ADMISSION CRITERIA

The State of Alabama Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation’s Substance Abuse Service Division requires the following information to be submitted for placement on Residential Treatment Center waiting lists:

1)    Standardized Psycho-Social Assessment with complete DSM-IV Diagnostic Codes

2)    Priority Placement Code

3)     Consent for Release of Confidential Client Information (Universal Form)

4)    Assessment Update (Progress Summaries required if Assessment is more than one month old)

The Phoenix House requires the following additional criteria for admission:

1)    The assessment package should contain the psycho-social assessment approved by the program director and should indicate adult residential rehabilitation as the next level of care.

2)    The Standardized Psycho-Social Assessment must be signed by a person licensed as a Psychiatrist, Physician, Psychologist, certified Social Worker, Counselor, or a person with a Master’s Degree in a clinical area.

3)    Clients should have completed a primary treatment center or crisis stabilization program in the past six (6) months.  Candidates must be free of all mind altering medications for thirty days prior to admission, and will be subject to a drug screen upon entry to verify the absence thereof.

4)    Report of physical examination signed by a physician (when available)

5)    Pregnant women seeking placement will not be permitted to enter the Phoenix House

6)    One-hundred dollar intake fee (may be waived until resident is working if financial hardship is documented)

7)    Personal Interview (when available)

8)    Ability to work; those with permanent disabilities should be able to do some volunteer work.  Work is seen as a major component of the rehabilitative process at Phoenix House and contributes greatly to a resident’s self-esteem.  Individuals unable to work do not fit in well with the Phoenix House structure.

9)    Phoenix House prefers not to have residents on mind-altering medication.  We do not consider anti-depressants as mind altering.  Any one taking anti-depressants must have an Axis I mood disorder diagnosis.  We do consider the Benzodiazepine family of medications mind altering (Valium, Librium, etc…).  We have and will continue to accept some residents with dual diagnoses who are on psychotropic medication.  These residents must be able to self-administer their own medication, meet the other criteria above, and a personal interview is mandatory.  We have found that these residents must be able to fit into our ongoing program, and if it is evident that they will not fit in, it is a disservice to them to admit them only to fail.

10)                       Candidates should have a strong motivation for recovery; individuals seeking only temporary shelter do not do well at Phoenix House.