to nonmembers. You can learn about the process of recovery by attending these meetings.
Identify or hire an expert for your team.
One experienced team member can help others learn about integrated dual disorders treatment.
Visit an integrated dual disorders treatment team.
Arrange to visit and job shadow a program with a team that has experience providing integrated dual disorders treatment. Check http://www.mentalhealthpractices.org for a listing of available sites nationwide.
Co-lead a dual disorders group.
One way to learn skills while you are helping people work on their recovery process is to co-lead a group with an experienced dual disorders clinician.
Get supervision.
The proven way that clinicians acquire new skills is by working with people with dual disorders and discussing their work with an experienced supervisor. If you cannot get supervision in your agency, you may be able to obtain off-site supervision or consultation through a training center.
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