Bartlett Regional | HouseCalls | Early Spring 2017

www.bartletthospital.org 5 including services for children and our aging population. Part of the challenge and benefit of this position is developing solutions so we can have a healthier community.” A strong duo Schneider works closely with Behavioral Health Medical Director Jenna Hiestand, MD, who oversees a 12-bed, locked mental health unit; the 16-bed Rainforest Recovery Center; and outpatient psychiatric services. “I have a very strong administrative leader, and Sally’s been great to work with,” Dr. Hiestand says. “I think we share a lot of the same focus and interest and energy. I’m really happy that she’s here. We’re able to grow the service line and move it forward and do things that we’ve really wanted to do and make progress for the community in the needed changes.” Schneider and Dr. Hiestand restructured the management and 28-day programs offered by the Rainforest Recovery Center to help patients with drug and alcohol addiction. “For the residential patients, there is a completely new group system that’s evidence-based, which means we constructed the program around research,” Dr. Hiestand says. “We’ve moved away from focus on the 12 steps, which is still available, but it’s not the sole focus of treatment. We do motivational interviewing, dialectical behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.” Meet Dan “I think it’s great,” says Dan, 1 a Rainforest patient. “It’s very regimented. There is a schedule. You have to be up at a certain time; meals are at certain times. But you can see a counselor at any time. There’s support groups all day long, where you discuss what is going on with you.” Dan only drank on weekends until he was about 28. “And I could drink and then the next day not feel like I needed to drink. And then for whatever reason—and I’ve heard this from others—people like me will cross a line to where you get up in the morning and your body is telling you you have to have it or you can’t function. The binges started. For 20 years I was off and on. Get well, do well. Everything’s fine. Think I can have a couple beers with my friends. They go home from the bar, and I just keep on going. Once I get it in my system, I don’t have the ability to stop drinking—anything I can get my hands on.” Dan landed in the mental health unit for three days. He doesn’t remember how he got there. Dan is 4½ months sober after his second stay at Rainforest. “I’ve done 4½ months and then relapsed before,” he says. But this time Dan is determined not to repeat the destructive cycle. Where mental health and addiction meet Dan is also diagnosed bipolar. “I have issues with my ups and downs,” he says. When he’s up, Dan feels invincible—like a drink or two won’t matter. “But it always ends in disaster. I’ve been in jail many times. I’ve lost apartments, cars, friends. “They put me on a different medication,” he says. “It took a few weeks for it to take effect. But I’ve been pretty level, so I haven’t felt the need to run to the bar and feel better.” “There are medications that are proven to help Sally Schneider, MS, Chief Behavioral Health Officer MEDICAL STAFF —Continued on page 6