How It Works

The Haven is a residential drug and alcohol treatment program that is a twelve step based therapeutic community. It is coeducational and requires a minimum stay of 60 days. The average length of stay for program graduates is approximately 85 days. The Haven has an eighteen bed capacity and the population is typically evenly split between men and women. Each client receives at least 25 hours of structured program activities per week. These activities consist mainly of group therapy/counseling sessions. In addition, each of our clients receives a physical and psychological evaluation through the University of Utah ADA clinic in the first forty-five days of treatment. The weekly program activities described below are a requirement for all clients as a condition of their continued stay in treatment.

- Social/Life Skills training in the areas of assertive communication skills, giving/receiving feedback, relapse prevention, eliminating self-defeating behaviors, relaxation/meditation, problem solving, and independent living.

- Weekly family education series.

- Group therapy/counseling. cognitive, client centered, & behavioral contracting .

- 12 step meetings (AA) 6 times per week.

- A structured step study facilitated by a staff member focused on the first three steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.

- A variety of recreational therapy/activities including, cultural outings, in-house recreational activities, outdoor sports, competitions with other treatment centers and team building exercises.

- Structured recreational trips conducted four times a year requiring residents to plan, organize and solicit donations to support the trip. Past recreational trips include an annual week long Lake Powell trip with alumni, a weekend camping/river running trip, a weekend snowshoe trip at Camp Tuttle, 4 day camping in the High Uinta mountains and day long fishing trips to Jordanelle Reservoir.

- HIV/AIDS education, cultural awareness, infectious disease control.

- Meditation/acupuncture/spirituality education.

- Evening and weekend program events include the Family Program, spirituality groups, Salt Lake County Recreational therapy, AA meetings and group planned recreational and work related activities.

- Clients are referred to The Utah Department of Vocational Rehabilitation for vocational/educational assistance.

- All clients are referred to Salt Lake County Health department for TB testing, and are encouraged to have HIV testing done as well.

- All Clients participate in the development of an individualized treatment plan to address their specific needs.

- The Haven has a well earned and highly respected place in the Salt Lake treatment community. In our thirty-eight years of experience we have treated in excess of 5,000 clients at our single facility

Typically, our population comes from the immediate Salt Lake County area (90%). Last year, The Haven treated 122 clients. 45% were female clients and 55% were male. Our population is 18 years and older. 28% are under 25 years of age, and 70% are between 25 and 45 years of age. 92% of our clients report their ethnicity as Caucasian, with 7% reporting as “other”. 93% of intakes reported income as 200% below the poverty level. 107 clients reported they were unemployed, 102 were homeless. 117 clients reported having used drugs or alcohol 30 days prior to coming to The Haven. Our year end outcomes for this group of clients shows that 103 clients were employed upon leaving treatment. 112 clients had permanent housing. 67 clients were enrolled in some from of additional treatment or aftercare groups. Though these figures are encouraging, we feel as a treatment team that through expanding our transitional housing program (more space for women, women with children, and men’s facilities) and eventually adding out-patient 2.5 ASAM level of care. The longer clients are engaged in treatment the greater the overall percentage of success rates occur. Also expanding our recreational therapy program, which shows clients they can have fun in sobriety, involves them with our alumni association that supports this program, and in turn strengthens the clients support group and enhances their recovery.

Most of our treatment therapy is supported by our clinical staff of four counselors and supervision from Dr. Gary Jorgenson. But as I mentioned above, one reason The Haven experiences a high success rate is our commitment to a recreational agenda showing clients how to live life and enjoy it, without the use of substance enhancing chemicals. In this arena we utilize hundreds of volunteers, most of whom have attended The Haven program or are in AA. These folks attend our river, camping, and Lake Powell outings, our Christmas party and other sponsored events and are living examples to the new recovering client that there is a good life to be had once they become clean and sober. The motivation for these volunteers lies in the giving back spirit taught at The Haven and in AA. We utilize a variety of data collection methods, to determine client status. Since we only count as clean and sober the individuals for whom we have definite information, it is likely our figures are always low. We are constantly looking at our program and finding ways to measure and improve both The Haven’s program and the outcome of our clients. Traditionally, we receive evaluation data from multiple sources. These include:

-Clients aftercare plan. Requirement for graduation is a comprehensive outline of clients daily schedule and goals for their future. These goals include securing housing, employment (a condition for completion of The Haven program), aftercare groups, schooling, legal problems satisfied, AA sponsor, twelve step meetings schedule, etc.

-Reports and results from the annual Salt Lake County Substance Abuse Division site visit. A thorough audit is done on our methods and procedures

-Data from the County UWITS systems which were used to evaluate the services we provide in terms of retention and completion rates.

-Internal reviews and self critiques conducted during our weekly staff meetings. (Tuesday 10:00-11:15 AM)

-Weekly client evaluation meeting with the staff at the University of Utah Alcohol and Drug Clinic (Wednesday 9:00-10:00 AM). They are able to provide us excellent data on clients who graduated from The Haven and the progress they are making in their aftercare program.

-Results from the annual State Licensing visit.

-Follow up with clients through their after care program reports, reports from Adult Probation and Parole (AP&P) officers, court reports and requests, and informal meetings with clients after their graduation to review progress on their after care plans.

-Client exit questionnaires have just been initiated and will provide us base data, along with six and twelve month follow up interviews.

-Reports from our alumni, staff, and from the 12 step recovery community about our past client’s progress.