Fitness Program
Cornerstone’s Newcomer Program is specifically designed for patients who have little to no experience with treatment and recovery.
The Role Fitness Plays In The Recovery Process During Addiction Treatment
Addicts and alcoholics come to Cornerstone of Recovery with broken minds, bodies and spirits, and our job as one of the best substance abuse treatment centers in the nation is to help them put themselves back together.
Mentally and emotionally, that’s a process that takes time. We point out to them that they didn’t become addicted overnight, and they’re not going to get better in 24 hours. One of the first areas in which they experience success, however, is through our Fitness Program.
Based out of a 15,000 square foot fitness center that opened in 2014, the Fitness Program at Cornerstone of Recovery is an integral part of the therapeutic process in which every patient participates for an hour almost every day of the week. It’s a crucial part of Cornerstone’s whole-person approach to treatment for alcoholism and addiction, and for many patients, it promotes the release of endorphins into a system starved for feel-good chemicals that the body naturally produces.
“For a lot of patients, it becomes their favorite part of the process,” says Tracey Graves, the Fitness Coordinator at Cornerstone. “After they’ve sat in groups all day, it’s an outlet that allows them to exert themselves, and when they do that, they start to feel better. I’ve had more than one patient who, after their first time here, say, ‘I don’t know how long it’s been since I felt this good!'”
Tracey’s roots in physical fitness are lifelong, but she’s been a professional trainer for roughly three decades. Ten years ago, Cornerstone’s clinical staff members recognized the need to address the connection between the body and the mind among the patients seeking treatment, and Tracey was brought on board to establish a fitness program. She started out with a limited budget and minimal equipment set up in a conference room, and when the Fitness Center was built as the first new facility on a unified campus, it opened the program up to wondrous new possibilities.
“Just the aesthetics of it made it like going from a TV dinner to a gourmet meal,” she says with a laugh. “Now, our patients have the opportunity to utilize the space and equipment.”
That equipment includes treadmills, weight benches, dumbbells, stationary bikes and various other fitness machinery, along with an indoor basketball court and volleyball court; outside, patients play volleyball on a sand court or shoot hoops in warmer weather. The fitness regimen includes two group participation classes every week, which are geared toward patients in all stages of physical health.
“Walking through the door, I’ve seen everyone from people who have never exercised to retired NFL players, from those intimidated to play a sport to power lifters,” Tracey says. “Everyone will exercise, and everyone learns something.”
And everyone will have fun, she adds … and maybe more. She lights up when she tells the story of one particular patient who weighed more than 300 pounds, required a walker and couldn’t climb into the patient vans without the aid of a step stool; by the end of her treatment stay, she was walking and even jogging around the fitness center and determined to continue to pursue exercise once she left Cornerstone.
That, Tracey says, is the whole goal, because patients who feel better physically will get better quicker in other areas of their lives. And when a patient can go from being out of breath after a quarter-mile on a treadmill on day one to jogging a mile at the end of their second week, the improvements to their bodies gives them hope that they can begin to heal their minds and spirits as well.
“I tell them that when they leave, to get back home and investigate the fitness possibilities wherever they live,” she says. “There are greenways and recreational programs in every city. I tell them to just do something they enjoy doing that’s a physical activity, and that will ensure they’re going to continue the process.”
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(865) 685-4086Alcohol & Drug Addiction Treatment Services
The Path To Recovery Starts At Cornerstone
Medical Detox Assessment & Orientation Pain Management Experiential Therapy Family Therapy Continuous Care Support Living Facility (SLF) Medical DetoxMedical Detoxification can be a critical time in a patient’s journey toward recovery because the symptoms of withdrawal can be difficult to manage and potentially life-threatening. A team of certified, competent and caring professionals work together to ensure that we provide the best medical care for our patients. The Medical Director prescribes detox medications to keep the patient safe and reasonably comfortable.
While receiving detoxification medications, patients also attend Acudetox groups utilizing a specific acupuncture protocol, psychoeducational groups, and experiential activities. However, detox patients are also given sufficient opportunity to relax and allow their bodies to begin the healing process. Patients on a detox protocol are monitored 24 hours a day and the typical length of detoxification is 3 to 5 days and may be longer depending on the severity of the patient’s withdrawal symptoms.
Assessment & OrientationThis unit is designed to support our patients as they enter treatment and begin to invest in their community of peers. An extensive battery of assessments is performed to identify the patient’s bio-psycho-social-spiritual strengths, needs, and barriers to recovery (such as chronic pain, dual diagnosis, trauma, or other co-occurring disorders). This comprehensive assessment process provides our medical and clinical teams with much of the information they need to build a treatment plan that is individualized for each patient.
Pain ManagementOur NON-NARCOTIC PAIN MANAGEMENT PROGRAM offers solutions that eliminate and or reduce the dependence on medications to treat pain and improve treatment outcomes. We are able to reduce pain and improve the recovery process. We offer sound information and teach skills that the patient can use to improve coping, relaxation, mindfulness, nutrition, and much more. Some of the modalities we use are Reiki, Rubenfeld Synergy, Acupressure, Mindful Stretching, and Addiction Free Pain Management Education.
Experiential TherapyWe believe healing occurs through direct experience. Experiential activities amplify the traditional therapeutic
modalities that are part of our milieu. Fitness, Meditation, Relaxation Therapy, Yoga, Spirituality Groups, Ropes Course, Mindfulness, Art Therapy, Drumming Circles, and community outings are some components of experiential healing at Cornerstone. Patients who participate in experiential therapies report reductions
Family Therapy is an integral part of all of the clinical programs at Cornerstone. Early on in the treatment process, we conduct a Family Questionnaire which allows family members and close personal friends to have input that impacts the patients treatment plan. When appropriate, there are Family Therapy sessions throughout the treatment process. These sessions are designed to work through relationship issues, enhance communication, educate the family about the disease of addiction and provide them with emotional support while their loved one is in treatment. Through this support, the family will gain knowledge about the treatment process and how they may be unknowingly supporting the addiction through co-dependent and enabling behaviors.
Family members will learn about how to engage in personal growth and change through various 12 step programs, so that the family can heal together trough the recovery process. Cornerstone requires that each patient complete Family Fundamentals, an intensive three-day family program designed to provide intensive education, group therapy, family therapy, 12 step meeting experience, and an opportunity to repair the damage caused by active addiction. Family members are strongly encouraged to attend the Family Fundamentals program along with the patient. Cornerstone also has a weekly family education group for family members and an ongoing support group for parents of young adults who are struggling with addiction or who have recently entered recovery
Continuous CareThe Continuous Care Program upholds Cornerstone of Recovery’s treatment philosophy that chemical dependency is a chronic incurable disease that requires the consistent and continued attention of each patient for a lifetime. Recent scientific studies of the disease process have determined that full remission from active addiction does not occur until an individual has experienced at least 18 months of continuous sobriety, long after most intensive treatment programs have concluded.
In response to this knowledge, the Continuous Care Program provides services for a period of at least 18 months following treatment, to ensure that each patient has the opportunity for professional support throughout the early stages of their recovery. During this time, patients are encouraged to practice the skills and tools they learned and developed in treatment as they find their way back
into their home, work, and social environments. They are able to talk with Recovery Coaches and therapeutically
process the ups and downs they experience in sobriety. Active participation in the Continuous Care Program is vital in establishing a lifelong, solid recovery plan.
The Support Living Facility (SLF) provides a safe environment for patients to continue to learn and practice self-management and interpersonal relationship skills while solidifying their recovery program. It can take several months for individuals to become comfortable enough in their recovery to successfully move away from the environment where they got sober. The SLF Program allows men and women to experience some of the freedoms they will experience after treatment while they are supported by thier peers, staff, and a sober environment. Staff monitors the community through regular contact, group therapy, spirituality groups, relapse prevention groups, drug screens, and random checks of the living quarters. Eventually, the patient is allowed to retrieve their cell phone, to leave the premises, operate a vehicle and obtain employment. The minimum length of stay is 2 months (while the individual concurrently is in the IOP Program). Patients often choose to stay in SLF longer while they continue to build their recovery network and become more comfortable with the life changes they’ve made.Typical length of stay varies from 2 to 6 months, depending on the patient’s clinical needs.
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Cornerstone of Recovery
4726 Airport Hwy
Louisville , TN 37777
(865) 685-4086