What Is MHN?
MHN is a behavioral health subsidiary of Health Net, Inc., and has been working with New Directions for Women for many years, with the common goal of treating women with substance use disorders and addiction. MHN is one of the most experienced and capable providers of managed behavioral health care in the United States with over 40 years of health care experience. They serve over 800 organizations which include Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, trust funds, and health plans.What Does MHN Offer?
MHN offers behavioral health plans on a stand-alone basis or combined with a Health Net medical plan. These allow the employees to have access to high-quality mental health and substance use disorder coverage. MHN’s behavioral health plans give employees access to a full range of behavioral and specialty healthcare from expert staff and providers they can trust. Our provider network offers you choice, quality care, and convenience. MHN works with more than 63,000 practitioners and 1,500 hospitals and care facilities.What is an EAP?
An EAP is an employee assistance program. Our EAP professionals have thorough behavioral and clinical knowledge. Our whole clinical staff is fully licensed. Each one has a minimum of three years of direct clinical experience beyond their graduate degrees. EAPs help people achieve better emotional and physical well-beingBehavioral Health Care
Services and benefits can be tailored to the customer’s needs (within the Federal Parity guidelines). Behavioral healthcare programs might include:- Sessions with a counselor, therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist
- Treatment in a residential facility or hospital, including partial hospitalization and residential treatment programs
- Treatment and aftercare follow-up
- Crisis intervention that’s always available, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
Care Management
MHN works with providers to promote the best outcomes for their members. All MHN care managers are degreed and licensed counselors. Their care management program meets the accepted national standards. Through care management, they make sure that:- Members get the appropriate care, in the appropriate setting.
- Members get the right follow-up treatment after leaving the hospital or treatment program.
- Treatment resources are managed to achieve high-quality and cost-effective care.
- Performance management and reporting standards are followed.
How Do MHN and New Directions for Women Work Together?
EAP services are not medical or mental health treatment on their own. If problems are suspected during a consultation, MHN will offer a referral to appropriate medical or mental health services. If you are in the Costa Mesa area, it is likely to be New Directions for Women. There are five goals of EAPs:Assessment
MHN provides network therapists with a standard way to make assessments. A full assessment needs one to three sessions. As part of the assessment, the therapist makes a plan to manage or solve the issue. The therapist will seek the member’s agreement on methods, goals, and plans.Urgent Cases
All emergency calls are transferred at once to an onsite counselor for an immediate telephone assessment. In cases like this, a member of an MHN clinical service team follows up to make sure and verify that the individual received emergency care, either with a network counselor within 48 hours or immediately by emergency personnel. Onsite medical personnel provide coverage for emergency calls all day, every day.Short-Term Counseling
Most problems such as the phase of life, marital, family, and work-related issues are manageable through short-term counseling. The thinking at MHN is to help members solve their problems through short-term counseling whenever possible. It can be used to:
- Review a problem at work or with the family
- Discuss stressful life events such as losses and major changes
- Become aware of effective skills for parenting and managing adolescents
- Resolve relationship issues through couple or family counseling
- Develop communication skills
- Learn stress management skills
- Work through the grief process
Substance Use Disorder
Therapists at MHN are knowledgeable in the diagnosis, intervention, and treatment (through referrals) of alcohol use disorder and SUDs. After an assessment, the counselor works with the individual to:- Reduce denial
- Increase motivation
- Devise an appropriate recovery plan
- Get an evaluation for physical issues
- Encourage participation in Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, etc.
- Make referrals for detox, outpatient, day treatment, residential, or hospital treatment. This is done according to the woman’s needs, financial situation, and benefits.
MHN works with over 63,000 practitioners!
Coverage may include:
- Behavioral healthcare
- Care management
- Short-term counseling
- Substance use disorder
- Addiction resources
What to Expect at New Directions for Women
New Directions for Women caters to each woman in our program based on their needs and offers a continuum of care. Levels of Care offered at New Directions for women are:
Detox
Detox is the first level. Before you go into treatment, you need to rid your body of the toxins you’ve been ingesting. You’ll be in detox for a few days to a week. It depends on the substance you’ve been using, how long, and how much.
There are always some withdrawal symptoms when you suddenly stop using a chemical. This is your body adjusting to the lack of toxins in the level it had depended on. Some withdrawal symptoms can be very mild and some can be life-threatening. It’s important to be in a place where you will be supervised by medical personnel while going through this phase. In our detox center, you may be prescribed medication to help ease the symptoms.
Residential Treatment
In a residential treatment program, you will live at the treatment facility. This allows you to have 24-hour care and monitoring by our certified professionals while you attend therapy sessions to address any underlying issues surrounding your SUD.
Living at the facility also allows you to recover in a total drug and alcohol-free environment. The triggers of your outside daily life will be gone. Your day will be structured with therapy sessions and some free time to choose recreational activities.
We offer safe, effective, evidence-based care for all women and an opportunity to deal with their behavioral, emotional, and mental health needs. Of specific relevance to women, we have trauma-specific counseling. Many women become drug or alcohol dependent due to trauma earlier in their life.
Partial Day Program (PDP)
Partial Day treatment is also sometimes known as a partial hospitalization program. In this program, the person with the SUD still lives at home but goes to the treatment center up to 7 days a week. It focuses on the overall treatment of the individual and is meant to prevent or reduce in-patient hospitalization.
In this program, you will stay in the hospital no more than 20 hours per week, usually during the day. It is more intense than an outpatient program and is a good step-down from a residential program. In many cases, it is just as effective as residential treatment.
Many women hesitate to get treatment because they don’t want to, or can’t, be away from their home and children for an extended period. It is common for women to have an SUD because she started using due to her partner’s drug dependence. Therefore, it is very important for a woman to have a supportive, drug-free situation if PDP is going to work.
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Intensive outpatient treatment is a primary treatment program often recommended for people who don’t need detoxification or 24-hour supervision. As in the PDP, the woman in outpatient treatment needs to have a supportive network at home, socially, and at work.
Because she will be living at home and attending counseling sessions at the facility, many women find this less stressful financially and emotionally. In an IOP, the drug-dependent person will have counseling and therapy at the treatment facility 3 to 6 days a week, for about 3 to 5 hours per day.
IOP is also a good step-down level from residential treatment. It helps reinforce coping and relapse prevention strategies in real life. In addition to her therapy, IOP provides therapy and education in SUDs for family members as well. When the whole family is on the same page, long-term recovery has a better chance.
Therapies and Services Offered at New Directions
Psychodrama
This is the original form of group psychotherapy. It is an “experiential” type of therapy that allows those in treatment to explore issues through dramatic actions. This method includes role-playing and group dynamics to help achieve a perspective on emotional issues, conflicts, or other areas of difficulties.
In psychodrama therapy, an individual introduces a scene to the group. Members of the group are assigned to play the different roles, including people who express the different feelings that come up. The main character becomes aware that there was an unexpressed feeling at the original time of the event (when she was a child).
The scene gets reenacted and the feelings are finally expressed through role-playing. Finally, the scene is done again with different endings. The alternate endings will empower the main character or correct the scene in some way.
Holistic Care
Holistic healing is a type of care that considers the whole person—body, mind, and spirit. According to the holistic philosophy, you can have peak health by gaining a proper balance in life.
Practitioners believe that the whole person is made up of unified parts and if one part is not working correctly, all the other parts will be affected. A holistic therapist may use all forms of health care, from traditional medicine to alternative therapies to treat a client. Treatment involves finding and fixing the cause of the condition, not just relieving the symptoms.
Family Therapy
When one member of a family is affected by addiction, all members are affected. At New Directions, we believe family therapy is necessary to help mend broken relationships and ease hard feelings. All members of the family need to be educated about substance use disorder in order to understand what their family member is going through.
Family members also need to learn what they may have been doing to enable the drug-dependent family member. The home environment might be exactly the thing that caused the member to turn to substance use. The family needs to be prepared for the return of their loved one.
New Directions for Women and MHN
Managed Health Network sends its women with substance use disorder (SUD) to New Directions for Women for their treatment.
New Directions for Women holds a license in the state of California, to treat women with addiction and substance use disorders. Our team of experienced professionals uses the philosophies and standards that are put in place by the American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM). Our facility is accredited through ASAM and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). Our goal is to be as knowledgeable and experienced in the treatment field as possible, with the understanding that every woman is different in what her needs are.
New Directions for Women and MHN are available 24 hours a day to help you with any questions you have about your insurance options or health care coverage. Together, we partner to support and treat women suffering from addiction or substance use disorders. In addition, New Directions for Women is contracted with MHN for all levels of client care.
If you or a loved one is looking for addiction treatment services for women and you have a question about insurance or our services, please contact us. Our clinical staff consists of trained professionals with experience in helping women through difficult situations. We are waiting for you.
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