Services characterized as training in veterans program

Word choices matter in the delivery of addiction treatment services, but they carry particular importance for populations that face stigma that is often insurmountable. That is why the Warriors Heart center in the San Antonio, Texas area moves away from rehab-like language in how it describes its programming to its target population of veterans, law enforcement officers and first responders.

Anything resembling “hospital” is out, and “training course” is used instead. And no one talks of the intensive treatment as a “boot camp,” an environment to which no member of the military wants to return.

“It is starting to get better, but there is still the underlying stigma that getting help is a sign of weakness,” says Tom Spooner, an Army veteran who with Josh and Lisa Lannon opened Warriors Heart. “If a warrior can say they are going to a training course and healing, it goes in alignment with going to training.”

The message thus becomes one of continuing one's training, with a focus in this case on living a life sober. Warriors Heart operates a 39-bed residential program, with detox, intensive outpatient and sober living components of around 10 beds each—all on one campus site.

The clinical program offers individuals an opportunity to bond with those who have endured similar experiences, something they won't find in traditional treatment settings. The Lannons discovered in their earlier work in running treatment centers that veterans and public safety officers would not open up in typical group therapy settings with patients with whom they did not identify.

“A lot of our clients have lost their purpose,” says Vonnie Nealon, Warriors Heart's clinical director. “Some have been discharged from the military. Or they are police officers who are now doing the same things they arrested other people for.”

Program evolution

The core elements of the Warriors Heart curriculum have not changed a great deal since the program's inception, but lengths of stay have steadily increased. What started as a 28-day concept now has evolved into a 42-day treatment structure.

Fitness and experiential therapies continue to be an important part of the program, but the bonds that clients develop almost from the start arguably remain the most impactful component. From day one, “We all greet them and welcome them home,” Nealon says. “This becomes their home.”

Spooner adds with regard to the stigma challenge, “With our military, the conversations over the last couple of years have really gotten better, but we still have more work to do.”