Clinical Organizations Profiling Phoenix Outdoor
Phoenix Outdoor was founded in 2004 in Asheville, North Carolina as a licensed wilderness therapy program for at risk adolescents, ages 13-17. Families who placed their troubled teenagers in the program came from all over the country where the teenager received counseling and treatment in a wilderness setting for approximately 6-8 weeks.

Carolyn Bradfield was inspired to found Phoenix Outdoor after her experience with her own teenage daughter who she enrolled in a wilderness program as a result of drug and alcohol abuse in high school. Because wilderness programs are in remote locations and families are not present for treatment, they key challenge for Phoenix was how to involve the family in the process. The answer was to turn to conference calling as an inexpensive and easy to use technology to bridge the communication gap between the program, the adolescent and the family.

According to Carolyn, “all of the important research in the adolescent treatment process reveals that family involvement is critical to good outcomes for the adolescent. This is especially important in drug and alcohol treatment, a specialty for Phoenix Outdoor.”

Setting Expectations
For Phoenix Outdoor, family involvement and the treatment process began before the adolescent even arrived at the program. Conference calling was used to begin a discussion with parents, a Phoenix Outdoor Parent Coordinator, and sometimes other family members to set expectations for the treatment program, to deal with the emotions that families were experiencing by having a child in treatment, and to ensure that parents knew their role in the treatment process. Conferencing technology was essential because getting parents and family members together for a discussion often involved parents who were in different locations, divorced, or had difficulty being in the same place for a phone call.

Family Therapy Sessions
The Family Support Program at Phoenix Outdoor was geared around the parents participating in therapy sessions, support groups, and educational sessions, all executed over web and audio conference calls. Each week, a family therapist would facilitate an hour session to discuss how the family was processing what they learned about their child, how they were dealing with their own emotions and how they were planning for the next steps after treatment. In addition, an adolescent therapist conducted weekly conference calls to update parents on an adolescent’s progress.

Parent Support Groups
One of the most powerful therapeutic experiences for families was to participate in support groups executed weekly over conference calling. Lead by an experienced family therapist, conference calls focused on their common experiences, their hopes and fears, and their plan for the child when the wilderness program ended.

According to Bradfield, “parents feel lost as if they are the only ones who have a child in trouble. Sometimes they don’t have the understanding and support they need from family and friends. Support conference calls were a lifeline each week for families so they could engage with others who could understand and empathize with their situation.”

Psycho-educational classes
After working with a large number of families, Phoenix Outdoor recognized common struggles that many parents faced and decided to create a series of 8 psycho-educational classes to be delivered over web and audio conferencing. Each class included a lecture delivered by a therapist on a parenting topic that was supported with PowerPoint visuals viewed over web conferencing. This was followed by group discussions and a question and answer session on the conference call.

Through these classes, parents could discuss managing drug and alcohol abuse, Internet addiction, setting boundaries or aftercare planning. Conferencing technology allowed for a conversation, a visual experience, and the opportunity to engage with the instructor as well as other families. Parents reported feeling more equipped to manage their adolescent after the Phoenix program had concluded.

Marketing Conference Calls
A program like Phoenix Outdoor depends heavily on clinical professionals and other referral sources that counsel adolescents and their families and then refer them to programs like Phoenix. Phoenix Outdoor delivered lunch and learn web seminars for clinical professionals, offering continuing education credit toward licensure.

Lead by an industry thought leader, key topics such as working with the treatment resistant adolescent were reviewed and Phoenix Outdoor was profiled as an example of a treatment program that addressed that clinical issue. During the web conference call, participants were polled to determine their satisfaction level with the program, the speaker and the content.

The marketing conference calls allowed Phoenix Outdoor to reach out to a wide marketplace, educate them about the treatment process, clinical design, and the type of adolescent appropriate for the program. This lead to increased market awareness and ultimately clinical referrals to the program.

Reaching Families
Incorporating families into the treatment process was made possible by the use of web and audio conference calling. Family therapy sessions, support groups, and educational classes were all facilitated with conferencing technology engaging parents, siblings and grandparents in the treatment experience.

For more information call 866.903.7521 or email sales@copperconferencing.com