A high-quality residential treatment facility will provide a comprehensive offering of therapies to treat a mental health or eating disorder. These therapeutic modalities would be facilitated by a multidisciplinary, fully-licensed team. An effective therapy offering would include a combination of individual and group therapy, family programming, medication management as needed, and extended aftercare services.

Psychoeducational Therapies

Meaningful psychoeducational therapy creates opportunities to process conditions from an intellectual standpoint as a way of helping with emotional processing.

Psychoeducational therapy can include, but is not limited to:

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
• Self-Acceptance and Identity
• Trauma and attachment
• Life skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Gratitude
• Nutrition education
• Self-direction

Holistic Therapies

Also referred to as alternative treatment modalities, holistic therapies compliment psychoeducational therapies to provide emotional and spiritual healing. These holistic modalities can include:

• Art therapy
• Music therapy
• Meditation and mindfulness
• Equine therapy
• Trauma-sensitive yoga
• Ecotherapy

How Do I Know If Residential Treatment Is Right for Me?

There are no hard-and-fast rules about when a person should seek residential treatment versus other treatment options. If these statements sound like something you could identify with, residential treatment may be an ideal option:

• I have just completed an acute or sub-acute crisis stay.
• I need time to adjust my medications and stabilize my eating disorder or mental health condition.
• I have just experienced my first episode of psychosis, mania, or crisis.
• I have a medical condition in addition to my mental illness that may require additional care, such as cerebral palsy.
• I have tried outpatient treatment before and relapsed or failed to achieve remission.
• I don’t have a strong network of people at this time who can support me mentally or physically.
• I have experienced a greater number of self-harming behaviors lately, such as more episodes of binging-and-purging.

If these statements sound like you, you may benefit from the closer supervision that residential treatment can provide.

How Does Life Change in Residential Treatment?

Life changes, ideally for the better, when a person enters residential treatment. Sometimes a person may find treatments similar to learning to walk again. Residential treatment focuses on how a person can make healthy choices and recognize unhealthy behaviors.

One of the greatest benefits to residential treatment is that most facilities are designed to provide a home-like atmosphere. If a person has recently experienced a hospitalization for their condition, a residential treatment facility can be a more relaxing, personal experience compared to inpatient care.

What Can You Expect After Residential Treatment?

While residential treatment can last for months or even years, the goal is almost always to return home or to a new living situation in order to move forward with life. As a result, aftercare planning is a vital part of the goals process. Sometimes, a person will choose to continue seeing a therapist or doctor they saw at their residential treatment facility. Other times, a person may select a new outpatient therapist. A social or caseworker at a residential treatment facility may also connect a person with support groups in their area or other therapy options, such as art, music, or equine therapies.

Exiting residential treatment is a time when a person has prepared as much as possible to return to their home life. While there will be challenges that can arise as they do so, residential treatment has ideally laid a groundwork for them to improve on their overall health.