Addiction treatment provider transitioning to gender-specific facilities
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Landmark Recovery, a substance use disorder services provider headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee, says it is transitioning many of its treatment facilities to gender-specific after piloting the effort at two Indiana locations.
Earlier this year, the company reworked its Praxis of Fort Wayne facility in Bluffton to a female-only center, while its Praxis of South Bend facility transitioned to exclusively treat male patients.
Chief Operating Officer A.J. Henry told Inside INdiana Business the company’s Praxis facilities, which focus on Medicaid patients, were seeing behavioral concerns among patients when they had two genders under one roof.
Henry said the issue created complexities and distractions for patients.
“When someone comes into our facility, they are in group or individual therapy for the majority of the time that they have throughout the day,” said Henry. “And through those environments, you find that when someone is in a gender-specific environment, they can relate more with those individuals. They’re more focused on their recovery versus being distracted by…a relationship or not feeling vulnerable enough.”
The transition of the Bluffton and South Bend facilities began in mid-March, and Henry said since that time, the number of altercations has been reduced to near zero and they’ve also seen improvement in the experience for patients.
“What we noticed was females were starting to be more open and more vulnerable in those in those therapy environments, especially the group environments, and it was creating stronger bonds between the patients,” he said. “We’re tracking very closely the number of incidents that have happened within a facility and it’s all but reduced to nothing in the all-male facilities.”
Henry noted the switch has created some complexities for admissions at the facilities when, for example, a woman in South Bend is not able to receive treatment at the facility in that city.
“She’ll have to be transported over to our Bluffton facility. So, those types of situations do make it complex, but I’d much rather have complexities in our business model and improve life safety and clinical recovery than I would the reverse of that.”
Landmark Recovery’s facilities provide more than 20 hours of therapy per week, and the company said the new targeted method will help patients focus more on their sociologically unique treatment and healing.
The company also cites reports from the National Institute on Drug Abuse that say gender plays a significant role in addiction treatment due to each gender facing unique obstacles.
“We’re excited to see that our tailored approach has shown early success,” co-founder and CEO Matt Boyle said in written remarks. “We are dedicated to creating secure and supportive spaces for our patients, where they can fully engage in their treatment journey. Our objective is to enhance treatment experiences through focused discussions and therapeutic activities.”
Henry said so far, the transition has led to an increase in length of stay for patients, which is critical to their recovery.
“The longer that we keep someone in the facility, the better chance we have at saving their life,” he said. “We also offer outpatient therapy as well. Once they’ve graduated from the program, someone that stays longer is much more likely to engage in those types of of treatment as well, which, again, puts it in a much better likelihood that someone is going to continue to stay sober and and not relapse.”
Landmark Recovery operates two types of facilities. The Praxis facilities focus specifically on Medicaid patients, while the Landmark facilities serve patients with commercial insurance.
In Indiana, the company has four Praxis facilities in South Bend, Bluffton, Carmel and the Montgomery County town of Ladoga. Henry said the Carmel facility will transition to an all-male center next month, as well as one of its facilities just outside of Cleveland, Ohio.
Henry added the company currently does not have plans to transition its Landmark facilities to gender-specific centers. He said those locations haven’t observed the same behaviors that led to the transition at the Praxis facilities.
“On the commercial side, you have smaller facilities, and there’s a different support network for someone that has a foundation; they may have a job where they’ve got insurance, and they’re going to get help,” he said. “Whereas on the Medicaid side, you’re less likely to have that same family foundation and some of the things that come along with that.”
Landmark Recovery was founded in 2016 and currently has locations in 16 states.