Addiction Treatment Program

Treatment Center For Addiction Morningside Recovery’s treatment model is based on years of addiction treatment experience backed by clinical research in treating clients with addiction disorders. Our comprehensive modules are designed to meet an array of needs, and Morningside prides itself in being able to truly address the psychiatric needs of clients with co-occurring disorders. We give clients the best possible chance at long-term sobriety, and ultimately, an improved quality of life. We do this by continually investing in the most advanced addiction treatment resources and redefining how medicine, therapy and technology work together. Our client-centered treatment planning takes into account the client’s culture, values, and patterns of relating to others.

Our therapists adapt their skills to the specific needs of the client. All clients work with a primary therapist, an alliance built on evidence-based thinking. This means picking the best clinical option available for a given client in a given context based on the best current information. The information used in evidence-based thinking includes:

Research and the experience and recommendations of clinical experts
Client’s personal history and past experience
The needs, values, preferences, and characteristics of the client
The therapist’s personal style and specialties
Advice from clinical supervisors and other therapists

Drug Alcohol Treatment Center Evidence-based thinking mixes research and clinical experience with a large dose of common sense. Morningside Recovery’s therapists and counselors use evidence-based thinking because it is flexible -- always looking out for changes in the client's needs, and constantly adjusting their approach, as well to make use of new information. At Morningside Recovery, the first phase of residential treatment emphasizes quieting the brain and the body. A big part of this healing is our serene setting in Newport Beach where clients make sober friends, get regular exercise, and learn relaxation techniques. Clients are separated from outside pressures and demands so that they can focus on recovery. Lasting recovery starts with clients learning about the process and the need for treatment. For example, early in treatment clients write about the reasons for being at Morningside Recovery. According to Dr. Kenneth Perlmutter, Family Relationships Specialist, early treatment tracks offer clients a unique set of challenges, goals, focus, measures of success, and privileges that are intended to meet them right where they are: agitated, uncertain, somewhat eager, restless, irritated, unrealistic, and wanting more.

Morningside Recovery believes each client deserves to be treated as an individual with their own unique treatment plan. Clients are expected to engage in their treatment process by developing sober connections with other clients and therapeutic alliances with our highly trained staff. This staff continually assesses client needs and helps define realistic goals. For example, some of our clients need help with daily-living tasks such as housekeeping, laundry, time management, keeping appointments, self-care, and taking medications as prescribed. Each client’s developmental skills are assessed and any gaps in ability are supported by staff and peers alike. During this time clients are building therapeutic rapport, and discovering and removing long-standing obstacles to seeing and telling the truth about themselves. Clients learn to allow professional and peer feedback, and form the key relationships that support recovery. In the milieu and households, clients are taught, encouraged, and supported to:

Follow a daily schedule
Care for self and practicing personal hygiene
Take medications as prescribed and use the medical team to balance and correct dosages
Comply with and come to value testing to verify abstinence from alcohol and other drugs
Become part of a team
Think and speak honestly
Accept feedback
Keep curfew
Develop a reliable sleep schedule supported by evening sleep hygiene routines

Specialized Tracks

Morningside clients who can benefit from any of our specialized tracks will begin within their clinical track immediately upon beginning to work with their therapists. These tracks include:

Healthy Living/Disordered Eating
Mood Disorders including depression, anxiety and bipolar affective disorder
Co-occurring Disorders (treating substance abuse or addiction with mental health)
Trauma and Attachment, including emotional dysregulation (commonly seen in personality disorders and PTSD)
Chronic Pain (including emotional pain)
Grief and Loss
12-Step Recovery
Non-12-Step Recovery

Morningside clients are evaluated on their readiness to move forward in treatment based on the clients’ ability to take on the challenges they will encounter in that next phase of their recovery. Rather than advance clients based on the passage of time or the number of days clients have abstained from mood altering substances, we rely upon a set of clearly articulated success measures. These involve measuring cooperation, compliance, comportment, honesty, the allowing of feedback, and the completion of a set of written and interpersonal assignments. Specific privileges for each phase of treatment are also spelled out and this reinforces clients’ efforts and successes.

The first sixty days are typically the most unpredictable, up and down, confusing, and yet encouraging. Clients may go from loving being here to doubting everything and themselves in a matter of hours – and then back again. For families we recommend the 48-hour rule: when your loved one is upset about some situation or lack, encourage them to use the team to get help and then see where things are in 48 hours. Almost always, the client’s focus has shifted dramatically, either away from the original concern or to a more settled view. At the same time, creating clearer boundaries around emotional and physical separation will support the treatment and help family members move away from some of the traps and pitfalls that can contribute to the cycles of loss, relapse, and illness.

We believe that recovery is a process of personal growth that makes drugs and alcohol irrelevant in the client’s life. As one client shared, “When I arrived at Morningside I was totally shut down. I just wanted to get loaded and erase the world. I didn’t want to believe that I was in pain and seeking relief through drugs. After detox and joining Phase I, recovery sort of crept up on me. I found myself opening up and healing, little by little.”

Testimonials

"Morningside's individualized treatment model addressed all of my needs. I was able to confront all of my pain and trauma."
-Kelli K.
"I got my motivation of life back. I addressed my core issues. I understand at a deeper level where my triggers are. I made new friends and I learned to trust, have compassion, and tolerance. I learned how to slow down and be present in the moment."
Doris K.
"My therapist is wonderful. She's done more work in 30 days than 60 days with my other therapist."
Katie Z.
"I got through some tremendous difficulties from my past and I learned how to manage my depression and anxiety without the help from drugs and alcohol and that's huge"
Rob S.
"It's not a lockdown facility. You have enough freedom to learn from mistakes. The therapists are amazing."
G.S.
"I feel Morningside saved my life."
Julie A.
"I was very skeptical at first, but then I came to love my experience here. I got my health back, and my head is straight. I have a new perspective on life. I'm motivated to live now."
Shamus D.
"I got my motivation for life back. I addressed my core issues. I understand at a deeper level where my triggers are."
Nicki S.
"I think I'm a completely different person. I didn't relapse. I don't have any compulsions. I learned how to love myself."
Anna W.
"I have so appreciated my time at Morningside. I learned a lot. If you actively seek what you need, this program offers everything; it's all here."
Matt V.
"I came in hopeless and suicidal and now I'm grateful and I have a lot of hope. I gained insight into my own life and learned the life-skills to be a happy and a successful person outside of treatment." John P.
John P.