Assessment

Our program begins with a complete and comprehensive assessment conducted by a highly trained addiction’s clinician supervised by the Medical/Clinical Director. This ½-day assessment utilizes an individual interview combined with the completion of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI). This comprehensive assessment tool is one of the most widely used and intensive addiction diagnostic instruments. It assesses an individual’s drug and alcohol use, medical, psychological, family, employment, social and legal history. Other assessment instruments such as the Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Readiness to Change Questionnaire, and The Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES) may also be used.

On completion of the interview, the clinician, in discussion with the Medical & Clinical Director, will formulate a diagnosis according to the DSM IV Criteria. The client’s willingness to change will also be determined according to the Stages of Change Criteria of Prochaska and Diclemente. The client will be assessed according to ASAM’s Patient Placement Criteria (PPC 2R) in regards to their need for detoxification, medical stability, psychological status, readiness to change, risk for relapse and stability of home environment. A recommendation and treatment plan will then be discussed with the client according to the results of the assessment.

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CAGE questions

  1. Have you felt you ought to cut down your drinking?
  2. Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
  3. Have you felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
  4. Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover (eye-opener)?

(Brown and Rounds, 1995)
1 out of 4 is a concern.