| Addiction - Dependence on a substance, such as alcohol or drugs. It's usually characterized by impaired control over and preoccupation with the use of the substance, as well as continued use of the substance despite adverse consequences.
Alcoholism - A disease in which there's a craving for alcohol and continued drinking despite alcohol-related problems, such as legal trouble. It's also characterized by impaired control over your drinking, a physical dependence on alcohol, and alcohol tolerance — requiring increasing amounts of alcohol to feel its effects.
Anorexia Nervosa - Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by unusual eating habits such as avoiding food and meals, picking out a few foods and eating them in small amounts, weighing food, and counting the calories of all foods. Individuals with anorexia nervosa may also exercise excessively.
Anxiety Disorders - Anxiety disorders range from feelings of uneasiness to immobilizing bouts of terror. Most people experience anxiety at some point in their lives and some nervousness in anticipation of a real situation. However if a person cannot shake unwarranted worries, or if the feelings are jarring to the point of avoiding everyday activities, he or she most likely has an anxiety disorder.
Apprentice – Graduated student interning to become a full staff employee.
Art Therapy - Art therapy is based on the belief that the creative process of making art is healing and life enhancing. Through the process of creating art and talking about it with an art therapist one can increase awareness of self, cope with symptoms, stress and traumatic experiences and enhance cognitive abilities. One of the benefits of art therapy is that it is a non verbal expression of emotions. It can not easily be censored therefore it provides an honest look at an individual’s issues that is not always as readily available in other modalities. Additionally as it is a wonderful modality to use with children or cognitively impaired individuals who may not have the verbal skills to articulate their emotions. Art therapists are professionals trained in both art and therapy and hold masters degrees in art therapy or related fields.
Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, sometimes called ADHD, is a chronic condition and the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder among children and adolescents. It affects between 3 and 5 percent of school-aged children in a 6-month period (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). Children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have difficulty controlling their behavior in school and social settings. They also tend to be accident-prone. Although some of these young people may not earn high grades in school, most have normal or above-normal intelligence.
Behavioral Therapy - As the name implies, this approach focuses on behavior-changing unwanted behaviors through rewards, reinforcements, and desensitization. Desensitization, or Exposure Therapy, is a process of confronting something that arouses anxiety, discomfort, or fear and overcoming the unwanted responses. Behavioral therapy often involves the cooperation of others, especially family and close friends, to reinforce a desired behavior.
Bipolar Disorder - Extreme mood swings punctuated by periods of generally even-keeled behavior characterize this disorder. Bipolar disorder tends to run in families. This disorder typically begins in the mid-twenties and continues throughout life. Without treatment, people who have bipolar disorder often go through devastating life events such as marital breakups, job loss, substance abuse, and suicide.
Bulimia Nervosa - Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by excessive eating. People who have bulimia will eat an excessive amount of food in a single episode and almost immediately make themselves vomit or use laxatives or diuretics (water pills) to get rid of the food in their bodies. This behavior often is referred to as the "binge/purge" cycle. Like people with anorexia, people with bulimia have an intense fear of gaining weight.
Chemical Imbalance - Having too much or too little of such brain neurotransmitters as serotonin or dopamine, which may play a role in depression and other mental illnesses.
Chronic - A term used to describe long-lasting diseases or conditions.
Circle(s) – Group therapy/Encounter group used for curriculum, discussions, problem solving, affirmations and support.
Cognitive Therapy - This method aims to identify and correct distorted thinking patterns that can lead to feelings and behaviors that may be troublesome, self-defeating, or even self-destructive. The goal is to replace such thinking with a more balanced view that, in turn, leads to more fulfilling and productive behavior.
Community Circle – Weekly affirmation ceremony for community which acknowledges positive accomplishments such as graduations, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
Community Coordinator – Student that logistically coordinates student’s activities, jobs and roles in the facility.
Co-morbidity - Two or more diseases or conditions occurring at the same time, such as anxiety disorder and depression.
Compulsion - An uncontrollable, repetitive and compelling urge to perform certain acts, such as hand washing, which has no immediate benefit beyond relief of anxiety. It's the behavioral manifestation of an obsession. See also obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Continuance Coordinator – Coordinates student’s aftercare process.
Couples Counseling and Family Therapy - These two similar approaches to therapy involve discussions and problem-solving sessions facilitated by a therapist-sometimes with the couple or entire family group, sometimes with individuals. Such therapy can help couples and family members improve their understanding of, and the way they respond to, one another. This type of therapy can resolve patterns of behavior that might lead to more severe mental illness. Family therapy can help educate the individuals about the nature of mental disorders and teach them skills to cope better with the effects of having a family member with a mental illness-such as how to deal with feelings of anger or guilt.
Crisis - A sudden intensification of symptoms that results in marked inability to function and possibly raising the risk of harm to others or the person in crisis because of overwhelming emotion, disturbed thinking or risky behavior.
Dance/Movement Therapy - Dance and movement therapists are graduates of master’s degree programs that integrate dancer’s special knowledge of the body, movement and expressive spirit and the healing skills of counseling and psychotherapy. They work with a wide range of clients from children with autism, to trauma victims to seniors and those with chronic illness. Dance and Movement therapists work nonverbally to help clients understand how the mind and body interact in health and illness and as a process which furthers the social, cognitive and physical integration of the individual.
Defense Mechanism - A psychological process that protects you from anxiety or stressors by reducing or blocking your awareness of them.
Delirium - A state of mental confusion, usually temporary, that is sometimes characterized by disordered speech and often accompanied by hallucinations.
Delusions - A firmly held belief with no basis in reality — that is, clinging to a belief even when the evidence shows that it's false.
Demonstrator – Counselor/staff member who is the teacher or guide for a lodge.
Denial - Refusal to acknowledge some aspect of reality or personal experience.
Dependence, Drug - Compulsive need to take a drug or substance to produce a desired effect or prevent unpleasant effects if use is stopped.
Dependence, Psychological - A strong need to rely on another person or thing for emotional strength.
Depression - Depression is a mood disorder characterized by intense feelings of sadness that persist beyond a few weeks. Two neurotransmitters-natural substances that allow brain cells to communicate with one another-are implicated in depression: serotonin and norepinephrine.
Detoxification - The process of cleansing the body of a drug, such as alcohol or other chemicals.
Dual Diagnosis - Having a substance abuse problem along with another psychiatric disorder.
Eating Disorder - A broad group of mental disorders characterized by abnormal and potentially harmful eating behaviors and habits, such as anorexia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and bulimia nervosa.
Family Advocate – Staff member liaison between family and student/client. Also Family Group facilitator.
Family Support Groups – Group therapy/Encounter groups for the family members of participating recovering students in the community and alumni who elect to participate.
Lodges – A group of students that go through the curriculum together during their addiction recovery process; a peer group.
Mania - A mood disorder characterized by an intense feeling of elation or irritability and rapidly changing moods, often accompanied by increased activity, rapid speech or distractibility.
Mental Disorder - A general term for a wide range of disorders that disrupt thinking, feeling, moods and behaviors, causing a varying degree of impaired functioning in daily life, and believed in many instances to be related to brain dysfunction. Also called mental illness.
Mental Health Problems - Mental health problems are real. They affect one's thoughts, body, feelings, and behavior. Mental health problems are not just a passing phase. They can be severe, seriously interfere with a person's life, and even cause a person to become disabled. Mental health problems include depression, bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness), attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and conduct disorder.
Mental illnesses - This term is usually used to refer to severe mental health problems in adults.
Motions – Learning experiences which facilitate a change in behavior; individualized curriculum assignments.
Motivator – Student that logistically coordinates other students in the community.
Music/Sound Therapy - It is no coincidence that many people turn on soothing music to relax or snazzy tunes to help feel upbeat. Research suggests that music stimulates the body's natural "feel good" chemicals (opiates and endorphins). This stimulation results in improved blood flow, blood pressure, pulse rate, breathing, and posture changes. Music or sound therapy has been used to treat disorders such as stress, grief, depression, schizophrenia, and autism in children, and to diagnose mental health needs.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a chronic, relapsing illness. People who have it suffer from recurrent and unwanted thoughts or rituals. The obsessions and the need to perform rituals can take over a person's life if left untreated. They feel they cannot control these thoughts or rituals.
Panic Disorder - An anxiety disorder characterized by chronic unexpected episodes of potentially disabling intense fear or anxiety, often accompanied by physical symptoms, such as rapid heartbeat and dizziness.
Pavilion – Non denominational spiritual center of the facility that is used for ceremonies, graduations and other community events.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder - Researchers now know that anyone, even children, can develop PTSD if they have experienced, witnessed, or participated in a traumatic occurrence-especially if the event was life threatening. PTSD can result from terrifying experiences such as rape, kidnapping, natural disasters, or war or serious accidents such as airplane crashes. The psychological damage such incidents cause can interfere with a person's ability to hold a job or to develop intimate relationships with others. The symptoms of PTSD can range from constantly reliving the event to a general emotional numbing. Persistent anxiety, exaggerated startle reactions, difficulty concentrating, nightmares, and insomnia are common. People with PTSD typically avoid situations that remind them of the traumatic event, because they provoke intense distress or even panic attacks.
Recovery Process – Healing process stages of addiction recovery.
Relapse - Reappearance of disease signs and symptoms after apparent recovery.
Repression - Unwilled banishment of disturbing wishes, thoughts or experiences from conscious awareness.
Serious Mental Illness - Pursuant to section 1912(c) of the Public Health Service Act, adults with serious mental illness SMI are persons: (1) age 18 and over and (2) who currently have, or at any time during the past year had a diagnosable mental behavioral or emotional disorder of sufficient duration to meet diagnostic criteria specified within DSM-IV or their ICD-9-CM equivalent (and subsequent revisions) with the exception of DSM-IV "V" codes, substance use disorders, and developmental disorders, which are excluded, unless they co-occur with another diagnosable serious mental illness. (3) That has resulted in functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. Federal Register Volume 58 No. 96 published Thursday May 20, 1993 pages 29422 through 29425.
Sexual Abuse - Psychological or physical injury of a sexual nature, such as rape, incest, fondling and indecent exposure.
Student – Residential rehabilitation client participant.
Substance Abuse - Misuse of medications, alcohol or other illegal substances.
Suicide - Suicide is the 8th leading cause of death in the United States, claiming about 30,000 lives a year. Ninety percent of persons who commit suicide have depression or another diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder. Suicide attempts are among the leading causes of hospital admissions in persons under 35. The highest suicide rates in the U.S. are found in white men over the age of 85. Suicide can be prevented.
Suppression - Intentionally avoiding thinking about disturbing problems, wishes, feelings or experiences.
Therapeutic Community/TC – A residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility that uses community values as premise to resolve past experiences, heal self esteem and addictions.
Women’s Advocate – Staff member assigned to Women clients and issues that specializes in women’s legal and CPS or other child/parent welfare issues.
Workshops – Monthly week long specialty curriculum sessions, also family workshop weekends focusing on family issues.
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