Rogers Sponsors "Experience the Power of Experiential Therapy" at the 2013 National Conference on Addiction Disorders

Rogers Memorial Hospital is sponsoring a pre-conference workshop on the integration of experiential therapy (ET) with the 12-step program principles during this year’s National Conference on Addiction Disorders (NCAD) on September 21 in Anaheim, Calif. NCAD draws addiction treatment professionals from throughout the country to learn from nationally recognized providers.

Rogers’ pre-conference workshop, “Experience the Power of Experiential Therapy,” will be offered three times on September 21. The interactive workshop will feature Deana Grall, a certified therapeutic recreation specialist at Rogers who has extensive experience working with adults in treatment for addiction. A former patient of the Herrington Recovery Center will assist. Grall will facilitate some of the ET activities that helped the former patient during his treatment experience, while he shares his perspective on ways this hands-on approach enhanced his progress. The patient’s story, coupled with Grall’s insights, will demonstrate how ET builds on 12-step program principles and reframes them in a concrete way for patients needing addiction treatment.

ET is a category of therapies that collectively refers to art, dance/movement, drama, music, recreation/adventure and relaxation. It provides adjunct tools to the 12-step approach used by many healthcare professionals to address the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of addiction. At Rogers, ET is thoroughly integrated into the patient’s treatment experience, with a third of the programming received being experiential in nature.