Sheep Gate Services
Sheepgate Services an aftercare partnership for lasting results
"You Can't Think Your Way Into Better Living"
Our clients may find they have these issues in common:
- May need primary addiction treatment
- Completed Inpatient Detox
- Completed primary treatment experience
- Attendance in Twelve Step meetings with inconsistent results
- Drug and alcohol issues
- Incomplete high school education
- Struggling to succeed in the college or university setting
- Completed a wilderness program
- Attended a program within the past year with limited success
Successful change in people who overcome addiction is the outworking of some of the key internal conditions resulting in different actions. These key internal conditions are honesty, open mindedness and willingness.
A major focus of primary treatment is to stimulate these intangible conditions (honesty, open mindedness, willingness) and strengthen their role in the client’s decision making process. Aftercare services take these skills that were targeted, established (and successful) in primary treatment and transfer them into a plan for integration into daily, weekly and monthly activities transitioning into everyday living.
We all know that “everyday life “is tricky to negotiate once addiction has developed. Every day life…it’s just, well, it’s so daily! The role of aftercare support service is to provide a structure for developing the skills within the accountability plan for abstinence. A time limited relationship is established within a structure i.e. sober-living homes and/or monitoring services which helps to manage the key indicators for success. The accountability structure can improve the outcomes for successful integration of sober-living skills.
Services
Monitoring is a common tool used in mainstream healthcare. It is a cost effective, adaptable tool. We offer this structure for use with individuals recovering from addictions (and related behavioral health issues).
In the monitoring structure, SGS staff are available to clients as a resource but are not providing formal ongoing sober-coaching or casemanagement. Our role is one of providing the structure and documentation for monitoring an aftercare plan (with timely communication of indicators consistent with relapse process). SGS monitors work directly with stakeholders, primary care providers and other professional case managers, implementing treatment recommendations and communicating outcomes systematically.
Structured Sober-living Homes
We offer structured sober-living in gender specific homes with a Christian orientation grounded in Twelve Step recovery.
Our homes are designed specifically for young adults, offering short-term transitional housing (90 days on average) with access to high-impact recreation, twelve step and spiritual activities. We are committed to providing a warm and comfortable living environment, free from alcohol and drugs within a vibrant culture of recovery.
Our clients agree to accept accountability to the residential community as one of the terms for occupancy. This agreement further outlines specific standards for maintaining a drug/alcohol-free living environment which includes a willingness to maintain behaviors consistent with the principals of twelve step recovery and Christian values.
Activities include recreational outings in the immediate area including horseback riding, snowboarding and skiing, water recreation, golfing, hiking and more. Our homes are located in the Idaho Panhandle, an area rich in natural resources for year-round outdoor recreation. The surrounding community provides many opportunities for Twelve Step and Celebrate Recovery meeting attendance, educational resources and service work.
Our goal is to support young-adults in the early recovery process as they learn to integrate sober living skills into a vibrant, age-appropriate lifestyle through deliberate living.
Monitoring
Monitoring is a proven method of supporting sober skill development following completion of primary substance abuse treatment. This method of creating measurable outcomes while providing accountability and documentation has been utilized for many years.
The monitoring model has proven effective in use with pilots, physicians, dentists, nurses and pharmacists when substance use is discovered and as a result has created uncertain conditions for predictable performance in the workplace.
Early recovery is a process of applying new skills while establishing healthy relationships. Monitoring services can provide a convenient affordable structure for developing accountability as a foundation for successful sober living.
From our perspective, the case-monitor comes from the position of a partnership for responsible health care. This model is inclusive, informing the process without judgment. The communication we provide always includes the identified patient and attempts to protect this individual from performance measures and associated shame (since this emotion is counterproductive and can hinder appropriate action).
Let’s use the example of the health indicators for diabetes versus unstable blood sugar levels. An individual engaged in a healthcare process for diabetes would follow professional recommendations which might include routine doses of medication, utilizing a food plan to control blood sugar levels and incorporating regular exercise. In this scenario, the process of monitoring helps to provide information to guide the care plan for optimal health benefits.
In a situation where there has been a test indicating high blood sugar level absent other indicators of a disease process, responsible health care would include monitoring the diet and other key indicators to inform the treatment plan. The absence of improved test results would be indication for further studies and revisions to the plan.
When we apply this model to the conditions associated with substance abuse (versus addiction), monitoring helps to maintain a healthy behavioral structure following treatment. The client’s to maintain abstinence is significant information in the diagnosis and treatment planning process. A motivated healthcare partner will recognize that the use of substances will likely impact the ability to maintain stable behavior whether substance abuse is the primary or secondary condition. Agreeing to a period of abstinence as part of any behavioral aftercare plan is a reasonable goal for achieving stability in one’s personal and professional life. The results inform the process.
