The Climb

National Recovery Month is held every September to bring awareness to substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and mental health services. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) defines recovery as a process of change where individuals improve their overall health, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach their full potential.

Recovery Month celebrates the positive progress brought forth in recovery. This month reinforces the message that treatment is effective, and people do recover. Every individual in recovery has a story of their journey.  

One client, Kevin, began his journey with Ascension when we were contacted to facilitate an intervention. Since then, he has worked hard to continue in his recovery and become a source of hope for others. In honor of Recovery Month, Kevin shares his story.  

Often, families with loved ones who are struggling from addiction feel they have tried all of their options to help their loved one. Families attempt to control their loved one’s substance abuse through efforts such as talking with their loved one about their use, managing their environment, participation in previous detox or treatment attempts, etc. An individual experiencing a substance use disorder may undergo a variety of treatment options. 

As a healthcare provider, it is your duty to help family members and those affected by addiction to find the right care option that best fits their unique treatment needs. There are different forms of therapy that can be explored with an individual.

Addiction is a chronic, progressive disease that gets worse over time if not treated properly.  Recovery is not easy, but it is possible. At Ascension Recovery Services, our encouraging and certified team of professionals are here to help you. We can contribute to your loved one’s recovery through our customized treatment solutions. 

Our clinical professionals can provide an intervention, assessments and other services needed to make the appropriate recommendations on what type of treatment your loved one should receive. Long-term recovery success rates increase when treatment programs are paired with extended maintenance programs for recovery integration.

Ascension Recovery Services offers program development services for individuals and hospital systems that are creating substance use disorder treatment programs. One of the main questions that our clients ask is, “Which service should I offer?” 

To answer this question, it is important to understand which services are appropriate for an individual, the location of the services and a client’s budget. Seeking treatment is the first step in beginning the road to recovery for substance use disorder, but it can be confusing to know where to start. With different levels of care, it is necessary to understand which one is appropriate for an individual’s situation and needs. The continuum of care includes services such as:

• Detox
• Residential Treatment
• Partial Hospitalization
• Intensive Outpatient
• General Outpatient 
• Sober Living

What sets your organization apart? At Ascension, we believe that receiving national accreditation can be the deciding factor on helping your business stand out. Read on to learn why.

Reintegrate Appalachia (Reintegrate), a workforce reemployment initiative for those in early recovery from substance use disorder (SUD), was awarded a multi-year grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) POWER Initiative in February 2019. Reintegrate is a collaborative effort between West Virginia Sober Living (WVSL), Coalfield Development Corporation (Coalfield) and is supported by West Virginia University Health Sciences Center (WVU HSC).

On March 4, 2019, WVU Medicine launched its new facility the WVU Medicine Center for Hope and Healing, a medically managed withdrawal stabilization and residential treatment center for individuals affected by substance use disorders (SUD).

WVU Medicine and the WVU Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry already offer a comprehensive menu of outpatient services for people with SUD, and the addition of withdrawal management and 28-day rehabilitation completes the in-house continuum of care for these disorders. The Center is a 29,305 square-foot addiction treatment facility that offers 12 beds for subacute medically managed withdrawal residential care and 30 beds for residential care up to 28 days.

Ascension Recovery Services was honored to work with WVU Medicine, WVU Department of Behavioral Medicine and Psychiatry to help develop this program.Read on to learn more about the residential treatment center, and how Ascension helped.

Is drug addiction considered a mental illness? Addiction disturbs the brain, which then challenges an individual's needs and desires replacing them with new priorities like procuring substances to use. 

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, lists criteria for SUDs, as well as distinguishes the differences of severity levels of substance misuse.

If your child is using substances (drugs and alcohol), you may have been told that there are certain things you do for them are “enabling.” This can be hard because all you want to do is help them.

Read on to learn about what enabling is, signs of enabling and how to break the cycle.

Working to get a behavioral health license from your home state can be an arduous task. Doing this type of work involves a strict adherence to state regulation and code so that you can be granted the license. It is easy to get lost in all of the red tape that goes along with pursuing a behavioral health license.

Ascension has created a universal approach to addressing state requirements, adjusting policies and procedures to meet those requirements and uses good business sense to create a profitable and effective treatment program.