Therapies
12-step therapy in Ohio
The clinical name for 12-step therapy is twelve step facilitation (TSF): sessions with a clinician about using 12-step groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. The sessions happen at Leora, and the meetings belong to the fellowships that run them.
- Also called
- TSF
- Where
- Columbus, Dayton
- Admissions
- (614) 665-8878
The 12-step approach
12-step therapy at Leora is twelve step facilitation, a clinical approach built on the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. You work with a clinician on two ideas from the early steps, acceptance and surrender, and on getting actively involved in 12-step groups once you decide to try them. The approach was written up as a treatment manual for Project MATCH, a trial funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse lists it among the behavioral treatments for substance use disorders.
Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and the other 12-step fellowships are free and run by their own members. No treatment provider owns them, Leora included, and a clinician cannot enroll you in a meeting or direct what happens inside one. The sessions happen here. What happens in the meeting is between you and the people in it.
Where it fits in treatment
12-step therapy runs through partial hospitalization (day treatment), intensive outpatient and outpatient care, alongside group therapy and individual counseling. Clients are encouraged to go to 12-step meetings and other community support groups while they are still in a program. That way the support is already running when the program schedule ends and sobriety has to hold up without it.
Session topics
Sessions work on the gap between being told to go to a meeting and walking into one.
- Which meeting to try: open or closed, speaker or discussion
- What happens at a first meeting, and what nobody expects you to say
- What a sponsor does, how people ask for one, and what to do when the first fit is wrong
- The language you object to, including the higher power material
- What to do after a meeting you hated, other than never going back
- Keeping your own attendance record when a court, a licensing board or an employer wants proof
Medication and meetings
Some 12-step groups are hostile toward medication for opioid or alcohol use disorder, and people taking a prescribed medication have been told they are not really sober. That attitude belongs to a particular room and carries no clinical weight. Medication assisted treatment is part of care here, including during ambulatory detox, where nurse practitioners and registered nurses manage withdrawal on site. If you meet that reaction, tell your clinician and try a different meeting.
Other support groups
12-step groups are one kind of community support group, and some people find a better fit in another kind. Your clinician can talk the options through with you.
- SMART Recovery, which uses cognitive behavioral tools in place of steps
- LifeRing Secular Recovery, an abstinence group with no spiritual content
- Recovery Dharma, built around Buddhist meditation practice
- Online meetings from any of these, for weeks when getting to a room is hard
Schedules at Leora
- Where it runs
- partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and outpatient care
- Who runs it
- licensed clinicians holding LCDCIII, LICDC, LSW, LISW, LPC and LPCC credentials
- Partial hospitalization
- 5 days a week, about 6 hours a day. 4 hours of therapy group, 1 hour of relapse prevention, 1 hour of nurse education, plus 1 to 2 individual sessions. Lunch provided, nurse practitioner weekly
- Intensive outpatient
- 3 to 5 days a week, 3 hours of group a day, 9 to 15 hours a week, plus 1 to 2 individual sessions. Nurse practitioner every 2 to 3 weeks
- Outpatient
- 1 to 2 days a week, 2 hours of group, plus individual sessions
The alumni program
Leora's alumni recovery program continues after a program ends with ongoing counseling and 12-step meetings, and it helps with finding employment. A meeting habit is one of the few parts of treatment that keeps going after discharge without anyone scheduling it for you.
Common questions
Is 12-step therapy the same as going to AA?
Do I have to go to 12-step meetings?
Can I take prescribed medication and still work a 12-step program?
Does Leora run the 12-step meetings?
Can you sign a court attendance sheet for me?
Where this is offered
Hope inspired
Talk to admissions about the right next step.
Outpatient addiction and mental health treatment in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio, from ambulatory detox to outpatient therapy groups. Walk-ins welcome. Call now, or leave your number and admissions will call you back.
