The First Step
The Admissions Procedure
If you're thinking about admitting your daughter or yourself, please call us. We'll provide you with a packet of information as well as all the forms requesting details we need about you and/or your daughter. Our initial review of these documents will enable us to determine if you or your daughter can benefit from our program.
Our admitting psychiatrist and our primary therapists review all interview and test results. We also review available medical information. If we feel we can help you and your family, we extend an admission offer along with a tentative assignment to a treatment lodge based upon our assessment of immediate needs.
The Emotions of Admissions
It has been our experience that families coming to Timberline Knolls may experience a process of emotional stages in conjunction with admission. We share this in order to prepare you for what you may experience.
1: Upset. The situation that brings a family into care is associated with the emotional experience of upset. This upset can manifest in various levels and combinations of anger, turmoil and/or distress.
2: Ambivalence. Once the dust has settled and the decision has been made, parents may feel ambivalent. Did we do the right thing? Is she in the best care? At this point, some girls may play on this parental ambivalence to come home and get back in their former maladaptive swing of things. This can lead parents to feel...
3: Guilt. Here, you may start second guessing yourself. Since this is something we see and understand, we maintain daily contact with the parents for as long as is needed to prevent them from being manipulated, and to present the daughter with a unified front of strength and support – even when she would prefer to not have to work on herself as hard and instead be "rescued." This can be harder to resist than you'd think.
4: Relief. At this point, parents begin to feel more comfortable with how treatment at Timberline Knolls works and how involved they are, no matter where they live. New tools, new means and new methods all contribute to parents being more informed, comfortable and empowered to make a difference.
5: Resolution. This final phase is the time of transition. Here, plans are made for what comes after leaving Timberline Knolls. It's a time of reflection, preparation and excitement. Feelings of ambivalence in leaving may often occur here, because while the goal of being at Timberline Knolls is to work hard, learn a lot and move towards returning home equipped with coping tools, there is also a sense of loss with such transitions. Many women miss their friends, the relationships that helped make a difference in their lives and the structure. This is all part of life and new beginnings – and a much more pleasant experience for everyone than that of the first phase.
