Comprehensive and Expert Treatment of Substance Use and Co-occurring Disorders

Long celebrated for its expertise in providing highly advanced treatments for a wide variety of mental health concerns, WJCS now brings this same approach to the treatment of substance use and co-occurring mental health & substance use disorders.

Substance use and mental health difficulties frequently interact with and worsen each other. Whether a mental health issue or a substance use issue developed first or they developed simultaneously, they tend to complicate treatment of each other unless they are both treated at the same time. For this reason, WJCS offers specialized combined treatment for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders at our WJCS Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) and Satellite Clinics.

Our comprehensive approach combines individual and family therapy, peer support, employment support, care management, a wide variety of psychotherapy groups, and medication supports to provide expertly optimized care to help people realize their goals. At WJCS, recovery is possible.

The Most Effective Approaches Available

Our evidence-based practices in addressing co-occurring disorders includes Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), Invitation to Change, Encompass, as well as a number of other evidence-based practices like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) for Substance Use Disorders, Seeking Safety, Integrative Harm Reduction Psychotherapy, Wellness Recovery Action Planning, and Twelve-Step Facilitation, all honoring individuals’ goals, whether those are harm reduction or abstinence.

A 15-week program that combines individual, family, group, peer, care management, and employment supports, meeting people where they are in their substance use and helping them to become stable in early recovery, enabling individuals to jump start their recovery journey, all in an outpatient setting. Learn more

Unlike most substance use and co-occurring disorder treatment that are not supported by research, Encompass utilizes well-established evidence-based best practices to assist individuals with substance use and co-occurring mental health concerns in making lasting, life altering changes that have significant impacts on substance use or mental health. Encompass shows better outcomes than other individual therapies, placing individuals in charge of their treatment, helping them to find their reasons for making change, respecting their autonomy and self-direction, and honoring their goals, whether they are complete abstinence from substances or harm reduction. Encompass’ approximately 17-week program for individuals 12 and older, combines motivational interviewing, contingency management, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medication assisted treatment in a single weekly therapy. As some have said, Encompass is a “game changer.”‘

Encompass is offered in select community and school-based settings, with clinical consultation provided by Encompass developer Dr. Paula Riggs and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine. This is made possible thanks to the award of a Promising Practices grant by WMC Health to Family Services of Westchester in collaboration with the Harris project. Additional support is provided by the Westchester County Department of Community Mental Health.

Loved ones (parents/partners/spouses/children/siblings/friends) of substance-involved people often work hard to support changes in substance use. It is not uncommon for loved ones to become frustrated or burnout in the process, and that is largely because we are given all sorts of advice that often backfire, causing our substance-involved loved ones to become further enmeshed in their substance use. Invitation to Change, an offshoot of Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT), provides radical and proven approaches to supporting substance-involved loved ones enter and remain engaged in treatment, achieving change you thought was not possible.

For this reason, WJCS recommends and provides Invitation to Change as part of our comprehensive approach to substance use and co-occurring disorder treatment. Invitation to Change is a new and innovative approach that helps you to reward positive behaviors, cope with frustration and distress, and motivate your substance-involved loved one to make changes in their substance use. Invitation to Change is available to you whether or not your substance-involved loved one is ready to make changes in their substance use.

WJCS is proud to provide Medication-Assisted Treatment as part of its comprehensive approach to supporting people in making positive changes in their substance use. The use of medications, tailored to the individual, in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a “whole-person” approach to the treatment of substance use, which research shows successfully treats these disorders, and for some people struggling with substance use, MAT can help sustain recovery. MAT is also used to prevent or reduce opioid overdose (SAMHSA.gov).

CONTACT

Sam Mogilensky, LMHC

Encompass Coordinator

914-949-6761 x2447

[email protected]

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William A. Mullane, Ph.D.

Director of Innovation, Integration, and Community Partnerships

914-761-0600 x3211

[email protected]

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To enroll in a program or inquire about insurance coverage, contact our Central Intake Line

914-607-4500

“The WJCS Invitation to Change program focuses on reinforcing the positive. Our son struggles with substance use and mental health challenges. My husband and I have learned how to better communicate with our son and how to better support him, and over time, we have seen tremendous growth on his part. We highly recommend this program to anyone who is struggling with a loved one’s substance use.”

Our son struggles with both mental health issues, specifically anxiety, and substance use disorder (misuse of marijuana). WJCS’ therapists have been specifically trained to work with both issues concurrently. I would highly recommend WJCS Encompass to anyone who has a dual diagnosis and is seeking help.

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