Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) is the use of medications with counseling and behavioral therapies to treat substance use disorders and prevent opioid overdose. Wayside House employs the use of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies, to provide a “whole-patient” approach to the treatment of substance use disorders. Research shows that a combination of medication and therapy can successfully treat these disorders, and for some people struggling with addiction, MAT can help sustain recovery. Learn about many of the substance use disorders that MAT is designed to address. Wayside Toolbox Wayside House offers a unique “Toolbox Curriculum” of coping skills necessary for recovery using evidence-based modalities. These skills are building blocks for emotional intelligence and personal growth and are offered through Residential care, Day/PHP, and IOP levels of care using visual, auditory, experiential, and artistic approaches. Themes include Identifying emotions, emotional triggers, core beliefs, mindfulness, boundaries, communication, radical acceptance, authenticity and vulnerability, shame resilience, overcoming the victim triangle, grief/loss, perfectionism, and grounding skills. Wayside Embodied Recovery Wayside’s series of Embodied Recovery groups provides a brave space for clients to return to their bodies with kindness and curiosity. Disrupted embodiment occurs due to substance use, poor body image, a difficult relationship with food, disordered eating, weight stigma, body oppression, and trauma. Embodied Recovery is a HAES® inspired program that promotes a body affirming, weight neutral, holistic approach to recovery. Parenting & Celebrating Families For women in recovery, the subject of parenting is often painful. The level of guilt and shame often felt by women in their addiction can be just as debilitating as the disease itself. Once in recovery, those feelings persist, and can be a huge barrier to sobriety. Unaddressed guilt and shame often lead to relapse. Lack of parenting skills in recovery can lead to overwhelming and more feelings of guilt and shame, becoming a vicious cycle. Parenting skills for addicts is a growing area of need as more and more women and mothers are becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol. Mothers in their addiction are unable to provide for their children emotionally and often physically. There are numerous issues facing children of addicts, including impaired development and cognitive ability, behavioral issues, and emotional problems. Many women in treatment experienced trauma and abuse themselves as children, and are in need of therapy to address these issues. Parenting skills for addicts is designed to help women parent more effectively, bond with their children and move beyond the guilt and shame in order to recover, achieve long-term sobriety and become the parents that they want to be. Equine-Assisted Therapy Equine-Assisted Therapy is an experiential trauma-focused approach designed to help participants identify, face, and work through life issues. The focus is on education and skill enhancement, social skills, and leadership development. The clients do not ride; all of the work is done on the ground. The goal of equine-assisted therapy is for clients to interact with horses from the ground, observe the horses’ reactions to them and then identify ways these reactions could be metaphors representing something going on in the client’s life. Horses are very intuitive creatures and possess an acute sense of awareness of everything that is going on in their environment. They are extremely sensitive to the actions of humans and have the uncanny ability to pick up on our non-verbal behavior. Horses are completely honest in the way they react to situations. They cannot lie or gauge their reactions to spare anyone’s feelings. Therefore, horses are a fantastic instrument to use when getting a “read” on what is going on with a human. Horses are particularly instrumental with clients who are unable or unwilling to communicate their thoughts and feelings verbally. Clients can identify relationship patterns, creating a secure attachment, and secure detachment with their equine partners.