FAQs

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Capstone is private pay and “out of network” for all insurance carriers. However, we our team will actively work to seek reimbursement on your behalf. Read more about insurance and financial arrangements HERE

90-96 days. The program is structured based on admission date with a treatment plan for clients to fully complete the programming within that roughly 90-day window.

Yes. Numerous clients come to Capstone each year with some sort of scholarship assistance. We often have some in-house scholarship funds available. And we work closely with an outside organization, Ashes to Glory Foundation, which can provide additional funds for families in need.

Every young man who graduates from our program takes home a canine companion for life. We provide an AKC registered labrador retriever to every client who walks through our doors.

We implement an “eyes on 24/7” policy at Capstone where we ensure the appropriate staff ratios to make sure nobody slips through the cracks. Our client to therapist ratio is unmatched in the treatment industry and allows for a safe, consistent therapeutic experience for the client.

Families admitting their sons to treatment at Capstone often have strong feelings of guilt for “sending their son away”. They question the decisions they made in their lives and in raising their son, and wonder what they did to cause their son’s behavior. When a son is in crisis, the family is in crisis; when a son is suffering, the whole family is suffering and needs to be healed.

Our team members are experts at joining with families. Our counselors know what it’s like to be in crisis situations, and because many are parents, they are able to understand the fear and pain that comes from having a child in crisis. One of our first goals is to join with parents and help them understand that Capstone, parents, and sons will work together as a team. We’re here to help the entire family to understand the nature and causes of the problem and the solutions to it, and then to send the family home with all the tools for success in place. This is crucial, because when the boys leave us they go back to their families, and if the changes to be made are not fully understood and embraced by the entire family unit, the son runs a greater risk of falling back into old habits.

Once a month we have family week at Capstone. The primary function of Family Week is for the parents and sons to participate in an intense week of family therapy. Another benefit of Family Week is that parents get to connect with other parents who are going through the same situation that they are. It begins with Big Monday, a long day of education. When Family Week arrives, the sons have been working and learning about why they are in treatment for some time, and parents need to learn the language that is being use at Capstone. Parents are taught about the Capstone model, different kinds of addiction, and essentials of recovery. We want parents to understand that this is a comprehensive issue. It’s about more than stopping using drugs; it’s also about exposing the core issues underneath that have made their son vulnerable.

Tuesday through Friday is intense Family Therapy. Every member of the family gets individual therapy; married parents often receive some basic marital therapy and if needed, a plan for follow-up marital therapy, usually back home; and the family as a whole receives a great deal of family therapy. This intense family therapy is designed to help families understand the nature of the problem and what they need to do as a family system to help their son get out of the drug culture, stop his negative behaviors, and change his life.

A 3-day Sibling Intensive is offered to clients’ families after Family Week at an extra cost. This part of our family programming is new and has been very helpful to several families. Parents will hear about this opportunity during Family Week.

Family Retreat is a 2-day period ending with graduation. Parents do a lot of therapy work to make final preparations to transition into the Finishing Phase. Graduation is held at the end of the retreat where the client and family are honored for their work. After graduation the family drives away from the Capstone facility but continues into the Aftercare Program.

Capstone also offers a “family relapse prevention tune up” three to six months after treatment. This is a two day experience to take inventory. All get to look at where they are in the process, what is working, and what adjustments need to be made to the plan. We like to think that all of this is about direction, not destination. This time allows each to check their direction, check their progress and then mark the next few steps of their “two year finish strong game plan”.

The next stage of aftercare is our “Capstone family reunion”, held once per year over a weekend. This is an intensive workshop, reconnecting weekend for the graduates and their parents. The first one after graduation is free. It also allows families to be renewed, refocused and reminded of how far they have come, the struggles they have learned from, share in the ongoing recovery process. Families give the gift of their faith, hope and experience. The connections that are continued remind all that through this shared experience, they are truly not alone.

Often the family “cord” has begun to unravel, prior to treatment. One of our goals is to set up the family to rebuild. In that rebuilding process, trust is paramount. For most of our graduates, they have destroyed all trust. There is a process of bringing the family back to a spot of “one accord”.

Capstone offer three months of weekly aftercare consultation calls, post-graduation. This is done by the primary therapist with the graduate and their family. The calls are to help with the transition from treatment to the next stage of recovery. Each graduate leaves with a “game plan”. This dovetails with the family treatment plan, which is developed during family week. These are to aid in the rebuilding trust process. We sometimes compare this to when the parent was helping their young son learn to ride a bike. At first, the parents may have fixed a strong set of training wheels to the bike and had them adjusted so their son only had a little wiggle room. This allowed him to ride and build confidence. That describes the early part of this process. Then those little wheels were moved up. The son then learned to balance and not be in danger of a crash. As their skills increase, the training wheels were removed. At that stage, the parent often ran behind their son, holding the seat. In the end, the parent reaches that exciting and scary moment, when they have to let go! This game plan/ contract/ aftercare package provides the process leading to autonomy. Parents and their son get to experience freedom.

Capstone also offer a “family relapse prevention tune up” three to six months after of treatment. This is a two day experience to take inventory. All get to look at where they are in the process, what is working, and what adjustments need to be made to the plan. We like to think that all of this is about direction, not destination. This time allows each to check their direction, check their progress and then mark the next few steps of their “two year finish strong game plan”.

The next stage of aftercare is our “Capstone family reunion”, held once per year over a weekend. This is a workshop intensive and reconnecting weekend for the graduates and their parents. The first one after graduation is free. It also allows families to be renewed, refocused and reminded of how far they have come, the struggles they have learned from, share in the ongoing recovery process. Families give the gift of their faith, hope and experience. The connections that are continued remind all that through this shared experience, they are truly not alone.

During the 2 year post graduation period, the Finishing Phase, one of the best resources for camaraderie, support, and a band-of-brothers is found in Capstone graduate families.

Every aspect of Capstone reflects Jesus Christ, but He is never forced on anyone. Capstone is not affiliated with a specific church, but instead, just simple Christianity. The focus is spiritual growth toward a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, not religiosity. We accept clients where they are in their beliefs, from atheist to devout Christian, and work to cultivate spiritual growth through truths that will stand on their own without faith, including honesty, purity, humility, self-control and more.

Our Christ-Centered focus brings the Professional Excellence factors together into a very powerful synergy. Every person is made in the image of God and therefore is made to love and to be loved at a Core-to-Core level of intimacy with themselves, God, family, and friends. Each young man has been given special gifts and purposes that can be developed and used for good. It is in the crucibles of struggle that God gives opportunities to grow and to develop the strengths needed to live life well. Every Capstone staff member genuinely strives to join clients and their families in this journey. That is why Capstone is a special place!

Adventure Therapy at Capstone happens in two venues; first utilizing our state of the art Ropes Course on campus, one day per week, clients are involved in activities that produce real-life internal challenges that, if not in Capstone, would most likely lead to relapse and/or misbehavior. The low ropes elements and group initiatives are used to create group dynamics that allow the group to develop a different response that is positive. The high ropes elements are used to focus more the in individual client’s personal struggles and provide him with the opportunity to change his internal response to a triggering situation.

Second, Friday off-campus adventure days are under the umbrellas of Displacement Therapy. The old bad behaviors can’t just go away and be replaced by nothing or they will come back quickly. By finding new fun and fulfilling activities to be involved in clients displace the old with the new. Off-campus adventure day activities include fishing, canoeing and kayaking, rock climbing, caving, and hiking.

Canine Therapy is a magical and unique part of Capstone’s program. Each client receives a registered Labrador retriever puppy when he first gets to Capstone. He feeds the puppy, cleans the kennel twice per day, and spends one hour per day in Canine Therapy. The primary benefit is the relationship between client and puppy with additional benefits of learning responsibility, self-efficacy from the success with the puppy, and a self-competency from the results of obedience training. Upon graduation the client takes his new canine friend home with him to enjoy for ten years or more.

The Core Model is an Integrated Systems Model that incorporates the best of Marriage and Family Therapy, Interpersonal Neurobiology, and Adventure Therapy with issue-driven specialty training in trauma and multiple addictions. It is an issue-driven model and not a model-driven model, if you will, so we can customize our approach to each unique family. All of this is built on the foundation of Christian Intimacy Theory; every person has been created by God and in the image of God, to love and be loved at a core-to-core level of intimacy. Addiction is an intimacy disorder according to Patrick Carnes and other research. People who have deep, quality, rich relationships, in other words, core-to-core intimacy, don’t develop addictions or aren’t relapsing in their addictions. Therefore, Capstone’s therapy approach targets any area that is preventing a person from developing a core-to-core level of intimacy with self, God, family, and friends.

Using the Core Model, we initially focus on the discovery of the core underpinning issues, not just the symptoms, but also what lies beneath. From this discovered information, we develop and implement the therapy plan. The thoroughness of the Core Model is essential for the most effective and long-lasting results.

Capstone, as a drug addiction treatment center, works with clients who have addictions, as well as those who meet the criteria for co-occurring disorders. However, we do not identify our clients as “addicts” or “disorders” but instead, as young men who have hurts and struggles that have resulted in the condition of having developed an addiction or meeting the criteria for a disorder. Capstone goes to the core of what is causing these struggles and treats the whole person in the contexts of his past, present, and future.

Sobriety is a primary goal and works in a synergy with other primary goals: healing his hurts, filling his inner voids, rebuilding his core to core relationships, and developing his gifts and self-competency. Capstone’s goal in using the Core Model is that each young man turns his life’s direction toward living a life that is healthy, balanced, and fruitful, even in the presence of an addiction.

There are two different parts to Capstone’s Professional Excellence. First is the programming itself. Because of Capstone’s commitment to intensive therapy, we have a 1-to-2 therapist-to-client ratio, which allows the therapists to give the time, energy, and personal relationship to every client and family.

The client receives 6 hours of individual therapy during Individual Intensive Weeks (I-Weeks) and 3 hours during Module Intensive weeks (M-Weeks). I-Week and M-Week alternate every other week. This system has a stronger focus on individual therapy in I-Weeks and group therapy in M-Weeks, but provides both individual and group therapy every week. The client participates in 10 +hours of Therapists-led group therapy in I-Weeks and 20 hours in M-Weeks.

The parents receive a minimum of one phone contact session per week. During Family Week the families will receive over 35-40 hours of family therapy. The total number of family hours during the treatment process is over 60.

Each day the client will spend 1.5 to 2 hours with their puppies. At least an hour of that time is spent in Canine Therapy or “puppy time” in which the client trains, plays, and connects with their puppies. The clients have a time in the morning and in the late afternoon where they care for their puppies’ needs for food, water, health, and a clean kennel. Canine Therapy builds attachment neuropathways, self-discipline, empathy, and relationship, all significant to recovery.

Five days per week, clients workout on weights and cardio exercises for 1 hour. The cardio equipment includes 3 Curve treadmills by Woodway, 4 Precor recumbent bikes, 1 SciFit upper body ergometer, and 8 Elliptical trainers. The weight workout is a cardio circuit, mostly done on Hammer Strength equipment. This workout lasts for approximately one hour and is conducted on M-T-Th-F-Su. The research on the brain shows that 45 minutes of cardio, or aerobic exercise, per week is one of the most productive ways to heal the brain and stimulate neuronal repair and growth.

Two days per week are Adventure Days. One day on the ropes course focusing on therapeutic goals via experiential metaphor and one day off campus participating in Outdoor Adventure activities as a part of Displacement Therapy. The time on the ropes course is designed to help clients learn to problem solve, work together as a team, communicate, set and achieve goals, and learn to handle stress and discomfort in new more productive ways. Our goal for Displacement Therapy on Friday off-campus Adventure Days in teaching the clients to fish, rock climb, kayak or canoe, cave, hike, and train their dogs, etc. is to help them find new hobbies and interests that they can enjoy after treatment.

Saturday is called Work Day. Each client is given a chore or set of chores for which he is personally responsible. It could be building a fire pit, picnic table, or outdoor stairs, and other landscaping projects. The clients are given instruction on how to do their chores and ongoing supervision and coaching by the Saturday staff. If they accomplish their chores they earn a pizza, soda, and a movie in the evening. If you ever see Capstone’s facility in person you will see many evidences of Work Day.

Sunday is a day for more free time, family visitation (although most clients don’t have parents visit because they live too far away and are already making three trips to Capstone including Admission, Family Week, and Family Retreat/Graduation), spiritual groups, communion to those that choose to do so, and the workout.

The second part to Capstone’s Professional Excellence is the staff. All of Capstone’s psychotherapists have earned master’s degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy (or closely related field), and several have Ph.D. degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy. In the first three years of employment at Capstone, our psychotherapists become licensed as Marriage and Family Therapists and/or Licensed Professional Counselors (or in the process as LAC’s and/or LAMFT’s). Additionally, they earn the credentials of EMDR II (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), CSAT (Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist), CMAT (Certified Multiple Addiction Therapist – specialty in Chemical Addiction), and CTT (Certified Trauma Therapist). Our entire therapy staff is in the process of completing the Certified Trauma Therapist training.