Other Programmes

Mindfulness techniques have been widely adopted in the fields of medicine, psychiatry and psychotherapy for their powerful beneficial effects in clients presenting with such issues as addiction, chemical dependence, compulsivity and a plethora of other mental health issues such as attention deficit disorder. An important part of recovery is being able to recognize triggers and how cravings and urges manifest in the body and mind. The practice of mindfulness at Montrose Place gives the client a unique tool to slow time down and bring awareness to the thoughts, feelings, and sensations associated with the triggering event while it is occurring. This helps to prevent the cycle of negative thinking that often follows. By learning how to acknowledge these events and relate to them differently the cycle of relapse can be broken.

At Montrose Place the practice of mindfulness includes, but is not limited to, formal meditation sessions. We encourage our clients to engage in all their daily activities in the spirit of mindful awareness and adopt this practice as a way of life.

The spirituality offered at Montrose is one of the cornerstones of the programme and something that sets our programme apart from many others. The spiritual dimension of Recovery, especially the mention of a higher power, is often misunderstood and evokes different feelings in different people. Some people are keen to explore the spirituality of the programme as they’ve been searching for something to make their lives more meaningful for a long time. Others are very weary of it as for any number of reasons they’ve become cynical about all forms of religion or spirituality. These people may be especially weary of the idea of relating to a higher power. It is therefore crucial that each person is allowed to find their own form of spirituality in recovery – one that they find meaningful and that they can comfortably take forward into their daily living. The concept of a higher power as originally conceptualised in the 12 step programme makes it possible for anyone to find something that they can relate to.

Our approach at Montrose is that Spirituality should:

1. Respect the full range of opinions and beliefs of clients.
2. Be suitable for everyone, regardless of their personal faith or their lack thereof (atheists, agnostics and those with an established faith should all be able to relate to the programme);
3. Make a practical difference to each person’s life. In addition to the tried and tested 12 step spiritual principles, we incorporate some of the well -researched tools of Mindfulness meditation and Positive psychology into the programme. These tools help clients to improve self esteem, manage their stress and maintain greater inner peace without resorting to their addictions. In this sense spirituality supports the Relapse Prevention aspect of the programme
4. Provide people with a nurturing, supportive experience that supports an internal shift in their relationship with themselves, others and Life. The Big Book of AA defines a spiritual experience as something that brings about “an alteration in our reaction to life.”
5. Include involvement with the natural environment. At Montrose we are surrounded by natural beauty and use this to help our clients open up to something greater themselves. We also have access to a location out in the Karoo (a unique remote area of South Africa) where we can take clients for Retreats to support their healing and spiritual growth.

We therefore encourage you to approach this aspect of the programme with an open mind and to take whatever benefits are most meaningful and useful to you.

When offered in conjunction with experiential psychotherapy psycho-education is a valuable element of the weekly schedule.

Seminar topics at Montrose Place include:

• Abuse and neglect
• Boundary formation and maintenance
• Trauma/ PTSD
• Domestic violence
• Healthy sexuality
• Addiction and compulsivity
• Dysfunctional behaviours and relationships.

Secondly the Montrose Place life skills and recreation programme affords the client the opportunity to look beyond their illness and begin to contemplate who they are without the substance or behaviour to which they became addicted and make decisions about the type of person they want to be now, and the type of life they hope to lead in the future. In the initial stages of the treatment programme at Montrose Place, clients are set homework, which they must hand in to their personal counsellor by a prearranged deadline. This provides the client in early recovery with a structured system within which to learn how to be self-reflective and begin to take responsibility for their therapeutic process. The process of keeping inventory is continued throughout the duration of their admission. In time the client gains an increasing number of hours in the week which they may manage as they wish.

This graduated leisure time is built into the programme as an intentional structure ensuring our clients at Montrose Place have increased exposure to the people, places and situations that may trigger cravings.

This significantly improves the value of the Montrose Place continued care programme and thoroughly prepares our clients to be self-sufficient and more ready to own their journey of recovery and continue on it beyond the bounds of a treatment community.

Clients at Montrose Place are expected to attend a series of workshops addressing the social aspects of recovery. They are further encouraged to utilise the self-help communities in and around Cape Town as part of the life skills and recreation programme.

Clients at Montrose Place are provided with three nutritionally balanced meals daily. Eating regular, balanced meals throughout the day maximises physical and mental functioning and prevents any emotional discomfort caused by mood swings resulting from erratic blood sugar levels.

Our chef and kitchen staff ensures that the residents of Montrose Place receive the necessary sustenance to effectively engage in the challenging therapeutic timetable. All meals meet the latest medical and nutritional recommendations and are freshly prepared on site by experienced chefs using locally sourced products, under the guidance of our dietician. (Please note that our client’s special dietary needs will be assessed by the dietician, clinical team and consultant physician and accommodated where appropriate.)

All clients at Montrose Place have access to a biokineticist who will guide each individual to formulate a balanced fitness regimen and develop a healthy relationship with exercise.

At Montrose Place we encourage mindful exercising.

Yoga, Pilates and meditation classes are utilised to draw the client’s mind and body together, thereby greatly enhancing the outcomes of the therapeutic programme.

Our clients also reap the rewards of our magnificent location in their engagement with the Montrose Place wellness programme. A weekly guided mountain hike is provided by an experienced guide. Hiking is not only of great physical benefit. Immersion in nature helps to address the spiritual deficit typical of many clients in early recovery. Clients are encouraged to include regular walks and runs in their recreational programme.

Other physical leisure activities such as cycling, surfing, swimming and water aerobics are further incorporated in the wellness programme at Montrose Place.

We believe that it’s essential, in the interest of long-term and self-sustainable recovery, for these clients to begin to consider how they will productively spend their time when they leave residential treatment and to begin to incorporate elements of everyday life into their therapeutic timetable.

For some clients this means picking up a career, degree or other course that they had previously left unfinished and for others it means beginning something entirely new. Montrose Place facilitates the individual in their burgeoning educational and vocational pursuits by offering them:

• Career Assessment Testing
• An Academic Advisor and Counsellor
• Monitored study sessions
• Transportation to and from an institution or course of their choice.

If a client does not wish to undertake a course, the team at Montrose Place will arrange for them to volunteer their services for a number of hours per week to one of the charities doing extraordinary work in and around Cape Town. This opportunity has been met with great enthusiasm and the work has proved to be highly therapeutic for many of our alumni.