Medical Supervision
All our patients can expect to be examined by a medical doctor soon after admission. The GAP has a consultant GP who is able to provide ongoing medical care to inpatients. Psychiatric consultation will be arranged for an patient’s requiring assessment or ongoing psychiatric care. Patients who are admitted who are already under the care of a psychiatrist will be encouraged to follow up regularly with their own psychatrist.

Programs Overview
Our programs all include individual and group therapy, and when appropriate family and couple counselling. We offer community support programs on the premises (AA, NA, CA), and family support meetings.

Extended Primary Care and Secondary Care

The Gap
Some addicts who have gone through a primary program may still crave substances too powerfully to resist relapse, may lack life skills, or may simply still be too toxic to return home and remain sober. For these individuals we have developed a longer-term secondary care addiction treatment program based at The GAP.

This is a registered live-in addiction rehabilitation centre in Ferndale, Randburg. We view this as an extension of the work done in primary treatment, and the person is given an opportunity to develop further insight into addiction and living sober.

We offer a holistic approach, with the teaching and development of life skills and personal responsibility. Although we expect at least a 1 month commitment, the full program is designed for three months. This sees the individual gradually taking on more responsibilies.

The Secondary Program is an extension of the integrated model used at the Houghton House Drug Rehab, which is situated next door to the GAP. The expectation for individuals to qualify for treatment at GAP Secondary is that the individual should be sober and wanting longer-term treatment. Some individuals who have not been at Houghton House but have been through other programs may qualify for the GAP Secondary.

We are able to manage the emotional and psychiatric problems that frequently occur in the first weeks and months of sobriety. We see medication management of psychiatric and medical problems as an integral part of recovery, though we do not allow the use of reinforcing and dependency producing medications (for example codeine and other opioid containing analgesics, and benzodiazepines and related compounds). Although this is not a medical facility, we monitor closely and strictly the use of medication closely and strictly.

Outpatient Programs
We work with First Step Addiction Recovery Clinic based in Sandton which is an outpatient treatment facility for individuals who require addiction treatment and who do not require or who reject an inpatient structure.

At First Step, we offer intensive outpatient programs. These programs, structured along the lines of our inpatient secondary and extended primary programs, offer all the benefits of the programs above, including ongoing clinical assessment and supervision.