 Hazelden's 41,000 square-foot center was designed to provide comfortable spaces for group therapy meetings as well as enhanced private space for each woman. The dayroom provides ideal space for large-group meetings with its circular design and clerestory windows to ensure privacy. The Serenity Room, with large windows overlooking South Center Lake, offers a perfect setting for reading and reflection. Most bedrooms are configured into 3-bed clusters that include half walls separating the sleeping areas and a vanity for each woman. Each unit features a spacious living room and small kitchen area, as well as rooms for creative expression and one-onone meetings. Warm earth tones and curved lines are featured throughout the interior design. Exterior features include decks or patios facing the lake for nearly all the units, and exterior courtyards for all units.
More than a building
Iliff is quick to point out that the Women's Recovery Center at Hazelden "is more than a building. We've redesigned our clinical services to provide women the most effective care possible." To complement the new environment of care, Hazelden staff and consultants conducted an 18-month inventory of the women's program. As a result, many program enhancements and additions have been implemented, and more are under consideration. Enhancements to women-specific care include:
- a counselor/patient resource guide (co-produced by Hazelden's treatment and publishing divisions) to provide education on wide-ranging topics related to women's recovery (PMS, parenting, codependency, co-occurring disorders, and more)
- revamped trauma and disordered eating groups to include empirically supported interventions
- a weekly health clinic led by the medical services staff to address women's health issues
- women-only afternoon lectures with gender-specific topics highlighted
- wellness services specific to women
- enhanced assessments to address women-specific issues (e.g., trauma, eating disorders, chronic pain, etc.)
Improved integration of treatment team
One of the major enhancements is the effort at improved integration of the interdisciplinary team. "We have strong collaboration between the addiction unit staff and mental health staff," says Sue Hoisington, executive director of clinical services. "For instance, we have groups being co-facilitated by clinicians from the addiction and mental health teams."
In addition, today's patients need longer stays, but our capacity for extended care is all too limited. This is particularly true for 18-24 year-old women, who have fewer extended care options.
Experience and research have taught us that "treating the whole person" requires integration of women's life issues and roles in a treatment context. These principal initiatives are integrated in the Women's Recovery Center plan:
- Address women's complex issues through program innovation.
- Provide greater access by increasing capacity.
- Integrate extended and continuing care with the primary program delivery.
"This is clearly an exciting time," says Iliff. "We are thrilled to make far-reaching advances in our continuum of care, taking women's care to the next level."
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