Innovation is an integral part of the healthcare profession. Experts are constantly developing new techniques to improve the quality of care. Creating new treatment methods, processes, and policies allows clients to receive more effective treatment. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “In health care in particular, innovations enable us to treat previously incurable diseases or to make better use of scarce resources.” Driftwood Recovery supports staff by encouraging innovation within a structured framework to ensure consistency in treatment quality and client care.
Why Is Encouraging Innovation Vital to Quality Healthcare?
Innovation encourages people to expand their skill set and overcome challenges using creative problem-solving. Every professional has a unique perspective on their area of expertise. Developing new solutions for problems allows healthcare workers to spend less energy or resources providing high-quality services. For example, offering telehealth treatment can support clients while reducing strain on healthcare programs and staff.
Innovation is not always easy to implement. According to Future Healthcare Journal, “There are a number of areas that present barriers to innovation in healthcare,” including:
- Balancing privacy and data sharing between relevant departments
- Lack of community education and client acceptance of innovations
- Difficulty testing innovations in a clinical setting
Driftwood Recovery encourages staff innovation by suggesting improvements to current processes, procedures, services, and treatment programs. The management team listens to all staff concerns and suggestions and adopts practical changes whenever possible. Encouraging innovation is essential to quality healthcare because it fosters creativity, skill development, and client engagement.
Ensuring Clients Have Access to the Most Appropriate Care
Innovation ensures clients have access to the most effective and appropriate care. Healthcare professionals can significantly improve treatment outcomes by discovering new ways to implement therapies and services. Clients participating in treatment for addiction and mental health disorders have significantly benefited from innovative changes in recent decades. New treatments have been developed to allow for personalized care targeting specific disorders or addictive behaviors. Over time, innovations may become adopted into mainstream treatment programs. For example, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy started as an innovative treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is now commonly used to address multiple forms of trauma, stress, and emotional distress.
Encouraging Innovation While Maintaining Consistency
Consistent client care ensures better treatment outcomes. Many clients participate in a continuum of care that includes residential, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, outpatient, and aftercare programs. Healthcare professionals can offer consistent treatment between these levels of care while offering innovative and tailored services.
Professionals provide consistency of treatment by doing the following:
- Adhering to standardized protocols
- Using clear communication between professionals
- Taking advantage of staff retraining
- Thoroughly documenting client care
- Using evidence-based therapies
- Ensuring proper medication management
- Establishing follow-up procedures
- Promoting collaboration and teamwork
- Educating clients and fostering active engagement in treatment
Maintaining consistency allows professionals to provide the best possible care to clients in rehabilitation. Individuals in treatment and their loved ones often face fewer challenges in recovery if they participate in a consistent continuum of care.
Clients Benefit From Consistent Treatment
Healthcare professionals use creativity and skill development to create consistent, innovative methods for treating clients with addiction and mental health disorders.
A few of the primary benefits of treating clients using innovative techniques include:
- Improved client outcomes
- Better treatment engagement
- Increased client satisfaction
- Stronger trust in the care team
- Increased program retention rates
The treatment programs at Driftwood Recovery ensure a more consistent continuum of care by using tailored treatment services for every stage of treatment. Creating new ways of addressing client symptoms and side effects can improve rehabilitation outcomes.
Encouraging Innovation at Driftwood Recovery
Healthcare researchers are among the most innovative professionals. According to Cureus, “The United States has ascended to the forefront of medical innovation by investing heavily in research, which has led to novel treatments.” Driftwood Recovery supports innovation and encourages staff to use cutting-edge research when developing client treatment plans.
Personalized care allows for greater flexibility and adaptability in treatment. Clinicians and support staff at Driftwood Recovery use tailored care to integrate new techniques and services into programs. Clients benefit from trying new therapies and strategies designed to address each client’s unique condition.
Staff Support One Another in Learning and Professional Growth
Healthcare professionals support innovation through continuing education, cross-training, skill development, and pursuing professional growth. Using personal experiences to develop new ways of identifying and addressing client needs can significantly contribute to innovation in healthcare. According to the previously mentioned article by Future Healthcare Journal, “With appropriate focus, a culture of innovation will help” facilities provide high-quality healthcare.
Staff at Driftwood Recovery supports one another by sharing ideas, concerns, skills, and experiences. Clinicians pool their knowledge and resources to improve the effectiveness of treatment. Mutual empowerment and support foster an environment of creative problem-solving.
The healthcare field thrives on innovation. Professionals are consistently creating new treatment strategies and techniques. Clients and experts benefit from the high-quality services developed through continual innovation and professional growth. Every staff member has an opportunity to share their thoughts, experiences, skills, and ideas about how to improve client care. Healthcare professionals can practice these new techniques and treatments using the support and guidance of peers and experts. Collaboration is essential to innovation and allows staff to receive critical feedback and suggestions. Driftwood Recovery encourages staff to use an innovative approach to client care. To learn more about our services and how we create our personalized treatment programs, call us today at (512) 759-8330.
High-stress careers, including positions in healthcare, may lead to emotional burnout and high levels of emotional distress. A safe space allows healthcare professionals to gain support and overcome emotional challenges without judgment. Coworkers play an essential role in providing peer support and encouragement during moments of high workplace-related stress. According to Acta Biomedica, “Peer Support gives a chance for personal growth [and] reflection.” Driftwood Recovery has created a safe space for coworkers to empower and encourage one another during moments of emotional crisis. Staff and management have worked together to build a strong support network for individuals struggling to achieve emotional stability in the workplace.
What Is a Safe Space?
Individuals working in healthcare have a higher risk of experiencing trauma, mental health issues, or emotional distress. A safe space ensures people feel secure, heard, accepted, valued, and supported. Feeling safe with coworkers reduces the risk of emotional burnout or other potential problems.
Creating a safe space in the workplace involves doing the following:
- Promoting a culture where staff feel comfortable voicing their thoughts and concerns
- Practicing empathy by showing understanding and compassion
- Addressing discrimination and taking immediate action against any bias or harassment
- Establishing clear policies by implementing guidelines prioritizing inclusivity and respect
- Providing diversity, equity, and inclusion training
- Promoting a work-life balance to reduce stress
- Modeling inclusive behaviors
- Encouraging teamwork and mutual support
Healthcare professionals have an ethical obligation to provide clients with a safe space where they can receive appropriate care. The management team at Driftwood Recovery supports clients and staff by establishing routines and guidelines that encourage individuals to treat one another with respect and empathy.
Why Is It Important to Create a Safe Space for Coworkers?
Professionals who feel safe in the workplace are more likely to share ideas and offer suggestions to coworkers. A safe space improves collaboration. In addition, a comfortable workspace helps individuals focus more fully on their responsibilities, ensuring they provide higher-quality care. Professionals benefit from a strong support structure prioritizing their emotional and physical well-being. Safe workspaces foster stronger professional connections and ensure staff feel comfortable seeking support.
Driftwood Recovery empowers staff by ensuring they feel safe and secure while on the job. Daily staff meetings allow people to express their thoughts, needs, and feelings without judgment. The management team has an open-door policy that encourages staff members to reach out if they feel something needs to be addressed in the workplace.
Health Benefits of Creating a Safe Space for Professionals Experiencing Emotional Distress
Working in a safe workspace significantly benefits professionals experiencing emotional distress or chronic stress. The additional emotional and practical support allows individuals to rely on peers and management to help them overcome challenges.
Some benefits of creating a safe workspace in healthcare include:
- Enhancing job satisfaction
- Improving mental health
- Reducing stress
- Improving teamwork and collaboration
- Increasing productivity
- Reducing staff turnover
- Ensuring Higher-quality services
- Reducing workplace conflicts
- Promoting diversity
A positive work environment promotes creativity, innovation, and cooperation. According to Plos One, “A positive work environment (WE) for healthcare professionals is important for good patient care [. . .],” and “is strongly associated with attracting and retaining healthcare professionals.” People are more likely to remain working in healthcare positions where they feel heard, valued, and respected by coworkers and management. Working in a secure and inclusive environment improves teamwork and ensures clients receive better care.
Fostering a Diverse and Inclusive Environment
Diversity, equality, and inclusiveness can create a more welcoming space for healthcare professionals and clients. According to the Journal of the National Medical Association, “It is important to have a healthcare workforce which represents the tapestry of our communities as it relates to race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, immigration status, physical disability status, and socioeconomic level to render the best possible care to our diverse patient populations.” Driftwood Recovery treats clients from all backgrounds and walks of life. To create the best outcomes, staff must know how to identify and address their needs. Staff struggling with emotional distress have fewer stressful client interactions if they work in an inclusive environment.
How Does Driftwood Recovery Create a Safe Space for Coworkers?
Driftwood Recovery ensures staff members uplift and support one another. Coworkers have opportunities to encourage one another during challenging moments. The mutual empowerment of teamwork and collaboration allows staff to build a healthy support network within the workplace.
Driftwood Recovery creates a safe space for staff by doing the following:
- Prioritizing open and honest communication
- Offering regular training
- Promoting diversity and inclusivity
- Supporting staff mental health
- Encouraging a healthy work-life balance
- Implementing flexible policies
- Maintaining zero-tolerance policies for coworker or client harassment
- Fostering opportunities for professional growth
- Facilitating peer support and mentorship
Driftwood Recovery also offers a safe physical environment by ensuring staff follow strict safety policies and procedures. Everyone deserves to feel comfortable and safe in their workplace.
Peer support is an essential part of maintaining positive mental health for individuals working in high-stress positions within healthcare. Clinicians and support staff often face significant stress and challenges at work, leading to potential burnout or mental health issues. A healthy support network and a safe work environment reduce the risk of emotional or physical burnout. Driftwood Recovery offers staff the resources and support they need to feel secure, comfortable, and respected. Staff can rely on each other and the management team to offer guidance and encouragement to anyone struggling with mental health issues. To learn more about how we ensure a safe working environment, call us today at (512) 759-8330.
Some healthcare professionals may struggle to collaborate with coworkers due to various factors. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Healthcare workers face challenging working conditions and high stress levels that can lead to poor mental and physical health.” Identifying and addressing issues affecting staff engagement improves collaboration and reduces workplace-related stress. Driftwood Recovery fosters a collaborative approach to teamwork, ensuring all staff members feel equally supported and respected.
What Is a Collaborative Approach to Teamwork?
Clients and staff benefit when coworkers use teamwork to create a more collaborative environment. Working together with multiple people with different areas of expertise allows clients to receive more comprehensive care. Integrative services provided by a multidisciplinary team improve treatment outcomes.
Collaboration between professionals in healthcare generally involves the following:
- Effective and honest communication
- Continuous learning and training
- Frequent meetings to discuss case management
- Maintaining a patient-centered approach
- Sharing decision-making
- Defining roles and responsibilities
Collaboration is essential for individuals providing addiction recovery and mental health services. Combining the expertise of multiple professionals provides clients with support for their psychological and physical health needs. According to Medicine, “Collaborative Care may significantly improve patient outcomes.” In addition, collaborative care “has been shown to improve access to behavioral health services, deliver patient-centered behavioral and physical health care in the same setting, and improve overall clinical outcomes.” Driftwood Recovery provides staff members with the training and support they need to provide integrative care. Services and programs are designed to allow clinicians to collaborate closely with one another and clients to ensure high-quality care while reducing stress on staff.
Factors Impacting Teamwork in Healthcare
Integrative client care often requires collaboration between multiple departments and professional teams. Many factors affect how people work with and relate to one another. Individuals in high-stress positions may struggle to connect with coworkers. Clients and staff suffer if professionals fail to develop trust and effective communication.
Some of the most common factors impacting how well coworkers collaborate include:
- Chronic stress
- High caseloads
- Lack of cross-training
- Tension between coworkers
- Lack of personal boundaries
The workplace is a professional environment where everyone deserves to be treated with respect and compassion regardless of personal beliefs or skill level. Fostering a collaborative relationship between staff members reduces miscommunication and ensures everyone receives the support they need to succeed.
How Does a Collaborative Approach to Teamwork Improve the Workplace?
Collaboration improves teamwork in the workplace by doing the following:
- Enhancing communication
- Promoting innovation
- Clarifying roles and expectations
- Strengthening relationships
- Encouraging accountability
- Improving problem-solving
- Boosting morale
- Increasing positivity
Collaboration allows team members to learn from each other’s experiences and share areas of expertise. Individuals in high-stress positions use these opportunities to improve their skills and manage caseloads more effectively.
Quick Ways to Improve Teamwork in a Healthcare Setting
Teamwork can take weeks or months to develop naturally between individuals in the same department or program. However, professionals can do a few things to quickly build deeper bonds and cooperation with coworkers.
Some quick ways people can improve teamwork in a healthcare setting include:
- Practicing timely, respectful, and clear communication
- Acknowledging the contributions of coworkers
- Clearly defining objectives and sharing progress
- Giving constructive feedback
- Embracing diverse perspectives
- Focusing on collectively solving challenges
- Recognizing and celebrating team achievements
Driftwood Recovery trains every staff member to use these quick and practical tools for developing collaboration and teamwork. Every staff member has valuable insights and skills they can bring to the team. By working together, teams can reduce pressure on individuals and share the caseload.
How to Foster a Collaborative Approach Each Day
Every day is an opportunity for people to work together to improve their abilities, overcome challenges, and create a positive work environment. Healthcare professionals benefit from fostering collaboration through daily meetings, discussions about cases, and jointly led treatment services. Driftwood Recovery facilitates teamwork by providing staff with opportunities for cross-training and daily check-ins.
Personalizing client care is one of the ways professionals work together to reduce workplace stress. Clients and coworkers have a better experience when professionals pool their resources and skills to create personalized care plans. In addition, many clients struggling with addiction or mental health issues have better treatment outcomes if they participate in tailored care.
The Collaborative Approach to Teamwork at Driftwood Recovery
Driftwood Recovery uses teamwork to ensure clients have a positive rehabilitation experience. Everyone benefits when staff take the time to engage with one another and build deeper relationships. Collaboration is one of the most effective ways to ensure positive treatment outcomes.
Teamwork is essential to workplace productivity. According to the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal, “Teamwork has [. . .] been shown to provide benefits to health care providers, including reducing extra work and increasing job satisfaction.” Driftwood Recovery uses collaborative care and multidisciplinary teams to provide tailored care to clients, ensuring a more positive work environment.
Individuals working in high-stress environments often face multiple challenges in coping with the pressure caused by client and coworker expectations. A collaborative approach to teamwork can significantly reduce the risk of emotional burnout, miscommunication, or unintentional errors by ensuring staff members work together effectively. Collaborating to provide clients with effective and integrative care reduces pressure on staff and improves treatment quality. Driftwood Recovery has policies in place to encourage teamwork and collaboration between staff. The management team offers additional support and guidance to ensure healthcare professionals feel comfortable speaking up or requesting assistance if they begin to feel overwhelmed. To learn more about how we collaborate to provide optimal care, call us today at (512) 759-8330.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 48.7 million people aged 12 or older (17.3%) had substance use disorder (SUD) in a given year. Despite the prevalence of SUD, many people do not seek treatment due to barriers like a lack of resources and stigma. In particular, stigma can lead to treatment avoidance or even discriminatory policies that impede resources. Therefore, access to recovery education can be an invaluable tool for dismantling stigma to support access to treatment and recovery.
At Driftwood Recovery, we know forming healthy attachments in yourself and with others can turn clinical insight into action. The challenge of stigma can impair your connection to yourself and others. When you feel less than because of internal and external experiences with stigma, it becomes difficult to make healthy choices. If you are overwhelmed by negative thoughts and feelings, there is no space to learn and grow. Therefore, uncovering insight for self-love and understanding starts with opening yourself up to learning and growing.
Recovery education is an integral part of connection and recovery. Through recovery education, you can build tools that support deeper self-awareness and self-understanding. With greater awareness and understanding, you can connect to yourself and others to foster positive thinking and behavior. Seeking recovery education can be fundamental to resilience post-treatment and maintaining your recovery.
Yet, you may question what recovery education is. How can recovery education dismantle stigma internally and externally? Expanding your awareness of recovery education can offer insight into the importance of recovery education for shifting the way you see yourself and how you engage in the world.
What Is Recovery Education?
According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, health literacy originally encompassed basic literacy skills like reading, writing, and numeracy in a medical context. However, health literacy has shifted and expanded to consider a wide range of individual, social, and cognitive competencies. Today’s health literacy also encompasses recovery education, as addiction can have significant health consequences for you and society.
Access to health literacy is valuable to the well-being of all individuals. Low health literacy is common among groups like older adults, low education, the socioeconomically disadvantaged, and ethnic minorities. However, health literacy can be particularly beneficial to recovery education as those with SUD and co-occurring conditions often have low health literacy.
Understanding the Impact of Stigma on Recovery
As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notes, stigma is the relationship between an attribute and stereotypes that suggest you have undesirable labels, qualities, and behaviors. Addiction stigma is often coupled with public, structural, and self-stigmatized beliefs. For example, public stigma views those with SUD as more dangerous, unpredictable, and responsible for their disorder. As a result of public stigma, self-stigma often develops and further harms your well-being. For instance, public beliefs contribute to the perpetuation of negative thoughts and self-talk that erodes your self-esteem, self-worth, and self-efficacy.
Listed below are the different types of stigma:
- Structural
- Laws, policies, and regulations cause intentional and unintentional discrimination
- Limits access to opportunities and resources
- Increases poor physical and psychological health outcomes
- Limits access to opportunities and resources
- Laws, policies, and regulations cause intentional and unintentional discrimination
- Public stigma
- Prejudice is formed from stereotypes about a person or group
- Stereotyping leads to discrimination
- Views substance use as a choice
- This leads the public to blame people with SUD for their condition
- Decreases support for recovery options
- This leads the public to blame people with SUD for their condition
- Prejudice is formed from stereotypes about a person or group
- Self-stigma
- You internalize negative stereotypes about yourself
- You perceive yourself as flawed, unworthy of love, belonging, and connection
- Decreases help-seeking behavior
- You perceive yourself as flawed, unworthy of love, belonging, and connection
- You internalize negative stereotypes about yourself
Addiction stigma changes how others see you, how you see yourself, and how you are treated. Moreover, public, self, and structural stigma contribute to isolation from yourself and others. When you feel disconnected from yourself and others, your self-esteem, self-worth, and motivation to maintain recovery erodes. Looking at the impact of stigma on your psychological well-being showcases the importance of recovery education.
The Value of Recovery Education for Reducing Stigma
Some of the tools in treatment and recovery that can help confront and combat stigma include psychoeducational groups. Through psychoeducation, you can gain insight into your disorder and its impact on you and your life. Moreover, psychoeducation in recovery education can also:
- Increase awareness and understanding of maladaptive patterns
- Teach you how to engage in adaptive strategies
Additionally, recovery education tools give you more insight into yourself, which empowers you to take control of your recovery. Moreover, recovery education supports:
- Social inclusion with your loved ones and the wider community
- An environment that encourages understanding, knowledge, and skill development
- Challenges and dismantles stigma
- Establish and achieve life and recovery goals
In addition to psychoeducation, recovery education can also include family education. Through family education, you and your loved ones can gain insight into your SUD and its impact on well-being and relationships to heal the whole family.
Healing the Whole Family With Family Education
Addiction changes the whole family system by disrupting family dynamics, increasing relationship conflict, and fracturing families. Understanding family systems and SUD allows you to explore the impact of SUD on the whole family to heal. Through family education, you and your loved ones can understand each other better and rebuild connections for healthy interdependence and mutual support to thrive in life together. Now, you and your family can foster unity to learn and grow together.
Finding Recovery Education in Alumni at Driftwood Recovery
At Driftwood Recovery, our alumni family is a peer-driven network designed to support you and your loved ones. With access to post-treatment services and resources, you can be empowered to continue learning and building on skills to live an independent and fulfilling life. Through holistic care, you can heal in mind, body, and spirit as you understand how stigma impacts your recovery. No matter where you are on your recovery journey, a strong alumni program allows you and your family to continue learning, growing, and sharing in sustained recovery.
Stigma increases barriers to information, knowledge, connection, and sustained recovery. However, recovery education like psychoeducation and family education can support self-awareness, self-understanding, independence, mutually supportive relationships, and lasting recovery. Through a peer-driven alumni program, you can access services and resources for education and connection. Supportive relationships are valuable for enhancing self-esteem, self-worth, and adaptive coping. The connections you build with loved ones and peers in alumni work to support health literacy for physical and psychological well-being. Thus, at Driftwood Recovery, we are dedicated to service, support, compassion, respect, encouragement, and accountability in a vibrant alumni program for a courageous life in sustained recovery. Call us at (512) 759-8330 to learn how recovery education can support your recovery.
Humor is an excellent way to break the ice and reduce stress during clinical interactions. Clients may feel anxious or afraid if they do not know what to expect from an appointment. Inserting even a small amount of appropriate humor into the initial interaction can put clients at ease and build trust with medical professionals. Clinicians and support staff at Driftwood Recovery use appropriate humor and positivity as a therapeutic tool to develop deeper connections with clients.
How Is Humor a Therapeutic Tool?
Humor can reduce stress, improve positivity, and help clients create a bond with healthcare professionals. Experiencing the physical effects of humor can relieve tension and put clients at ease. Most people know they feel better when they laugh. Individuals with anxiety or depressive disorders may use funny videos or images to help them cope with their symptoms.
Research has proven humor improves mental health. In addition, clients often feel more valued if healthcare professionals take the time to engage with them in a personalized, humorous exchange. According to Health Expectations, in one study, clients felt “humour was important in both establishing their identity and in developing a meaningful therapeutic interaction.”
What Is Appropriate Humor?
Jokes that one person finds humorous, another may find highly offensive. Being mindful of appropriate humor allows healthcare professionals to avoid offending or emotionally harming clients. Many individuals working in high-stress jobs like healthcare use gallows humor, which may not always be appropriate for clients.
Recognizing the line between acceptable and unacceptable humor in a professional setting is essential. Individuals who may not know how to strike this balance may benefit from not initializing humor. Every interaction is unique, and as experts in healthcare build relationships with individual clients, they may become more familiar with that person’s boundaries surrounding humor.
Some examples of generally unacceptable humor in a healthcare setting include:
- Derogatory “jokes” focused on a person’s disability, gender, race, culture, or sexual orientation
- Making light of a client’s symptoms or medical history
- Trauma-related humor about mental health, abuse, or past traumas
- Body shaming “jokes” about a person’s weight, physical appearance, or features
- Any jokes or humor of a sexual nature
- Ageism and humor that belittles individuals based on stereotypes related to age
- Religious or political jokes mocking a person’s beliefs and values
- Gallows humor is often inappropriate during client interactions
- Mocking speech patterns, language barriers, or accents
- Minimizing client concerns by joking about them dismissively
In some cases, healthcare workers benefit from waiting for the client to initiate humor. According to research in the previously mentioned article by Health Expectations, self-deprecating humor is the most commonly recognized and practiced form of humor for clients in healthcare settings. Identifying clients who practice self-deprecating humor and responding appropriately can help clinicians develop meaningful connections.
How to Use Humor as a Therapeutic Tool
If used appropriately, humor can reduce stress on clients during stressful appointments. Humor also helps alleviate some of the perceived power imbalance between the client and clinician. There is no script for using humor. Every interaction is unique, and healthcare workers must consider a client’s cultural and personal views when attempting to use humor to connect with them.
Some of the ways medical professionals use humor as a therapeutic tool include:
- Using lighthearted humor to build rapport with clients
- Easing client stress and anxiety during difficult conversations
- Using humor to lift a client’s mood
- Distracting clients from pain or discomfort
- Encouraging relaxation
- Using lighthearted humor to reframe certain situations and help clients cope more effectively
Clients who feel uncertain about what to expect from clinical professionals may feel more supported and acknowledged if they engage in humorous interactions with staff. Humor humanizes clinicians and fosters collaboration with clients by creating an emotional bridge.
When Is Humor Not Appropriate?
Humor is not always appropriate. Context is vital in determining whether humor may improve or worsen a situation. For example, individuals receiving devastating or emotionally upsetting information from a medical professional may find humor offensive, belittling their pain and invalidating their experience. Knowing when to add humor to a conversation relies on a person’s ability to build strong social skills and effective communication.
How Does Driftwood Recovery Use Humor as a Therapeutic Tool?
Humor gives people a new perspective on their recovery and treatment by highlighting some of the absurdities of life that everyone experiences. Instead of letting it cause anxiety or stress, individuals in recovery can learn to embrace those moments of humor. Driftwood Recovery has created a thriving sober community where individuals in recovery, staff members, and families come together to celebrate successes and support one another. Humor can help people get through setbacks in recovery by allowing them to see things from a more positive perspective. Staff members at Driftwood Recovery use positivity and humor to empower and uplift individuals during treatment and community events.
Humor is a universal experience that can bring people joy and comfort. Finding appropriate ways to integrate humor into client care through scripted or in-the-moment reactions may improve the treatment experience for clients who feel stressed or anxious. Individuals working in healthcare have the unique opportunity to use humor as a way to break the ice with new clients or comfort clients undergoing stressful procedures. By inserting appropriate and culturally sensitive humor into everyday interactions, healthcare professionals can improve treatment outcomes and build stronger client relationships. Driftwood Recovery offers guidance and training for staff members who want to create more meaningful connections with clients. To learn more, call us today at m (512) 759-8330.
A variety of factors, including the shame of stigma, can convince you that you must recover alone. However, recovery is not a sole endeavor as humans are naturally social creatures that seek connection and belonging to thrive. Without support, you can lose sight of the meaning and purpose behind the work you have been doing to heal. When you exit treatment, it can feel like you have lost your structured support system. Understanding peer support services is important to your recovery process.
At Driftwood Recovery, we know that connection to a community of peers is vital to sustained recovery. Through connection, you can find the support needed to meet and overcome challenges in life and recovery. Peer support services are a source of guidance, compassion, support, and accountability to lead a courageous life in recovery. With a commitment to connection and community, our peer-driven alumni remind you that you are not alone in your recovery.
However, you may question why peer support is so valuable to sustaining recovery. Expanding your understanding of connection can provide insight into the importance of peer support services.
Peer Recovery Support: The Value of Peer Connection
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), peer support includes activities and interactions between those with similar experiences and conditions. Whether you have experienced challenges with substance use disorder (SUD) or other mental health disorders, peer support can help you thrive. Mutually supportive relationships offer the opportunity to build skills and change unhealthy patterns. By sharing experiences, you and your peers can find connection, acceptance, understanding, guidance, and validation. You are empowered to achieve goals for a fulfilling and self-determined life.
Yet, how does the experiential nature of peer support enable and encourage maintaining recovery? Your relationships inform your sense of self and how you navigate the world. As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states, positive social connectedness encourages you to feel supported, valued, and cared for. Therefore, peer support has a long history as a source of mutual support in treatment and recovery. However, peer support services are not solely built on sharing experiences.
What Are Peer Support Services?
Peer support services present services designed for and delivered by those in recovery. Many different adaptive-driven peer support services, from support types to services, can support whole-person healing. Listed below are some of the resources you can find in peer support services:
- Support types
- Emotional
- Empathy and care are found in individual interactions and support groups
- Fosters self-esteem and confidence
- Empathy and care are found in individual interactions and support groups
- Informational
- Insight and skills are gained from sharing knowledge or life and work skills
- Classes, training, seminars
- Insight and skills are gained from sharing knowledge or life and work skills
- Instrumental
- Access to referrals and services for tangible resources
- Housing, transportation, employment, food, clothing, healthcare
- Access to referrals and services for tangible resources
- Affiliation/Social
- Readily accessible spaces, groups, and activities
- Learning, social and recreational skills, community, and belonging through connection with others
- Readily accessible spaces, groups, and activities
- Emotional
- Peer support services
- Recovery centers
- Peer-led support groups
- Job training
- Health and social services
- Parenting classes
- Child care services
- Transportation services
- Sports leagues
- Volunteering
- Sober activities and events
- Peer mentoring
All peer support services can be valuable to healing the mind, body, and spirit. However, services like peer mentoring showcase the power of connection as a vital part of the recovery process.
Peer Support Services: Empowering Others With Peer Mentoring
As noted in Substance Abuse and Rehabilitation, peer mentorship is when individuals in long-term recovery provide support for those in early recovery. You can offer nonprofessional and nonclinical assistance through peer mentorship to help peers achieve sustained recovery. As a peer mentor, you walk alongside those in early recovery to help them develop a customizable plan and pathways to long-term recovery based on individual strengths, needs, and recovery goals.
At its core, peer mentoring embodies emotional, informational, instrumental, and social support to meet each person where they are on their recovery journey. Therefore, peer mentorship can be a source of reciprocal healing as it empowers you to help yourself and others. Whether mentorship is the right path for you or not, there are numerous ways you can empower yourself and others with peer support services.
Finding Ways to Engage in Peer Support Services
One of the many ways you can contribute to your healing is by paying it forward. Giving back to your community can support sustained recovery as it helps you change the way you see yourself, others, and the world. By giving back to your sober community and the wider community, you can rediscover your sense of self-worth, belonging, and purpose through connection. Listed below are some of the ways you can give back to your community by engaging in an alumni program:
- Donate your time to alumni
- Help set up for meetings
- Mentoring
- Become a sponsor
- Volunteer
- Homeless shelter
- Animal shelter
- Pantry
- Treatment center
- Library
- Museum
- Hospital
- Nursing home
- Local parks project
- Community cleanup
Engaging in peer support services speaks to the power of connection as a source for healing and long-term recovery. No one should be left alone to recover or to figure out how to reintegrate into everyday life. With an active alumni program, you can remind yourself and your peers that recovery is a community effort.
Learning How to Pay it Forward at Driftwood Recovery
At Driftwood Recovery, we believe a strong Alumni Family gives you the safe space and community to break the cycle of suffering. Through the sharing of experiences, compassion, respect, and support, strength and hope can be fostered. Together, in our peer-driven alumni network, you and your peers can find the guidance, encouragement, and accountability needed to pursue your life goals and be a productive member of society. A truly active and vibrant alumni program is about more than abstinence. Our strong alumni program is about building a foundation for connection with the self and others to thrive in recovery. With mutually supportive connections, you are not alone in building the courageous and purposeful life you deserve in long-term recovery.
People often feel like they must recover alone, but recovery is a process that is best supported by a community. Through interpersonal relationships, you can find connection, compassion, support, guidance, and accountability to lead a meaningful life in recovery. With a strong alumni program, you can access peer support services to find and foster connections with yourself and others. Moreover, engaging with alumni can empower you to not only heal yourself but support the healing of your peers. Whether you volunteer or become a mentor for peers in early recovery, giving back reinforces the value of connection for healing the mind, body, spirit, and community. Call Driftwood Recovery at (512) 759-8330 to learn how alumni can support you.
People say a lot about how they feel without speaking a word. Individuals express themselves through body language, including hand gestures, posture, and eye movements. Healthcare professionals must be attuned to these unspoken forms of communication to provide the best care for clients seeking help. Body language allows medical professionals to identify if clients feel anxious, scared, or in pain. Driftwood Recovery ensures staff members know how to respond appropriately to nonverbal cues, allowing them to provide compassionate care and support to clients in recovery.
What Are Nonverbal Cues?
Nonverbal cues are body movements or actions that convey an emotion or communicate an intent. According to Perspectives on Psychological Science, “[O]nce in a particular setting, people’s behavioral options are constrained not only by the physical environment, but also by that setting’s social norms.” Many nonverbal cues are instinctual, and people may be unaware of them. However, they can also be a powerful way to express emotion when people feel uncomfortable voicing their thoughts aloud. For example, someone uncomfortable with how close a doctor is sitting may lean away and cross their legs or arms to create a barrier. Healthcare professionals rely on nonverbal cues to help them navigate complex conversations with individuals and families.
The meaning of nonverbal cues may change depending on multiple factors, including:
- Personal habits and individual differences
- Cultural context
- Relationship dynamics, including familiarity between individuals
- Situational context
- Mood or emotional state
- Intentional or unspoken power dynamics
- Topics being discussed
Cultural gender norms and other factors also influence how people translate nonverbal cues. No two people have the same nonverbal “language,” and context is essential in determining what specific actions may mean. Body language and other physical cues can communicate distress, acceptance, fear, joy, and many other emotions. Knowing how to correctly translate these cues helps healthcare professionals create a deeper bond with clients.
Common Nonverbal Cues
Some examples of common nonverbal cues include:
- Using open posture, eye contact, and movements of affirmation to show understanding and compassion
- Maintaining consistent and approachable body language to set clients at ease and create a sense of reliability
- Using gestures and facial expressions to reinforce verbal messages
- Offering a warm smile and steady presence to comfort anxious clients
- Leaning forward and mirroring the client to show attentiveness and genuine interest
- Ensuring body signals align with verbal messages to avoid confusion
Focusing on client feedback and being mindful of responses allows professionals to build the foundation for a collaborative and healthy relationship. Clear and open communication creates a welcoming environment where clients feel comfortable expressing themselves and actively participating in their recovery. Every interaction is unique, and it is important for healthcare professionals to monitor how their nonverbal cues are being received.
Body Language and Compassionate Client Care
How staff members stand and sit during client interactions will be interpreted as part of the overall experience. If a client feels a doctor, nurse, or front desk staff member does not value their time or concerns, it can undermine the entire appointment. Workers in healthcare should remain mindful of how their body language may be interpreted by onlookers and adjust their posture and gestures to fit the message they want to convey. Compassion, empathy, and openness can be communicated through posture, hand gestures, facial expressions, and paralinguistic vocalizations.
Using Nonverbal Cues to Make Clients Feel Comfortable
Standing with arms down and palms open is much different from standing with arms crossed and hands balled into fists. No matter what words people use, their body language and other nonverbal cues are essential in communicating intent. Positive nonverbal cues can make clients feel welcomed, heard, and valued. Healthcare professionals should understand basic nonverbal communication and what postures or facial expressions to avoid. For example, a medical professional should not roll their eyes if a client expresses concern about a process or procedure.
Healthcare professionals who use unspoken forms of communication to improve the client experience do the following:
- Convey empathy
- Build trust
- Enhance clarity and context
- Encourage openness
- Provide reassurance
- Foster a more meaningful connection
- Acknowledge client feelings
- Reduce miscommunication
- Adapt more effectively to client needs
Staff members at Driftwood Recovery use compassionate care and transparent communication to create a welcoming and safe environment for clients in recovery.
Building a Toolbox of Positive Cues to Support and Empower Clients
Driftwood Recovery provides staff members with the training, support, and guidance they need to develop a toolbox of positive, unspoken cues to support and empower clients. Clinicians and support staff learn to express themselves mindfully to individuals and families.
Healthcare professionals must consider medical, cultural, and personal factors that affect how clients and their loved ones interpret nonverbal communication. Familiarizing themselves with client charts and conducting thorough intake assessments can reduce confusion and improve the effectiveness of nonverbal communication.
Miscommunication is a common cause of conflict, confusion, and frustration between clients and clinicians. Clear communication involves aligning nonverbal and verbal cues to send a specific message. Many moments of miscommunication could be avoided through a conscious effort to convey specific information. Healthcare professionals benefit from learning how to translate common unspoken social cues, including body language and facial expressions. Clients rely on healthcare professionals to give them spoken and unspoken cues to guide them through making critical medical decisions and positive lifestyle changes. Driftwood Recovery encourages staff members to remain mindful of how unspoken actions and responses may affect their relationships with clients. To learn more about our programs and professionals, call our office today at (512) 759-8330.
Substance use disorder (SUD) is often thought of as a chronic relapsing disorder. As stated in Addiction Relapse Prevention, approximately 50% of people relapse within the first 12 weeks. Despite the prevalence of SUD relapse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) notes that 50.2 million U.S. adults consider themselves to be in recovery from SUD and/or mental health challenges. The prevalence of recovery from SUD can be tied to the guiding principles of holistic recovery found in active recovery. Thus, understanding active recovery can be invaluable to supporting healing and sustained recovery.
At Driftwood Recovery, we know recovery is a journey that continues long after you complete treatment. Your challenges with addiction are deeply interconnected to your life experiences and environment. Therefore, sustained recovery cannot happen without consideration for the whole person. Through active recovery, you can build the skills needed to address challenges in your daily life.
Yet, you may question what is active recovery. Expanding your understanding of recovery can provide insight into how connection with alumni can support maintaining recovery.
What Is Recovery?
Many traditional ideals of recovery are tied to complete abstinence with a focus on the elimination of all substances. Although abstinence is an important part of recovery, a holistic approach focuses on taking active steps toward healing the whole person. According to Alcohol Research: Current Reviews, before the abstinence focus of the Temperance Movement, there was an early harm reduction perspective that considered the body and mind. As SAMHSA notes, modern holistic models of care define recovery as a process of change. Holistic recovery is a process of change where you work to improve your health and wellness, live a self-directed life, and strive to reach your full potential.
Further, four dimensions support sustained recovery:
- Health
- Overcoming or managing symptoms and or conditions
- Abstaining from using substances
- Making informed, healthy choices for physical and emotional well-being
- Home
- Having a stable and safe place to live
- Purpose
- Engaging in meaningful daily activities
- Work, school, family, creative hobbies, and volunteering
- Gaining the independence, income, and resources to participate in society
- Engaging in meaningful daily activities
- Community
- Finding support, hope, friendship, and love in your relationships and social network
The four dimensions of recovery highlight the holistic continuum of care as active recovery. Understanding the difference between passive and active recovery is an important step toward fostering active recovery.
Passive Recovery vs. Active Recovery
On the surface, the difference between passive and active recovery may feel obvious. However, in the day-to-day work of recovery, complacency can happen. You may not recognize that you are engaging in passive rather than active recovery. Passive recovery focuses more on waiting for things to happen to you. Listed below are some elements of passive recovery:
- Relying on external factors for change
- You do not reflect on your thoughts and feelings
- Doing rather than embodying the steps of recovery
- Believing you can recover on your own
Active recovery focuses on seeking out and engaging in support services with and without direct guidance. Some of the other elements that make up active recovery include:
- You accept that you need support and reach out for it
- Actively participating in meetings, therapy, and other recovery programming
- Engaging in discussions and sharing experiences in meetings
- Reaching out to your sponsor
- You commit to processing difficult thoughts and feelings
With awareness of active recovery, you can understand the principles of being an active participant in your recovery.
Understanding the Principles of Active Recovery
A holistic and active recovery is built on ten guiding principles that build skills that support every stage of recovery. Listed below are the ten guiding principles of active recovery:
- Hope: The belief that recovery is real and possible
- You can and have overcome challenges and barriers
- Person-driven: The act of self-determination and self-direction
- You define and help design the path(s) toward your life goals
- Multiple pathways: Acknowledges that each individual has unique and distinct needs, strengths, goals, culture, trauma, and experiences that impact pathways to recovery
- Holistic: Understands that recovery encompasses your whole life in mind, body, spirit, and community
- Peer support: Recognizes the value of sharing experiences, knowledge, and skills
- Social networks: Offers support, hope, belonging, and encouragement
- Culture-informed: Services are sensitive and personalized to your needs and experiences
- Trauma-informed: Informed and responsive services support and promote safety, trust, choice, empowerment, and collaboration
- Strengths and responsibility: Recognizes individuals, families, and communities have strengths and resources to support recovery
- Respect: Encourages community, systems, and societal acceptance and appreciation for people impacted by SUD and or mental health disorders
The ten guiding principles highlight the power of active recovery. Yet, how do you engage in active recovery in your daily life?
Ways to Engage in Active Recovery
There are numerous ways that an alumni program can support you in building sustained recovery:
- Volunteering in alumni programs and/or the wider community
- Exploring hobbies and activities you enjoy
- Art, music, writing, reading, gardening, and cooking
- Spending time with loved ones
- Sports, hiking, and yoga
- Practicing gratitude and mindfulness
- Educating yourself about your SUD and/or mental health disorder
- Connecting with peers
Engaging in active recovery through your alumni program can support whole-person healing. You can deepen self-reflection and self-understanding through active recovery, set realistic goals, and build a support network.
Supporting Sustained Recovery With Alumni at Driftwood Recovery
At Driftwood Recovery, we understand that true whole-person healing is rooted in connection to self and others. Without connection, you cannot fully address challenges with addiction, pain, and mental health disorders. An attachment model of care allows you to form healthy attachments in yourself and with others to turn clinical insight into action. You give yourself more space for learning, understanding, and growth through experiential sharing. Thus, access to services and resources that encourage connection to the self and others fosters engagement, support, compassion, and accountability for sustained recovery.
Engagement in recovery is an important part of the healing process. Without engagement, you can find yourself stuck in passive recovery, expecting change to happen to you. However, whole-person recovery requires active participation in the healing process. Engaging in a vibrant alumni program is invaluable to fostering active recovery for sustained recovery. Through a strong peer-driven network, alumni can offer the services and resources needed for connection with the self and others. Recovery is not done alone, and a strong alumni family gives you the foundation for support, compassion, engagement, and accountability to lead a courageous life in long-term recovery. Call Driftwood Recovery at (512) 759-8330 to learn how a dedicated alumni community can support you in your recovery.
Individuals in rehabilitation for substance use disorder (SUD) or dual diagnosis have a greater likelihood of experiencing trauma triggers, including triggers specific to clinical settings. Many clients participate in multiple programs, and some may have previously had negative interactions with medical professionals. A history of trauma can cause some clients to feel uncomfortable trusting their care team. Healthcare workers build trust by creating a welcoming environment that keeps clients focused on the present. Grounding techniques are an excellent tool for helping clients manage trigger responses during clinical interactions.
What Are Grounding Techniques?
People use grounding techniques and exercises to strengthen the mind-body connection and increase self-awareness. Studies have shown that “[g]rounding techniques are important skills for assessors and all other behavioral health service providers who interact with traumatized clients (e.g., nurses, security, administrators, clinicians).” Grounding techniques can be used during everyday interactions to reduce stress, improve communication, and keep clients engaged in their treatment.
Simple Grounding Techniques Healthcare Professionals Use During Everyday Interactions
Everyone has different methods for communicating with coworkers and clients. Healthcare professionals can improve their communication skills, allowing them to build more effective relationships. Using grounding techniques during treatment sessions can also help clients experience better outcomes. Therapists and other healthcare professionals model healthy coping skills and guide clients through learning to use those skills to manage triggers.
Some examples of simple grounding techniques healthcare professionals use in everyday interactions include:
- Encouraging clients to take slow, deep breaths if they appear nervous or anxious
- Physically grounding clients by encouraging them to touch surfaces or objects (e.g., offering an anxious client a stress ball)
- Increasing body awareness by asking clients to focus on sensations in their body (e.g., asking clients to connect physical sensations such as tension with emotions like anxiety)
- Mindful movement by guiding clients through simple movements (e.g., brief stretching exercises)
- Asking clients to engage in simple tasks to improve focus and engagement
Grounding techniques can facilitate more effective client communication by helping clients stay in the moment. The type of client-clinician interaction will determine which grounding exercises may provide the best results. For example, if a client begins to panic, a physical therapist may encourage stretching, while a psychotherapist may suggest slow, deep breaths.
How Do Grounding Techniques Decrease the Impact of Triggers?
Grounding techniques are often used to help clients successfully manage triggers and mental health symptoms related to trauma or stress. Focusing on actions, sensations, or objects in the present allows clients to remain in control of their emotional and physiological reactions to trauma triggers.
Every person is unique, and not all coping techniques will work for everyone. Healthcare professionals should practice mindfulness in how they approach grounding techniques. For example, touching a client’s shoulder to ground them may backfire if the client is averse to touch due to severe trauma. Familiarity with client preferences and their medical history ensures that healthcare workers introduce effective and appropriate coping skills in treatment sessions.
Benefits of Using Grounding Techniques in Treatment
Some of the primary benefits of using grounding exercises in treatment include:
- Familiarizing clients with helpful coping techniques
- Reducing overall anxiety and stress
- Improving emotion and mood regulation
- Interrupting cycles within a trauma response by preventing escalation
- Building trust with clients by helping them overcome trauma triggers
- Supporting trauma recovery through practical coping skills
Clients may feel more confident in themselves and their ability to manage triggers if they learn effective coping methods. Driftwood Recovery ensures staff have the necessary training and skills to help clients manage trauma triggers and other challenges during treatment.
The Importance of Providing Comfort and De-Escalating Tension During Appointments
Some clients feel overwhelmed or tense during clinical appointments. Staff members may use grounding techniques, such as distracting clients or offering new coping tools, to help them manage their emotional or physical reactions to triggers. If the situation causes a trauma response, the client may find it challenging to move forward with the appointments. Identifying and addressing the cause of the trigger can de-escalate the situation and refocus the client. De-escalation skills and clear communication reduce anxiety and stress.
Driftwood Recovery Teaches Clients Effective Coping Skills
Clients benefit from learning practical grounding exercises and other skills that reduce the side effects of trauma triggers. Healthcare professionals play an essential role in teaching and reinforcing positive coping skills.
Clinicians teach clients to successfully manage their reactions to triggers using various treatment services, including:
- Individual and group therapy
- Mindfulness-based therapies
- Holistic therapies, including guided meditation
Driftwood Recovery offers tailored treatment plans to clients struggling with SUD or dual diagnosis. Healthcare professionals collaborate closely with clients and their families to reduce the negative impact of trauma triggers during rehabilitation. The goal of treatment is to prepare clients to reintegrate back into the community. Healthcare professionals do this by ensuring clients have the necessary coping skills to manage their condition after transitioning out of treatment. Grounding techniques give clients greater confidence in their ability to maintain sobriety and overcome trauma triggers.
Trauma responses can happen at any time. Individuals feeling anxious or stressed often have more profound reactions to triggers. Therapy sessions and other treatment services may cause some clients with a history of trauma to feel on edge. Triggers can significantly interfere with treatment by affecting client focus. Healthcare professionals offer clients emotional and practical support. Grounding techniques are an excellent tool for helping clients cope with the effects of trauma triggers during clinical interactions. Driftwood Recovery encourages staff members to use grounding techniques and other therapeutic tools to create a more comfortable and safe space for clients. To learn more about our trauma therapy services, call our office today at (512) 759-8330.
Healthcare professionals build trust with clients to create a positive treatment experience. An open line of communication ensures clients receive appropriate care and access the best treatments to meet their needs. Active listening and other communication skills allow healthcare professionals to develop healthier relationships with clients and coworkers, facilitating better treatment outcomes. The experts at Driftwood Recovery use effective communication to guide clients through the recovery process.
What Is Active Listening?
Active listening is an essential part of interpersonal communication. According to Social Neuroscience, “[A]ctive listening is an influential behavior, which can affect the social responses of others.” In addition, “Perceiving active listening behavior in a partner can facilitate a positive interaction.” Active listening requires empathy and a lack of judgment. People often mirror the other person through behavior or verbal patterns to show they have heard what has been said.
A few ways professionals practice active listening during everyday client interactions include:
- Mirroring nonverbal cues
- Maintaining eye contact
- Paraphrasing and summarizing
- Asking open-ended questions
- Offering verbal acknowledgement
- Not interrupting the other speaker
- Asking for clarification
Healthcare professionals collaborate with clients to create care plans and implement treatments. Empathetic and active listening is essential to keep clients at ease. Active listening involves showing the other person they have been heard through various methods, including body language, summarizing key points of the conversation, and mirroring phrases or words used by the other person.
Creating an Honest and Clear Line of Communication
Honest communication fosters trust and helps clients feel more comfortable discussing concerns or asking questions. Transparency creates a healthy foundation for honest communication. Some clients may have a history of negative experiences with healthcare professionals, making them hesitant to speak up. Maybe their concerns were ignored, or they were made to feel like less than the other person. Driftwood Recovery aims to help these individuals build healthier relationships with medical professionals by providing clients with a welcoming environment and compassionate professionals.
Some of the ways healthcare professionals develop empathetic and honest communication with clients include:
- Using simple language instead of medical jargon
- Sharing information openly
- Being culturally sensitive and respectful
- Keeping clients informed with consistent updates
- Setting clear and realistic expectations
- Using visual or written aids to help clients better understand complex medical topics
- Respecting client confidentiality and privacy
Clients rely on healthcare professionals to lead by example. Healthcare professionals have an obligation to model healthy patterns of communication with clients. Driftwood Recovery encourages staff members to build client relationships through active listening and a compassionate approach to care.
Clients may have never been able to develop healthy communication skills. Often, part of treatment for substance abuse or mental health disorders involves building up these skills. Clinicians and support staff play an essential role in helping clients learn to communicate more effectively.
Building Relationships With Active Listening
Developing trusting relationships with clients requires active listening. Healthcare professionals at Driftwood Recovery are trained to resolve conflicts, de-escalate situations, and ease client concerns by educating clients and providing them with healthier ways to express their needs. By practicing honest and transparent communication, healthcare workers create an environment that fosters trust and respect.
Client trust is essential because it does the following:
- Facilitates more productive interactions
- Promotes honesty and openness
- Enhances treatment outcomes
- Reduces anxiety
- Builds long-term relationships
- Encourages healthy vulnerability
- Strengthens rapport between staff and clients
- Empowers clients to make healthier choices
- Reduces miscommunication
Building relationships with clients involves recognizing their needs and finding ways to meet them where they are today. Active listening allows professionals to better understand their clients and provide more effective care.
How Driftwood Recovery Encourages Active Listening
Driftwood Recovery encourages staff members to create healthy relationships with clients and coworkers through active listening. Active listening involves showing the other person that their time and opinions matter. Many clients feel safer and more comfortable under the care of professionals who listen to and act on their feedback. Healthcare professionals can take constructive feedback and adjust client treatment plans to accommodate the new information.
Individuals in treatment for substance abuse or mental health disorders may have a history of negative interactions with authority figures. Building trust can take time. Consistently showing interest in their thoughts and feelings while actively listening can show clients that their voice matters. Effective listening leads to action. Being attentive during a conversation is meaningless unless real action is taken to implement feedback and provide solutions to problems. Clients feel heard and valued when their care team actively listens and uses the information they provide to address issues or acknowledge their opinions.
Regular Daily Check-Ins With Staff
Communicating effectively with coworkers reduces miscommunication and decreases unnecessary stress in the workplace. Professionals should be able to rely on one another to listen attentively and provide appropriate support throughout the workday. According to Frontiers in Psychology, “Listening has been identified as a key workplace skill, important for ensuring high-quality communication, building relationships, and motivating employees.” Healthcare professionals provide better client care when they can rely on their coworkers for support.
Communication is key to developing a deep and honest connection with clients. Healthcare professionals create a welcoming and comfortable environment where clients feel safe and heard. Active listening is one of the most critical tools for healthy communication. Showing a genuine interest in what clients have to say and expressing a desire to further understand can set clients at ease and create a more positive dynamic between clients and clinicians. Driftwood Recovery encourages staff members to use active listening and other communication skills to develop better client relationships, facilitating a more positive treatment experience. To learn more about our programs and how we provide client support, call us today at (512) 759-8330.