“You can’t jump from first floor to third floor.” Kris Blount, Clinical Director at Willow Grove Recovery, on the question families ask most.

Willow Grove Recovery is a residential addiction treatment facility in Palmyra, Tennessee, near Clarksville, serving families across Middle Tennessee.

Tennessee has treatment beds. The gap is what comes after.

Tennessee, especially around Nashville, is an interesting environment where it’s very saturated with providers. You can find detox. You can find residential. You can find PHP programs.

But then when you look at the step-down options, being able to meet the clients where they are and to provide them with the step-down options that can help see them through into living life through the transition and the levels of care. Especially with clients who have complicated histories or significant mental health issues, we don’t always have the resources through sober living, community engagement, community acceptance of the client then moving into the community and stepping down to where they’re less treatment oriented and more living truly in recovery in the community.

There’s stigma related to it. Communities feel that not in my backyard, so you get some community backlash.

Why the step-down matters: you can’t jump from first floor to third floor

I tend to view it as recovery, or life challenges in general. You can’t jump from first floor to third floor. You have to build the steps in.

With the right supports in the community, our clients can make a fluid, smooth progression. Where it becomes more difficult is when you have the clients who have the more extensive history of trauma and they don’t smoothly transition into the community, and having different supports, different experiential activities that they can do to help with that transition.

Community providers need training in substance use and trauma

So I think a lot of education to our providers, to the community, that our clients come out with a multitude of issues and concerns. Some of it may be even working with providers in the communities who maybe do not have as much training in substance use and trauma, and looking at how the trauma experiences can influence the addiction, which can influence the mental health, which then can influence the addiction. And you get in this cyclic pattern.

The stigma people carry out the door

Somebody who has been through trauma may feel that they’ve been broken. Society tells them they’re broken. Their families tell them that they’re broken, especially if they’re using alcohol and drugs to cope with things. It’s like, you’re a failure, you’re broken.

I will use an analogy of a clay jar. We drop a clay jar on the floor and it’s in pieces. We glue it back together. Tell me about that clay jar that’s been glued back together. That jar is stronger, it’s beautiful, it’s diverse, the glue holds it together. And so you can take that analogy and walk through what recovery from trauma, or recovery from the stigma of addiction, can look like.

That’s the work inside our walls. Outside them, what a person needs is somewhere to go and a community willing to have them. When we as a community work together, we can better meet the client’s needs.

Frequently asked questions about life after rehab

What are step-down options after residential treatment in Tennessee?

Step-down refers to the levels of care a person moves through as treatment structure decreases: residential, then PHP, then sober living and community-based support. The goal is stepping down to where they’re less treatment oriented and more living truly in recovery in the community.

Why is sober living hard to find in Tennessee?

Part of it is stigma. Communities feel that not in my backyard, so you get some community backlash when sober living is proposed in a neighborhood.

Who has the hardest time transitioning out of treatment in Middle Tennessee?

Clients who have the more extensive history of trauma, and clients with significant co-occurring mental health issues. They don’t smoothly transition into the community and they need different supports and different experiential activities to help with that transition.

What should Tennessee families look for in aftercare?

Supports in the community, community engagement, and community acceptance. With the right supports in the community, clients can make a fluid, smooth progression.

Why does trauma matter in addiction aftercare?

Trauma experiences can influence the addiction, which can influence the mental health, which then can influence the addiction. You get in this cyclic pattern. A community provider without training in substance use and trauma can miss that cycle.

Kris Blount is Clinical Director at Willow Grove Recovery, a residential addiction treatment facility in Palmyra, Tennessee, serving Clarksville, Nashville, and the surrounding region.