Berkshire Mountain Health saved my life and set me on a path for a full life. When I arrived, I was lost, scared, broken, and felt little hope for my future, but left strong and able to recover.The house is in good shape on nice green property, nice outside area and in a safe location. House holds about 16 people and the team onsite is quite multidisciplinary (nurses, clinicians, tech, various providers, admin). Rooms are simple, but satisfactory. They are mostly double-occupancy, equipped with TVs. There is plenty of food, mostly catered, A TON OF SNACKS, 2 common living areas (with games, puzzles, art).From the moment I arrived, I felt welcome and cared for. Every staff made me feel seen, heard, and comfortable throughout this difficult process. I, oftentimes heard, it’s all the little things that matter and create your path to recovery. I felt that, every day. I found the team to really make my journey personalized and focused on what worked best for my particular recovery.I stayed for the 30 day program which included a detox and residential component. The detox allowed all substances to leave my system to create a baseline for my recovery. For someone like me, this was tremendously important as I had underlying mental health issues which I masked and self medicated with substances. I was never diagnosed with anything before I arrived, but the close observation, medication management, group sessions, individual sessions, conversations, and multidisciplinary team allowed the team to accurately diagnose me fully and observe me on various medications to ensure an effective dose.In addition to caring, a lot of the staff is in recovery, has a deep passion for it, training, or was touched in some way by addiction.The area that really differentiates Berkshire from other rehabs are the elaborate group session led by folks across disciplines (counselors, speakers, nurses, other staff). The groups were very engaging, educational, based on literature, and most up to date research on mental health challenges and addiction. We learned about our recovery, applied that knowledge, and our solutions felt very personalized to our individual journeys with addiction.Berkshire Mountain Health really focuses on teaching its clients skills: very practical approaches to the challenges of our lives, so that we were set up for success when we faced life on its terms in the future. The approach used is focused around DBT (dialectical behavioral therapy). DBT focuses on helping people accept the reality of their lives and their behaviors, as well as helping them learn to change their lives, including their unhelpful behaviors. Learning this and applying it in various exercises and our own life really gave us an opportunity to react differently in difficult situations. This is more than a detox it is a facility that teaches you to make your life manageable again and respond to life as it comes.I was able to take some of the coping skills, exercises, journaling, reading, meditation, and lessons and incorporate them into my routine at Berkshire.Besides the skills and lessons around coping skills, we had NA and AA speakers, which allowed us to hear stories of survival and people who were in our shoes that we could connect with.I took away a wealth of knowledge, coping skills, a community, and a deep understanding of both what I ws experiencing, my current state, and the necessary steps for my path forward.I, personally, have a deep need to understand why things are the way they are and love delving into topics. EVERYBODY on the staff helped cater to that need to help me proceed with a deeper and quite intense understanding.I developed deep friendships with other folks in recovery and many of the staff members who continue to show up and support me in my recovery.Everyday, I felt like as long as I did my part, folks helped me push me to ensure I was healing. I found this community to be unmatched and look forward to be involved in service i gratitude for saving my life
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