PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Gaudenzia, Inc. operates a long term residential drug and alcohol treatment program, Together House, for dually diagnosed men who participate in the Forensic Intensive Recovery (FIR) Program in the City of Philadelphia. The program has a capacity for 22 men. The Together House program represents a partnership between Gaudenzia, Inc. and the City of Philadelphia and the criminal justice system. The FIR program identifies and clinically assesses men who are involved in criminal behavior and who have mental health and substance abuse diagnoses. The Together House program represents the efforts of both of these systems to prevent criminal recidivism through the appropriate treatment for substance abuse and mental illness.

The program utilizes a modified Therapeutic Community (TC) model of treatment. The TC model is especially suited for work with a criminal justice population as it provides a highly structured environment with daily schedules of activities, house rules, and close supervision. The TC utilizes various phases of treatment which focus on accepting greater levels of responsibility. The phases progress from orientation, through levels 1, 2, 3 and to the final level called re-entry. The purpose of these levels is to move the residents gradually back into the community while they develop and practice the social skills necessary for stable community living.

The overall goal of Together House is to successfully place men back into the community and the community-based Mental Health System and recovering community. Although the principles of the Therapeutic Community require the resident to take ownership and assume responsibility for his own recovery; it must be significantly augmented with service system linkages that begin at admission and continue throughout the treatment stay.

CRITERIA FOR ADMISSION

SERVICES OFFERED