Skip to main content

LRADAC Programs

"I am Ready for a Change"

Adolescent Programs

The Bridge Program

A comprehensive, individualized, family-centered service for adolescents, ages 12-17, who are preparing to leave an alcohol and other drug inpatient facility or a juvenile justice or other residential setting. The Bridge offers family-based counseling, intensive case management and continuing care, as well as general attention to primary healthcare needs and other potential barriers to treatment. The ultimate goal of The Bridge program is to bring adolescents and their families together and assist them in becoming a healthy family unit free of alcohol and other drug problems.

The program offers clients and their families an opportunity to improve their lives by focusing on five key areas:

Phase 1: Intensive Assessment
The goal of the Intensive Assessment phase is to get to know the client better and to develop a plan for how he or she is going to achieve goals during the program. This phase usually lasts about six weeks and begins even before the client leaves the previous placement. Most of the work in this phase is done by the counselor and the client's family.

Phase 2: Intensive Case Management
During the Intensive Case Management Phase, the client and the counselor will begin to work on the client's goals. To move from Intensive Case Management to Continuing Care, the client must make progress in at least four of these areas: treatment, school, job, family and delinquency. The counselor will keep the client informed of his or her progress in these areas. This phase usually lasts about four months.

Phase 3: Continuing Care
The Continuing Care phase helps the client maintain all the progress that he or she has made. After the client can show success in four of the five areas, he is ready for graduation from The Bridge.

Adolescent Drug Court

The goal of the adolescent drug court is to reduce crime and relapse, while promoting recovery and positive lifestyle changes through court supervision and intense substance abuse counseling. The program provides an alternative to jail time, and assists in promoting public safety and a smaller number of individuals incarcerated. Clients are sentenced by the court system to participate in the drug court program.

In Richland County call (803) 733-1380

Adolescent Outpatient Program

Adolescents ages 12-17 with a wide range of personal or behavioral problems may receive help through the Outpatient Program. Adolescents are taught skills to change behaviors that result in negative consequences. If they are involved with alcohol, tobacco or other drugs, they learn the risks of use and positive alternatives to cope with peer pressures and the challenges of growing up. Family members are encouraged to participate in the program with the adolescent.

Admission Criteria:

Any substance related diagnosis, including behavioral and/or psychological diagnosis, or substance dependence diagnosis. Programs last a minimum of 4 weeks, and the level of care ranges from low to medium.

Estimated Cost: At one group counseling session per week with 8-12 clients in attendance, $60 per session or $720 for a 12 week session.

Richland County (803) 256-3100 ext. 308
Lexington County (803) 733-1376 ext. 29

Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

IOP is an intensive, structured program for teens unable to stop use of alcohol or other drugs on their own. The program seeks to lessen chemical use, encourage healthy choices, involve the family, and assist the young person in finding a path for recovery.

Admission Criteria

Any substance abuse or dependence diagnosis (see details below). Programs last a minimum of 8 weeks, and this level of care is the highest available to adolescents at LRADAC. Following are the DSM-IV Diagnostic criteria (required to bill or staff to a level of care):

Substance dependence — must have 3 or more of the following:

  1. Tolerance
  2. Withdrawal
  3. Using longer or more than intended
  4. Unsuccessful efforts to control/cut down
  5. Excessive time involvement
  6. Social, job, or recreational activities given up/reduced
  7. Continued use despite medical/mental problems

Substance abuse — must have a pattern with one or more of the following:

  1. Failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school or home
  2. Recurrent use in physically hazardous situations
  3. Recurrent substance-related legal problems
  4. Continued use despite recurrent social or interpersonal problems

* Note: cannot have a prior dependence diagnosis

Estimated Cost: At 3 sessions per week with 6-8 clients in attendance, $90 per session or $2,700 for a 10-week session.

Richland County (803) 256-3100 ext. 308
Lexington County (803) 733-1376 ext. 29

Family Programs

LRADAC, The Behavioral Health Center of the Midlands, sees more than 500 teens each year. Statistics have shown that an adolescent's treatment success is directly related to the involvement of the family. Family members of adolescents face unique challenges. Some of these experiences are common while others are unique to that family.

If alcohol and/or other drugs have become part of your adolescent's experience, you face additional roadblocks to a healthy family unit. It is important to remember that you are not alone. Alcohol and/or other drug use affect one in five families.

LRADAC's Family Development Program is designed to involve, empower and motivate family members to help their teens navigate this challenging time. Our program offers education and support to families as they strive to keep the lines of communication open with their child. The program assists families in setting boundaries and bringing their adolescent and family back to a healthy, drug-free lifestyle. The program is intended to help all family members and includes:

Family Awareness/Support Classes: These classes meet weekly. Families receive education from trained professionals and have the benefit of support from other families facing similar situations.

Family Unit Sessions: Families may need additional support from a private counseling session with a family counselor. These sessions allow family members to work together as a unit to explore specific issues facing the health of the family.

Family Member Sessions: The adolescent, as well as individual family members, may need to meet one on one with a family counselor to discuss difficult situations and issues. It is important to explore the role each family member plays in the treatment experience.

Parents and family members are encouraged to call (803) 256-3100 ext. 412 to schedule an appointment. Our family therapist will evaluate your family situation and provide recommendations for services. Let us help you restore your family to healthy living.

Girls' Grapevine

Girls' Grapevine is a prevention program that was designed for fifth and sixth grade girls who are making the transition from elementary to middle school, as well as from childhood to adolescence. Girls meet in small groups with a Grapevine Coordinator, and discuss the following subjects: Media Awareness, Nutrition and Body Image, Puberty and Adolescence, Respecting Yourself and Others, and Refusing Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs.

Scheduling is flexible in order to fit the program into the existing schedule at each location, but the group meets weekly for six to nine weeks.

We encourage the girls to talk with their parents or caregivers about the things discussed in Grapevine. In order to help them participate in the learning process, we send home a newsletter to let parents know what was discussed, and how they can talk to their children about it.

Girls' Grapevine sites for the 2006-2007 school year:

Youth Access to Tobacco Study

The annual Youth Access to Tobacco Study monitors the state's compliance with the SYNAR Regulation of the federal Public Health Service Act of 1993. The SYNAR Regulation is a federal mandate that requires each state to document a rate of tobacco sales to minors of no more than 20 percent. States that fail to meet this requirement risk to lose millions of dollars in federal funds for alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and treatment services. In 1994, the first year the study was conducted, 63.2 percent of the state's underage youth were sold cigarettes as part of the study.

Conducted with the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS), the study determines whether or not youth aged 14 to 17 are able to purchase cigarettes. Approximately 500 purchase attempts are made in Richland and Lexington Counties.

In 2002 in South Carolina, only 15.5% of the state's youth ages 14 to 17 were successful in their attempts to purchase cigarettes, the lowest rate documented since South Carolina began conducting the survey in 1994. In Richland County, only 13.2% of youth were successful, up slightly from the previous year's rate of 12.1%. Lexington County's rate for 2002 was 11.8%, down from 2001's rate of 13.1%.

South Carolina youth typically begin experimenting with smokeless or "spit" tobacco around age 11 and with cigarettes around age 12. Research shows that underage smokers are much more likely than nonsmoking teens to use alcohol and other drugs. This group also is much more likely to perform poorly in school, cut classes, drop out of school by the 10th grade, and become involved in crime.

Social Norms Campaign

Social norms are people's beliefs about the behavior that is expected of them in a particular situation. Often, people's perception of these norms will greatly influence their behavior. ("Everyone is doing it, therefore it is ok that I do it.")

But what if the reality is that most people are not doing it? It makes sense that if we help people understand that most people are not doing it, then we can use those group dynamics to change individual behaviors. In fact, research shows that social norms campaigns can be a highly effective tool in changing perceptions, and ultimately behavior.

Most students, and some parents and educators, greatly overestimate the number of young people who drink alcohol, thinking, "Everyone is doing it." The truth is most young people choose not to drink alcohol. The Social Norms Campaign (SNC) is a successful way of teaching the correct information.

Social Norms campaigns were initially implemented on college campuses where they were very successful at reducing targeted behaviors through media campaigns to inform students of actual norms. In recent years social norms campaigns have been used with parents, educators, high school students, and middle school students with great success. One of the most well-known campaigns was conducted in 1998 in DeKalb County, Illinois where pre- to post-test surveys showed a 14% reduction in heavy episodic drinking, and a 30% reduction in 30-day prevalence of alcohol use after two years.

The campaign began with a study at the middle schools in Lexington/Richland District Five that showed that students think alcohol usage among their friends and peers is four times greater than it actually is. The Community Roundtable of Irmo, Dutch Fork and Chapin helped to implement a social norms campaign to increase parents', students', and educators' correct perceptions of the number of middle school students who do not drink alcohol.

Through posters, promotional items, public service announcements, etc., students will see the message, "Most of Us Choose Not to Drink Alcohol." The SNC also includes a parent/teacher component titled, "Share the Truth." Through report card inserts, newsletters, and promotional items, parents and teachers are encouraged to "Share the Truth" and communicate the truth about peer norms in terms of what the majority of students actually think and do.