Psychotherapy

This vital one-on-one time gives the client the space to address sensitive issues and allows the counsellor to monitor the client’s progress and advise the clinical team accordingly of any changes or additions that need to be made to their personalised treatment programme.

Group psychotherapy at Montrose Place occurs in a number of different formats including:

• Process groups – peer or counsellor led groups aimed to provide support and understanding within the community.

• Focus groups – attending to specific themes associated with addiction, chemical dependence, compulsive behaviours, co-morbidity and mood disorders – including bereavement and sexuality.

• Drama and art therapy – experiential therapy groups affording the client a valuable opportunity to act out emotional problems and conflicts to gain objectivity/ understanding through re-experiencing

At Montrose Place, group therapy serves a secondary, and perhaps greater, purpose by breaking the isolation suffered by many in the grip of addictive, compulsive or co-morbid illnesses and offering the client an opportunity to experience genuine relationship and acceptance.

CBT at Montrose Place affords the client a space to talk about how they think about themselves, the world and other people and how what they do affects their thoughts and feelings. Unlike some of the other talking treatments available at Montrose Place, CBT focuses on the “here and now” problems and difficulties. Instead of focussing on the causes of your distress or symptoms in the past, it looks for ways to improve your state of mind now.

A further goal of psychodynamic therapy is to raise self-awareness and help the client to understand the influence of the past on their present behaviour.

At Montrose Place, the clinical team utilise a psychodynamic approach to give clients the opportunity to examine unresolved conflicts and symptoms which arise from dysfunctional relationships in their past (and present) and manifest themselves in the need and desire to abuse substances or maladaptive behaviours.

At Montrose Place, this approach underpins all of our therapeutic interventions and is utilised in the process of breaking through denial and shame with unconditional acceptance and gentle guidance. We believe that individuals instinctively move towards accomplishing their inherent potential. Person centred psychotherapy, and other humanistic modalities, are utilised to tap into this innate growth process.

Existential Therapy at Montrose Place focuses on solving current life challenges in a cooperative, nondirective and flexible way. It provides the individual with the forum to identify maladaptive defenses and unconscious anxieties and learn to live in the present moment. At Montrose Place the client is challenged to investigate their present set of circumstances and to determine the appropriate action needed to live a more fulfilling and authentic life.

At Montrose Place EMDR is not included in the weekly timetable. We work with a specialist consultant, integrating sessions into the personalised treatment programme for clients who we feel may benefit from its results, or on request.

For more information please do not hesitate in contacting us at Montrose Place.

With so many significant others affected, it is critical to involve them in the recovery process where it is appropriate and possible. For a treatment programme to be effective it is vital that it addresses the relational dimension of addictive, compulsive and co-morbid illnesses. A systemic approach greatly enhances the outcome of treatment. Our family support programme begins as the client takes their first steps toward an admission to Montrose Place.

A member of our team will contact the appropriate family members of loved ones with some basic information regarding what they can expect from the treatment programme at Montrose Place. This educative material provides insight and understanding for affected individuals regarding the nature of the disease their loved one is contending with and what will take place in the months ahead.

With our client’s consent, their family or loved ones will be invited to Montrose Place to take part in conjoint psychotherapy sessions in order to address longstanding systemic issues in a safe and non-judgmental environment. Our objective is to start healing the confusion, hurt and misunderstanding brought about by these devastating illnesses. In these sessions a member of the experienced team at Montrose Place will help the group to identify problems that have had a significant impact on the family system, instigate a change in attitudes and interpersonal behaviours and clarify how the family can provide healthy support for its member in recovery.

Our family support programme, which we will arrange for you in your country of residence if you are unable to visit us in Cape Town, will also involve our client’s immediate support system in their relapse prevention planning, which we hope will ease the transition back to their home environment.In cases where a family programme is not feasible, we will ensure that those who form the community to which our client will return when they leave Montrose Place, are fully informed (with our client’s consent) and prepared to support and assist our client as they return to their life beyond treatment.

The Montrose Place family support programme includes:

• Individual counselling sessions with a specialist family counsellor
• Family counselling sessions with a specialist family counsellor and members of the clinical team at Montrose Place
• Group counselling
• Interactive educational and psycho-educational lectures
• An introduction to, and creative exploration of, the principles of the 12-step programme.

Please note that, in the interests of confidentiality, the family support programme at Montrose Place takes place by invitation only. The programme is included in the cost of the client’s treatment (excluding travel and accommodation).

We encourage the loved ones of our clients to utilise our clinical outreach co-ordinators in South Africa and Europe if they are unable to attend the family support programme.

At Montrose Place, we work extensively with the individual to prepare them for the post-treatment period and, in doing so, help minimize the damage and disappointment caused by a relapse. Understanding that addiction, chemical dependence, compulsivity and mood disorders are diseases that requires continued management and monitoring is the cornerstone of successful recovery. 

Our clients are given the time and support to learn and practice some of the fundamental skills needed to recognise and overcome the cravings and their triggers that may result in relapse.

From their first week in treatment , our clients are also encouraged to engage in an external self-help programme in order that they are able to observe how others, in later stages of recovery, are live a fulfilling and rewarding life post-treatment. On their day of discharge the clients of Montrose Place are fully prepared to become custodians of their own recovery.

During inpatient treatment at Montrose Place, we provide our clients with a comfortable, safe and supportive environment within which to establish a process of self-sustainable recovery.We are further committed to ensuring that all our clients receive appropriate continuing care following the conclusion of the residential treatment process.

The personal counsellor assigned to the client from the outset of their treatment programme at Montrose Place will meet weekly on an individual basis to explore, and work with, the client’s understanding of his/ her illness as well as their ability to manage it. The client is shown how to utilize the necessary support systems, beyond the therapeutic environment, in order to prevent, or cope with, any occurrence of relapse.

The Montrose Place treatment model incorporates a number of activities beyond the standard psychotherapeutic offerings that we believe greatly assist our clients to prepare for life beyond residential treatment. This includes self-managed private leisure time, the attendance of external fellowship / support meetings, voluntary community service and career guidance (see resuming education initiative) towards the conclusion of the programme.

Furthermore our complementary health programme, featuring extensive nutritional and wellbeing guidance is aimed at ensuring that our clients will be in optimal physical health when they leave Montrose. Our on-site biokineticist will ensure that client’s receive a detailed personal discharge plan in order to maintain their physical wellbeing after they have left Montrose Place.

The team at Montrose Place and our clinical care and alumni coordinators collaborate to ensure that each individual is aware of the many resources available for ongoing recovery.

With the input of the personal counsellor, the referring primary facility or professional, the team at Montrose Place and the client’s family and loved ones, this comprehensive aftercare plan will ensure that client’s are fully prepared and supported in the immediate, and long-term future post discharge.

In the case of a co-morbid psychiatric diagnosis, we will also liaise with the client’s psychiatrist or GP to guarantee that you receive consistent medical attention following your departure from Montrose Place.

Montrose Place clients will further benefit from our outpatient services. A client unable geographically to make use of these services will be advised by one of our team of comparable resources in their local area.

It is a traditional programme that has assisted people all over the world in achieving self-sustainable recovery from addiction, chemical dependence and other compulsive behaviours.

The key principles of the 12 Steps model are:

• admitting that one cannot control one’s addiction or compulsion
• recognizing that a power greater than oneself can give strength and be a force for recovery
• examining past errors with the help of a more experienced individual
• making amends for these errors
• learning to live a new life with a new code of behaviour
• helping others that suffer from the same addictions or compulsions sustains the individual’s recovery process.

Adoption of the core elements of this powerful code of practice will minimise the likelihood of relapse and introduce the client to a global community of others in recovery.