Program Approach 

Capstone Module System

Below is a description of the Capstone Module System. Each module has a different title and focus and is sequenced in a way to facilitate the most effective therapy experience. Each module’s topic is designed to be the focus of the group activities for the week as well as a bridge into one-on-one therapy, and vice versa. The individual therapy uses the module topic of the week to enhance individual therapy and then reconnect a synergy back into the group’s work.

Young male walking, Young Male Residential Treatment

What is a Cluster and How is it Formed?

A cluster is a group of young men who admit to Capstone around the same time, typically within 4 weeks of each other. This group attends each module together, helping them to build trust with each other and demonstrate incremental disclosure. This, by far, is one of the quickest ways that our clients build relationships and develop connections that last beyond their time in treatment.

Benefits of Cluster System

This system accomplishes several important objectives:

It provides an experience that is 90 to 96 days long for every client.

It allows clients to build a support group to go through the tough challenges together in the core modules helping to build friendships that are separate from prior misbehaviors. This vital component to our program helps build a team atmosphere and facilitates a shared learning of coping strategies for teens and young adults.

On the front end, it allows the new clients to get connected to the clients who are about to graduate in a mentoring-type relationship.

On the back end, it allows the old guys who are about to graduate an opportunity to mentor newer guys who are just starting the program. This helps new clients get a good start to the program and helps the older clients see the progress they have made as they take steps towards graduation.

Most importantly, the sequencing of the modules helps clients to slowly build healthy trust and become transparent with their hearts and their stories. In other words, to go to their cores. Trying to get the facts on the table from a client too early in a program would at best produce unreliable information and at worst make him feel like he is being interrogated. This is how we get to the core underlying issues.

Pacing & Sequencing

The effectiveness of the Module System is based on pacing and sequencing. Our founder Adrian Hickmon tells a story from a former client.

The best explanation of our program came from one of our clients, a boy from many years ago. He was a fine young man from Wisconsin, only 16 years old. He walked up to me one day and said, “Hey A, did you know that Capstone is just like a Crock-Pot?” I asked him, “How so?” He replied, “Well, you turn the Crock-Pot on low, you put us in it and you cook us real slow.” I laughed and said, “That’s awesome, James. I’m going to put that on the website and act like I thought of it, so people will think that I’m smart.” But he deserves all the credit!

Therapy session, Young Male Residential Treatment

Why 90-96 Days?

When people think of inpatient therapy, they often think of a 30-day program; however, the 30-day inpatient-rehabilitation program, used for decades, was not actually based on research, nor what is best for the patient. Instead, the 30-day rehabilitation program grew out of a program designed to assist alcoholic service men. The Armed Service already had systems in place to release soldiers on 28-day furloughs, and the rehab program was designed to fit into this timeframe. Today, research has shown that the body is still in a state of detoxification 30 days into treatment.

We find that the young men we work with are generally just beginning to get into the rhythm of the program at this stage. Thirty days in, they are starting to get down to the deeper levels of their issues, getting used to the schedule, getting healthier physically with good food, workouts, sleep and fully scheduled days. Due to modern research on the 90-day program, many residential treatment programs are now adopting longer tracks. Research has shown that people who went through 90 days of rehabilitation are more likely not to relapse. One reason for this is that for the 90 days that a young man is under our care, he cannot relapse. By the time he leaves, he has developed new patterns, habits and strategies. Over a 90-day period of being drug free, the brain gets a chance to heal, not completely but significantly. For some young men, the only way to break the cycle of their habits is to completely remove them from their situation, then give them adequate time to heal their wounds. If a young man is repeating a destructive cycle, only removing them from the situation can affect change.

Professional studies, as well as experts in the field of drug abuse, state that longer treatment programs are crucial to ending the relapse-rehab cycle. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) researchers referred to well-organized and conducted 90-day programs as “the gold standard” in treatment. Dr. Harry Haroutunian, director of the licensed professional program at the Betty Ford Center, was cited as saying that the first 28 days largely consist of coping with withdrawal symptoms and establishing a relationship with a therapist. It is often afterward that therapists discover other problems that, if not identified and treated, can bring the person back to their drugs. Capstone’s program averages between 90 and 96 days.

Read more on the research about 90+ days in the LA Times article The 30-Day Myth.

Capstone is a top-rated young male residential treatment center, offering therapy programs for young adults, specifically young men ages 14-26 who struggle with a wide range of hurts, addictions, compulsions and other self-destructive behaviors. Take our online assessment to see if your son would benefit from Capstone and help decide next steps.

In 2021, Capstone Treatment partnered with OMNI Institute, an independent social science research and evaluation consulting firm, to develop a retrospective study to better understand the program’s impact on client outcomes and caregivers’ sentiments. Here’s what they told us!