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ARK is the first ever drug addiction treatment center in Chittagong. We started by providing after care for BARACA patients who resides at Chattagram(Chittagong), as the center was the first drug addiction treatment center in Bangladesh, we started to follow their treatment program, providing treatment for the suffering addicts of Chittagoing. Over the years, we evolved our treatment model as per the drug habbits, their withdrawal syndromes, mental effects and ecological factors changed. Our drug addiction treatment program also evolved to meet the challanges of the changed situation of the new era. Now a days, we fully rely on medical professionals for withdrawal management, Psychiqatrists and psychologists are heavlily involved in each individuals treatment plan. Our Treatment plans are not based on a common approach rather we assign an individual case manager to appropriately co-ordinate with all concerned professionals and in-house departments to design the treatment phases to the client’s need. Treatment plans interaction includes: the physical level of addiction, psychology, social background, and even factors such as age, culture and occupation. Our treatment plan is not static. It is reviewed periodically and revised as necessary to be most responsive to the client’s needs. Many clients have a Dual Diagnosis of drug addiction and mental health disorder, our treatment design address all known diagnoses with the help of our psychiatrist and clinical psychologist. Our treatment duration is a minimum of 120 days and consists of three(3) phases. Those are:
-Detoxification
-Primary Treatment
-Halfway House
The fourth phase is After Care, which is the most important part of any drug addiction treatment program, we offer free after care program for all of our patients, Some of them are encouraged to take some voluntary responsibilities, the main goal of this phase is to make a good bonding between oldtimers and new comer recovering addicts. The more they get habituated to this activities, the less chances they have of relapse.There used to be two models of detoxification (detox), those are medical model and social model. The medical model uses doctors and nursing staff to administer medication to safely assist people through withdrawal. The social model rejects the use of medication and relies on a supportive, non-hospital setting to manage withdrawal. As views toward drug addiction and its treatment changed, so did drug abuse patterns and their associated detoxification needs, we provide the blending of the earlier two (medical and social) detox models in our detoxification phase.In our detoxification phase,
doctors (physical & psychiatric) and support staffs provides medical support, and staffs of the social model administer medication to manage withdrawal symptoms with direct help from the doctors and psychiatrist. This phase consists of three components:
Assessment
stabilization
Orientation of the Client for the primary drug addiction treatment or rehab process -
Our primary treatment provides care 24 hours a day in non-hospital settings. We use the twelve step based therapeutic community (TC) with religious beliefs as our primary treatment model. Our treatment program focus on the "resocialization" of the client and use the entire community—including other clients, staff, and the social perspective—as active components of treatment.We Arrange regular sessions with various govt. officers, social activists, clinical psycologists, addiction counselors, celebreties, successful recovering addicts. Addiction is viewed as a disease and the outward evidences are his social and psychological deficits, and treatment focuses on developing personal accountability, responsibility and growing religious values as well
as socially productive lives. The program is highly structured as in TC and can be confrontational at times, with sessions designed to help residents examine damaging beliefs, self-concepts, and destructive patterns of behavior and activities to adopt new, more well-proportioned and positive ways to interact with others. Our primary treatment is designed to be modified to treat clients with special needs, including adolescents, people with severe mental disorders
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Our Half Way House phase begins right after the primary treatment program. In this phase the re- socialization of a client starts. They are taken to 12 step self help groups such as NA in our supervision. They are granted leaves planned by the addiction counselor to get accustomed with their family life. They are also allowed to hang out with old timers who come often in the drug addiction treatment center premises.At night, there is a evaluation for the day in a session. Some clients are offered internship as suggested by their respective counselors
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The After Care program includes extended counseling, following their stay duration in residential treatment, it is important for clients to remain engaged in after care programs. These programs help to reduce the risk of relapse once a client leaves the residential setting.WE encourage hangouts in our premises
and also celebrate social events and recovery celebrations in the drug addiction treatment center’s premises. Clients are encouraged to attend 12 step group meetings in a regular basis. We also attend many 12 step group conventions/campouts and other gatherings regularly. The After Care program support is basically a life-long process so we try to give the best we can.