FLORIDA CENTER FOR ADDICTIONS AND DUAL DISORDERS
The Florida Center for Addictions and Dual Disorders is a fifty-bed residential treatment facility for individuals with co-existing substance use and psychiatric disorders. The Florida Center is licensed and monitored by Florida Department of Children and Families and the Commission for the Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). The Florida Center provides nine weeks of comprehensive treatment for any resident of the State of Florida who meets the criteria for a DSM-IV Axis I Substance-Related Disorder, and as well has a documented history of an Axis I Anxiety, Mood, or Thought Disorder.
The primary focus of the program is to treat substance dependence and mental disorders simultaneously. Clients in residence are taught about their dual disorders and are helped to understand that though these two classes of diseases interact with one another when they exist in the same individual, they are independent disorders. That is to say, they do not depend on one another for their existence. Both disorders therefore must be regarded as primary and equally important, neither being de-emphasized during any phase of treatment or aftercare. In the dually diagnosed, if the mental illness alone is treated, the substance use disorder will progress and worsen; conversely, if the mental illness is overlooked in favor of a singular focus on substance abuse, psychiatric symptoms will quickly become unmanageable.
At the Florida Center, treatment for substance dependence relies heavily on the Twelve Step tradition of the Disease and Recovery model and includes daily Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, and a fundamental completion of the first three steps of the program while in treatment. For the stabilization of the symptoms of mental disorders, the psychiatric model of illness and rehabilitation is utilized, incorporating a variety of therapeutic group strategies, psycho-educational learning modules, and individual, supportive psychotherapy.
The treatment program also provides a Specialty Track for clients whose psychiatric symptoms and/or intellectual functioning inhibit them from profiting from the regular, largely verbal and insight based modes of therapy. Such clients are predominately those with Thought and other Psychotic Disorders and also those with mild Mental Retardation or Borderline Intellectual Functioning. The Specialty Track is highly structured with emphasis on those areas most often noted to be lacking in such a population, such as basic daily living skills, communication skills, and simple stress management. The interventions offered through the Specialty Track are experiential and supportive and seek to cultivate awareness of the symptoms of the identified psychiatric disorder, and the impact of substance abuse on the ability to function day to day. Though specific treatment modalities have been designed with attention to the unique needs of clients with thought disorders, these clients reside and interact with the general community throughout their stay in treatment. (The specialty tract is available based on applicant's district funding.)
Please click here for additional information regarding the Florida Center and a printable application with admission requirements.
Or if you need more information please contact the Florida Center at the information below:
Tri-County Human Services, Inc.
Florida Center for Addictions and Dual Disorder
100 W. College Drive
Avon Park, FL 33825
(863) 452-3858