Continuing Care in Recovery at Positive Sobriety Institute

Positive Sobriety Institute’s (PSI) Continuing Care (CC) Program is a program committed to ongoing post treatment care that we believe is as important as the intensive treatment program. The CC is a five-year program for those in recovery who are local to the area and can attend a weekly professionally facilitated group. This group along with random toxicology screenings (the “Sober Link” method, a breathalyzer system for alcohol use) comprises the two essential elements of CC.

Positive Sobriety Institutes Research Initiatives

Our Medical Director of the CC Outpatient Program, Ishani Dalal D.O., is a board certified addiction psychiatrist and former addiction fellow from Northwestern University. Dr. Dalal leads a CC weekly meeting comprised of the staff that runs PSI group meetings. Our goal is to match the CC patient with the counselor and group they were meeting with during the active treatment phase in order to provide the best continuity of care and connection possible. Dr. Dalal is also the addiction psychiatrist for many of our attendees who do not have a health care provider available to them.

Our program offers intensive case management that helps coordinate outside activities that are part of the CC plan, such as 12-step involvement and individual therapy. The vast majority of our licensed health care professionals are also enrolled in the Illinois Professional Health Program. We have alumni social events at least twice a year such as a summer picnic and holiday party to help foster a sense of community with alumni and the CC.

The various elements of our CC Program mirrors the five-year monitoring program for recovering physicians and other licensed health care professionals. This monitoring, following specialized treatment as provided by PSI, is an essential part of why we see the 80 percent, 5-year abstinence outcomes in this group. However, at PSI we are committed to providing this intensive multidisciplinary CC to all of our graduates not just our health care professionals.

Research Initiatives

Positive Sobriety Institute’s Research Initiatives

PSI’s Medical Director, Dan Angres, M.D., is the lead investigator in a long-term outcome study looking at the PSI CC program through a Northwestern University Institutional Review Board waive. This study will look at contributing factors to compliance, abstinence and quality of life issues in recovery. The goal is to better understand what variables contribute to adherence to CC and the very good outcomes it supports. This would include demographics (age, gender, marital status, profession, etc.), co-morbidities, neurocognitive status and many other variables that can help us and the addiction field optimize our treatment planning and ultimately improve outcomes. This study will also compare and contrast our health care professionals with our other professionals and non-professionals to guide us to better serve this segment of patients.