We can find ourselves sitting around wondering when the next referral source is going to call, or we can find ourselves checking in four patients in a day with assessments, treatment plans, and discharge summaries to do. Flexibility of Staff One of the reasons Family Recovery Center is able to maintain these programs along with two sessions of Continuing Care and a monthly Family Focus Week is because of the willingness of the staff members to wear more than one hat and to be flexible in scheduling. For instance, the program director and the evening counselor have both worked with families and, depending on needs, can easily cover the Family Focus Week program. Both counselors can take care of afternoon groups, depending on patient load. The program director is in a position to cover administrative needs, as well as to cover clinical needs when the staff and patient load require it.
Patients work together with other patients.
Outpatients can be supportive of the inpatients. Inpatients can lend insight to outpatients, who are sometimes caught up in the dailiness of their lives. While outpatient treatment has become the modality of choice in the days of managed care, there remains a need for inpatient treatment. In order to maintain an inpatient program while serving our patients with an outpatient day treatment modality, Family Recovery Center has been able to combine all modalities and use one team to staff these modalities. Such an approach requires a talented, multifaceted team with a willingness to be flexible to program needs and supportive of one another.