What proportion of youth, children, or families were reached through the SMA program?

Stewart Marchman Behavioral Center Program

Location, Mission, Goals, and Objectives of SMA

Stewart Marchman Act Behavioral Healthcare is a non-governmental organization in the mental care field. It has its head office in Dayton Beach in Florida. Stewart Marchman Act Behavioral Healthcare (SMA) is the number one behavioral healthcare service provider in Putnam, Flagler, Volusia, and St. John counties. With more than fifty years of operating experience, SMA has it in their vision to support and nurture a community where people with mental health issues, amongst other addiction concerns, have a center for recovery and receive proper treatment and are given hope for a better tomorrow. SMA offers a wide array of services such as community outreach programs, detoxification, crisis services, preventive programs, health education, outpatient and residential services

[1]. SMA has worked on its effectiveness and made it easy for their target clients to reach them through their readily available 24/7 call center

[2].This paper gives an alternative program design for SMA to ensure that their customers receive better and more personalized care that addresses their problems. The said non-profit organization’s set task is “to deliver exceptional and comprehensive behavioral healthcare to individuals and families in our community.”

[3] The dream is to sensitize and increase the public’s awareness of supporting treatment and positive outlook of mental illness and addiction respectfully broadly. SMA is dedicated to its values which are service, excellence, and integrity. SMA’s goal is to provide comprehensive and inclusive care with evidence-based models and practices to change, influencing positive change in the community’s lives.

 

SMA Objectives

Structure and Context of Adolescent Outpatient Substance Abuse Program

SMA aims to help community members who are dealing and struggling with substance addiction and mental sickness. To achieve their objectives, SMA has it to provide exceptional and all-inclusive care to their target clients and offer high-quality mental health service. To check on the current work, ASAT (Alcohol and Substance Addiction Treatment) evaluates the outpatient treatment service. ASAT usually is designed for individuals who struggle with substance addictions. ASAT is mainly delivered as an outpatient alternative for those clients who may want a structured environment to recover quickly while actively engaged in the recovery process[4]. ASAT aids in promoting a healthy and substance-free lifestyle in the community.

SMA primarily focuses on adolescents instead of adults because of the nature of their needs. There is a vast disparity in terms of the needs of adult and teenage drug abusers. In most cases, the youths may require assistance with family life. Therefore, they need to be carefully guided through life. Youths frequently get immersed in addiction problems that come with withdrawal effects. Adolescents are more susceptible to drug abuse due to engaging in risk-taking behavior and experimentation[5].

Individuals enrolling for therapy need eight to twelve sessions; this is the followed structure. The program is in line with SMA’s goal of providing quality and comprehensive care. To attain this objective, the program for individual therapy embraces flexibility and is client-oriented to ensure it aligns with customer needs. Drug and substance abuse is a significant concern in the community and general public health, and it is horrifying that substance abuse has been on the rise in the country. Marijuana and alcohol consumption level has increased, especially amongst teenagers, commence at an early stage [6]. The effects of substance abuse in the early years lead to constellation behavior such as driving while severely intoxicated with substances such as alcohol, physical and other emotional or even erotic abuse, amongst other legal problems such as violence-related charges.

In the worst-case scenario, substance abuse leads to an increment in the adolescent risk of developing substance use disorder (SUD). Globally, the prevalence of substance abuse has been on the rise, which has negatively affected many families; On average, 1.5 million youths meet the SUD gauges[7]. The bad part is that only seven percent get access to the proper treatment for substance use disorder. The ninety-three percent gap of teen drug abuse demands the introduction of an outpatient program to manage this high substance abuse prevalence rate. The identified factors contributing to the growing disparity are the irregularity in the teen treatment service, lack of specialization in the adolescent programs, lack of motivation by the youths’ parents to seek treatment, and insufficient health care coverage.

A teenager’s behavior is influenced by the prefrontal cortex, which enables judgment, cognitive sense, objective setting, and monitoring impulsivity leading to irresponsibility[8]. Therefore, adolescents’ biological features regarding growth and development largely contribute to a critical function in drug use. The development of the nucleus incumbent upsurges the frequency of adolescents towards thrill-seeking adventures.

Scholars argue that the biological childishness amongst adolescents intensifies their inclination to ignore adverse effects and impulsivity like drugs [9]. ASAT puts the treatment/therapy approach customized to the client’s particular needs in a broad spectrum from emotional, social, and developmental. The SMA program on teenagers on substance abuse is centered on the fact that there is an existing gap in teenager’s specific treatment services. The effects can be attributed to the increasing SUD rate, which causes the need to identify and apply quality and evidence-based interventions for these youths. This paper proposes the adoption of ASAT to assist in the reduction of addiction and substance abuse.

Program’s Stakeholders

All stakeholders are actively engaged in implementing the ASAT model, which embodies a collaborative approach. Stakeholder participation is meaningful as it entails dealing with a wide selection of partners from various life stages. The section gives a clear management plan to the stakeholder for an effective ASAT program that minimizes addiction and drug abuse. The advantage of stakeholder collaboration is that it influences essential inputs in the program’s design and execution, discussions on sustainability and program execution, and introduces a more client-oriented and supple program. To further enhance the delivery of individual-centered care, stakeholders must get incorporated into the programs.

The stakeholders are incorporated in all current phases of the program to verify its flexibility and strike a balance in its fidelity to manage depression. The ASAT model’s program stakeholders comprise patients, policymakers, advocacy organizations, payers, and family members alongside caregivers. To promote partnership and impactful collaboration, it is necessary to get the stakeholders integrated with the program. The relevance of this kind of engagement is seen in the strategy development, which entails benefits such as an increment in further comprehension of the ASAT plan’s insight and great program’s effectiveness.

Evaluation Questions

The evaluation will answer the following two core questions.

  1. What proportion of youth, children, or families were reached through the SMA program?
  2. What are the characteristics of the participants, includes their demographic and presentation of issues?