Dual Diagnosis Program

Treating Addiction
in People with Mental Illness

                         
    

Earle E. Morris, Jr.
Alcohol and Drug Addiction
Treatment Center
610 Faison Drive
Columbia, SC 29203
803-935-7100

Patient Services

The Morris Village Dual Diagnosis Program provides inpatient treatment services for provides inpatient treatment services for patients with severe, persistent mental illness and chemical dependence.

Treatment
    We offer two levels of care -- acute inpatient and community transition.

Goal
    The program goal is to reduce, through accurate assessment and effective treatment, the number of admissions for restabilization or evaluation.

Services
    We offer nursing care 24 hours a day, fulltime psychiatric services, psychology consultations, activity therapy, vocational rehabilitation evaluation and intensive case management.

To Find Out More

        For more information, please call
        Dr. Tracey Gunter-Justice
        (803) 935-7972

        To refer for admission, please call
        (803) 935-7100

Who We Serve

The Dual Diagnosis Program serves people who: 

meet the diagnostic criteria for an Axis I disorder, even if substance abuse or dependence were not involved.

require medication to control their psychiatric symptoms (i.e., if medications were stopped, symptoms would reemerge or worsen, even in the face of sobriety);

have an Axis I disorder characterized by chronic psychotic symptoms and /or a  severe mood disturbance (Other server and persistent symptoms can be considered on a case-by-case basis);

display residual effects of psychiatric disorders that impair social functioning, even when the psychiatric symptoms are in remission;

can benefit from group treatment for substance abuse or dependence;

are not acutely psychotic, suicidal, homicidal or physically aggressive.  (The program focuses on alcohol and drug treatment in the mentally ill and teaches coping skills, social skills and medications strategies to help maintain remissions of both disorders.)

Program Design

The Dual Diagnosis Program treats both the mental illness and the addiction in patients who have been stabilized and can function within the program's group therapy model.

The program provides intensive case management, psychological evaluation and medical management.

The alcohol and other drug component offers treatment groups with an instructive, rather than confrontational, tone.

Patients prepare for 12-step work and learn to introduce themselves at a meeting and to ask someone to be a sponsor.  

The program provides basic social skills training, with an emphasis on basic living and pre-employment skills.

The Department of Vocational Rehabilitation assesses patients in the program and refers them to local resources.

Program staff use activity therapy to teach leisure skills and time management.  

For the program to be maximally effective, patients should be prepared to remain in treatment 45-60 days.

If the patient does not require detoxification, and his or her symptoms are under control, an average length of a stay could be approximately 30 days.

Shorter lengths of stay may be indicated if the patient is not participating, failing to make progress, regressing or has behavior that endangers self or others.  Stays focused on relapse prevention may also be brief.

Prior to a patient's discharge, we make follow-up plans with the agency to which they are being referred for outpatient treatment.

Referrals/Admission

Voluntary Admissions can be initiated by any interested person.  The Morris Village screening team reviews voluntary admission applications and considers dual diagnosis services if the papers document a dual disorder.

To initiate this process, obtain the voluntary admission papers (DMH Form #M-340), complete them, fax to (803) 935-7329 and mail the original papers to Morris Village.

Judicial Admissions (DMH Form #M-170) are initiated in the community for someone who is a chronic risk, but does not meet criteria for emergency admission.

Reports by a designated examiner and a hearing are held in the community, with placement in an inpatient treatment program occurring after the hearing.  

When the judgment and order (DMH Form #M-175) has been signed, forward it to Morris Village by fax at (803) 935-7329,then mail the original.  

Emergency Admissions can occur when individuals are thought to pose a risk of harm to themselves or others if not immediately hospitalized.  

While the emergency admission process gets the patient into Morris Village immediately, a bed may not be available in the Dual Diagnosis Program.

We make every attempt to accommodate referrals from within the facility, but the patient may be discharged after being stabilized with regard to acute crisis and asked to return for dual services as a scheduled admissions.