Continuing Care Program & Case Management

Case management at The Bridge is provided primarily by the program’s Continuing Care Coordinators, who work closely with the clinical staff to assist clients and their families to secure the outside resources necessary to achieve treatment goals and reenter the community. This includes the necessary funding for treatment, regular contact with all outside agencies involved in the client’s life, any necessary adjunct health and social services, and interagency meetings. Continuing Care Coordinators ensure the development of appropriate goals for the family to accomplish while the adolescent is in residential care, in preparation for the client's discharge. The program’s case management component also helps the client and therapist to develop appropriate aftercare plans, including identifying individuals, groups or activities in the client’s home community that can help reinforce new behaviors and promote recovery.

Home-Based, Family Focused Aftercare Program

The Bridge has developed a home-based, family-focused aftercare program to support the adolescent and his family for the first three months after a client’s discharge from residential treatment. The Bridge’s Continuing Care Coordinators provide weekly or bi-weekly visits to the adolescents in their homes to help clients and their families with the challenging transition from treatment back into the community. The primary focus of the Continuing Care Coordinator is to help the newly discharged adolescent and his family to establish linkages to community resources. These might include 12-Step programs for teens, access to transportation, mentoring programs, sports teams, and jobs or other pre-vocational experiences once they leave treatment.

Continuing Care Coordinators accompany former Bridge clients, as needed, to register for such programs or services. They may attend initial social service or court appointments with the youth or assume other advocacy roles on behalf of families. In addition, Continuing Care Coordinators provide emotional support between outpatient and home-based treatment sessions, assist with the often difficult transition to regular school attendance by visiting the school and maintaining direct contact with key school personnel, and help model behaviors that reduce risk potential and promote a substance-free lifestyle. Continuing Care Coordinators also assist the families in reviewing and reinforcing parenting skills learned at The Bridge, practicing new communication and conflict resolution skills, resolving issues related to reunification and helping to maintain a productive emotional climate in the home.