Salute to Recovery
Salute to Recovery Overview
Addiction treatment is a highly individualized process; therefore, people often benefit from specialized programs that address their unique needs and experiences. With this in mind, American Addiction Centers (AAC) has developed Salute to Recovery, a specialized treatment track for military Veterans offered at our VA Centers of Excellence facilities.
There are many compounding factors of addiction that affect Veterans at a disproportionate rate. These include:1
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- Trauma.
- Combat-related injuries.
- Stigma toward mental health problems.
- Difficulties reintegrating with civilian life.
- Co-occurring mental health conditions like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, or depression.
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In addition to providing evidence-based care with a special focus on Veteran’s issues, Salute to Recovery serves as a network of people that helps guide and support Veterans throughout their recovery journey.
Mission Focused Mindset
Salute to Recovery operates under a revolutionary methodology called “The Mission Focused Mindset.” This approach combines the principles of strength-based therapy and Positive Psychology. Key areas of focus include:
- Strength-based approaches, such as recognizing each patient’s individuality and resilience, focusing on the positives, shaping language to improve self-esteem and repair thought patterns, embracing change, and providing genuine, non-judgmental support.
- A holistic approach to readiness. This includes preparing mentally, physically, and spiritually, as well as building skills and competency in crucial tools like coping with triggers and grounding techniques.
- Empowering change. Through the Mission Focused Mindset approach, Veterans learn to harness their strength and drive their own transformation.
Evidence-based approaches are employed to help support Veterans and meet the goals that are aligned with the above pillars of focus. These include:
- Stress Management: Stress is a strong trigger for relapse. Behavioral therapies employed in Salute to Recovery help patients identify stress triggers and develop healthy coping strategies.
- Treatment for Depression and Anxiety: Many Veterans with addiction also struggle with co-occurring mental health disorders. Psychoeducation about these issues and therapeutic interventions to treat them are associated with improved outcomes.
- Anger Management: Salute to Recovery employs a 12-week program based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in which patients improve communication skills, shift unhelpful thought patterns, and develop relaxation and de-escalation techniques.
- Emotion Regulation: Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) techniques are used to develop strategies to both make necessary changes and accept things outside of one’s control, resulting in healthier emotional responses and greater emotional control.
Therapy Types
Recovery is a lifelong process. The evidence-based treatments, therapies, and ongoing care offered at AAC facilities provides you with the resources and tools to help you make lasting life changes. These therapeutic methods typically include:2
- Motivational interviewing (MI). MI works to help patients resolve ambivalence toward sobriety, raise self-esteem, and outline their goals.
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT focuses on repairing negative thought patterns through cognitive restructuring and employing the use of healthier coping mechanisms to deal with stress triggers and cravings.3
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Primarily used to treat borderline personality disorder (BPD), DBT has been adapted to treat emotional dysregulation that may arise from many different mental health conditions. DBT techniques fall into 2 opposing categories: change and acceptance. Examples of acceptance techniques include mindfulness and distress tolerance, while examples of change-oriented strategies include problem-solving and altering one’s environment.4
- 12-step facilitation therapy. The 12 Steps are powerful tools used in formal treatment as well as in recovery maintenance. 12-Step facilitation therapy familiarizes patients with a general understanding of addiction, the core tenets of a 12-Step program, and how to find and utilize peer support resources on their own.5
- Family programming. The Salute to Recovery family program educates loved ones on the concept of addiction as a disease, setting and maintaining boundaries (mitigating codependency), improving communication, and more.
- Alternative therapies. Depending on the facility, art, music, yoga, relaxation, and other recreational therapies and classes may complement the evidence-based therapies used in Salute to Recovery.
Which Locations Offer Salute to Recovery?
Salute to Recovery is provided at AAC’s VA Centers of Excellence (COE) facilities. These treatment centers offer targeted, tailored programming that serves Veterans and addresses their unique needs. Salute to Recovery is available at the following locations:
- River Oaks Treatment Center in South Florida
- Desert Hope Treatment Center in Las Vegas, Nevada
- Greenhouse Treatment Center in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area in Texas
- Oxford Treatment Center in Etta, Mississippi.*
Insurance Coverage and VA Benefits
Depending on the Veteran’s specific insurance plan, some—or all—of the treatment costs will be covered. Often, if you have private insurance as well as VA benefits, these benefits can be used to cover any remaining out-of-pocket costs, such as deductibles or copayments.
You can verify the treatment options that are covered under your insurance by reaching out to AAC through online chat, by phone at , or by filling out the online form.
Admissions navigators can guide you through the necessary steps to receive assistance from the VA. After you apply, your primary care physician can help you get screened for substance use problems and other mental health issues to determine your specific needs.
Salute to Recovery Admissions Process
The admissions process for Salute to Recovery is straightforward, making your mission to find the best treatment as simple as possible. Our process includes:
