A Client Centred Approach to Residential Drug and Alcohol Treatment

This session is not available for CE credit.

Abstract
A client centered approach to care is strongly advocated as key to improving the quality of treatment and treatment outcomes. Historically, there has been a notable absence of a client centered approach to treatment in residential substance dependence treatment settings.

In 2015, Kedesh Rehabilitation Services, a residential drug and alcohol treatment program, specialising in the treatment of co-occurring drug and alcohol and mental health issues, located in Australia, undertook a significant shift at an organisational and program delivery level. Kedesh moved from offering a traditional model of care, to one driven by a trauma informed approach, to provide client centred model of care from initial client contact, through to the completion of treatment.

Between April 2018 and April 2019 client’s and staff at Kedesh were invited to take part in focus groups and individual interviews, to elicit the client’s and staff’s experience of client centered care at Kedesh, including advantages and disadvantages. Four focus groups were conducted amongst 18 clients and 8 individual interviews amongst staff and a thematic analysis was conducted.

The Kedesh model of client centered care encourages staff to strive for a more holistic and empowering standard of care. The results support the acceptability of client centered care in residential substance dependence treatment settings for both clients and staff. This paper will explore the client centred model implemented at Kedesh and discuss in more detail the research findings.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session participants will be able to:

• Clearly describe how they would define client centred care in treatment settings
• Compare a traditional model of care in residential drug and alcohol settings and a client centred, trauma informed model
• Identify the costs and benefits of implementing a client centred, trauma informed model of care in residential drug and alcohol treatment settings
• Assess the importance of an holistic and empowering standard of care in residential drug and alcohol treatment settings
• Identify practical approaches to implementing a a client centred, trauma informed model of care in residential drug and alcohol treatment settings