Ready to launch
Last spring, Nikki and I were eating lunch at Dengeo’s (which has a great stir fry I might add!) when she looked at me and said, “I have a thought. Don’t say no.”
(You should know that Nikki is the optimistic and more fearless one while I can be incredibly cautious.)
But I was intrigued.
We started talking about a hole that exists in mental health care. Following successful completion of an intensive outpatient program (IOP) or partial hospitalization program (PHP), people dealing with issues like alcohol abuse or chemical dependency, clinical depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression or other mental health challenges usually step down to another IOP intensive outpatient program. After that, there is often a gap in care while awaiting a spot in individual therapy. Or, there may be times when weekly therapy, after such intense and compassionate care, isn’t enough.
Nikki and I agreed we needed to find a way to fill that much-needed space, and this was how our Path to Progress Program was born.
The Path to Progress Program, located at our offices in Northbrook, Illinois, will help clients continue a higher level of clinical care than offered by just weekly therapy alone. Participants will transition back to everyday life while strengthening the skills they need to more effectively deal with stressors like jobs, school, parenting, and relationships.
Our program will help clients practice and reinforce the skills they’ve recently learned, and apply them to their world as they are actually living it. We want to help our participants reinforce everything they have been working relentlessly on, and help take their progress to the next level, while also working to prevent relapse.
Now, this was an exciting concept to Nikki and I, because we also saw the inverse use of this program to be applicable, too. What if weekly therapy wasn’t enough support, but PHP or IOP was too high of a level of care? Or maybe the client can’t commit the time or to the times these programs are available? PTP can work for these clients, too.
That meal was a long one, but in that time Nikki and I were able to craft the outline of a program that we feel would more than adequately fill this need.
The Path to Progress Program is an 8-10 week program. Participants receive twice-weekly individual and/or family sessions either virtually or in-person, scheduled at their convenience during the day, in the evening, or on weekends. These sessions help address the specific challenges faced by the client, and are designed to either reinforce or provide new tools to cope and manage life in the here and now.
In addition, a weekly group will meet late Saturday afternoons. Here the clients can work together to help each other, gain new skills, and be a support to one another. After 8-10 weeks, a client can transition back to their own weekly therapy session, or we can help the client find a new therapist - perhaps even in our practice.
So, in the end, I didn’t say no. I am not feeling at all cautious about this. Nikki and I both feel strongly that the Path to Progress Program will help fill a gap in mental health treatment – and this feels like healing.
Check us out at pathtoprogressprogram.com to see our providers and our plan, and learn more about our practice at foxlevineandassociates.com
And do yourself a favor - order the stir fry at Dengeo’s. You will not be disappointed.
-Brooke