Top 20 Reasons
If you or someone you love struggles with addiction, substance abuse or emotional issues, we invite you to consider Brookhaven Retreat for Women as a source for comprehensive, effective solutions and treatment. While there are many reasons to choose Brookhaven, we’ve summarized the most important ones below. They will not only help you to understand our treatment philosophies and methodology, but they will also help you to see the higher standard of care we are committed to providing while rebuilding lives with hope, help and healing.
Please call us toll free at 877-817-3422 if you have any questions or to make a reservation.
Top 20 Reasons to Choose Brookhaven Retreat
1. Onsite Founder, Jacqueline Dawes
Jacqueline’s powerful and innovative vision and commitment inspires clients and keeps Brookhaven on the leading edge among rehabilitation facilities. Her story gives clients hope for healing and thriving in the future no matter what their present circumstances may be.
Why?
Jacqueline is always available and dedicated to maintaining the finest residential treatment program in the world with the finest therapists to be found anywhere. Jacqueline lost her only daughter due to an Ecstasy reaction and her world crashed. One year later her husband left and she began to unravel as well. Through this difficult time, she lapsed into excessive use of alcohol to cope and tried many treatment facilities herself; so she has experienced the brokenness and hopelessness many of Brookhaven’s clients arrive with. But she came back. She found a new beginning in Tennessee, and Brookhaven is a powerful testimony to the good that can come out of pain, the strength that comes from having been broken.
2. Certified Dual Diagnosis Facility
Brookhaven retreat offers professional care and treatment for not only addictive issues but also those who suffer from mood, depressive trauma, emotional and/or other mental health conditions. We have discovered that many times these conditions can manifest themselves in behavioral issues and must be recognized in order for a correct diagnosis to occur.
Why?
A person’s psychological and/or emotional condition is largely responsible for their addiction and/or alcoholism. Traumatic memories, self-condemnation and/or mental health issues can be overwhelming and contribute to chronic self-medication. Because of the severity of the root problem, clients may have covered it over with layers of forgetfulness. These memories can then disturb them on a conscious and/or subconscious level causing the drug or alcohol abuse or other addictive behaviors such as shopping, gambling, sexual activities, and others to manage the pain. They may be unable to cope with marriage, work, relationships, the death of a loved one, financial burdens, illness, insecurity or physical impairment. Until someone can assist them with discovering the hidden pain or trauma and formulate a treatment program to heal those areas, it is most likely that the addictive behaviors will continue in order to self-medicate the underlying condition. Having private, one-on-one sessions with Brookhaven’s clinical staff allows our clients to identify these areas and to heal them.
3. Female-Only Facility
Women with emotional dysfunction often can’t feel love, safety or confidence, and so they rarely experience meaningful relationships with others. Such women go through the motions society requires for being “normal,” yet never feel complete.
Instead they typically feel empty and alone, which causes them to continue their current behaviors, prolonging the cycle. At Brookhaven, surrounded by other women who understand and share a similar journey, they more easily open up and begin to develop healthier behaviors and relationships.
Why?
Women feel a sense of comfort and safety, and are nurtured when in a surrounding of other women going through similar situations. It enhances their ability to feel they are understood within the community and to feel accepted without judgment, insecurity or shame.
4. Individualized Treatment Programs
There are no “one size fits all” programs at Brookhaven. Every woman who comes here has a treatment program designed specifically for her needs and circumstances.
Why?
There are extraordinary differences in those who suffer with mental health problems, emotional issues and addiction or addictive and unhealthy behaviors. Each client has a unique family and environmental history, unique living condition, social background and set of personal experiences. A “one size fits all” approach, in our experience, simply does not work. Furthermore, we understand that the medical ailments that contribute to addiction and/or alcoholism are diverse and require specific assessment and treatment to address each individual’s disorder. At Brookhaven, members of our treatment team meet individually with each client, and then the entire treatment team meets to design a specific program for her to follow.
5. Equine Therapy
We have four Tennessee Walking horses on location on the 48-acre grounds at Brookhaven. Even when they are not in therapy with the horses, many clients love to walk down to the fields and commune with the horses, sometimes even feeding them nourishing tidbits.
Why?
Horses don’t judge people, they love unconditionally and have an uncanny ability to connect with those who are hurting. This powerful combination enables some clients to feel loved when they had felt unlovable. The gentle therapeutic nature of these trained horses empowers clients to be able to realize a peaceful relationship with themselves.
6. Spiritual Counseling
Spiritual counseling is not religious counseling but has to do with the heart and spirit. This often neglected aspect of a healthy and balanced life is revealed, restored and respected at Brookhaven.
Why?
We are all spiritual creatures and for each of us there is a plan and a purpose. Discovering your individual purpose and plan can be the most delightful and important discovery you will ever make.
7. Body Work
Brookhaven offers assistance with reflexology, acupuncture, massage, salon and spa therapy on and off-site. These body work therapies often facilitate the relief of physical pain that can develop due to depression and emotional stress, and clear fatty tissues and muscle tissues of toxins that have been left behind from alcoholism or drug use.
Why?
Drugs and alcohol flow through the bloodstream leaving behind unhealthy substances that are stored in muscle and fatty tissues. In addition to this, muscles have memory that can hold onto trauma and later cause physical pain or even relapse. For successful treatment it is essential to obtain release from past trauma and from toxins stored in the body as well as the mind and emotions. At Brookhaven we use ancient and modern techniques to stimulate the three hundred sixty-one tsubos (pressure points) along the body’s fourteen meridians (nerve pathways or channels through which the body’s energy flows) to bring relief to our clients, improve circulation to the organs, balance energy, relieve tension, release stored toxin from the cells, and improve all bodily functions.
8. One-on-One Therapy
At Brookhaven our program includes one-on-one therapy with professionals that are among the finest in the world of substance abuse, mental health, and emotional treatment.
Why?
With the assurance of privacy, emotional safety and confidentiality, a professional therapist can enable a client to finally be able to face and discuss her innermost fears, painful memories and experiences. This emotionally intensive care enables the healing process to begin and progress to full recovery.
9. Physical Fitness Program
Our physical fitness program includes Pilates training, yoga, weight training, cardiovascular training, hiking, core exercises, biking, and stretching.
Why?
Good physical condition is essential to good health. Most of those who suffer from substance abuse, addiction, mental health and emotional stresses have let themselves deteriorate physically as well. It builds confidence to begin to feel strong again, and it is a great self-esteem booster, too.
10. Limited Enrollment
We accept only a limited number of women into our program at any one time.
Why?
It’s easy to get lost in a crowd. In programs where there are sixty, seventy, eighty, or sometimes even a hundred other clients, individual treatment and the sense of camaraderie found at Brookhaven is not possible. Here, every client is always important, always the focus of our attention. No one can “slip through the cracks”, or go unnoticed. At Brookhaven, you as a client get our full attention, and you will get what you came for: individual treatment. Brookhaven provides the finest, most comprehensive and sophisticated treatment available to women anywhere in the world.
11. The Treatment Facility
Brookhaven’s facility is nestled on a naturally beautiful 48-acre secluded campus in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. The grounds are superbly landscaped, which adds to the serene and peaceful surroundings. Our clients attest to the healing power of the environment and facilities at Brookhaven.
Why?
Being in a serene and peaceful environment, where individual dignity is maintained, and where clients feel safe, peaceful and content is an important component of the healing process. Natural beauty has a power of its own to help restore balance to broken lives.
12. The Treatment Team Approach
Each day, six different therapists, our psychiatrist, Registered Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and Close Care Providers work with each client, one-on-one. Each day, all of the treatment staff members meet to discuss each client’s progress and to plan each client’s program to best fit their immediate needs, and promote their long term recovery.
Why?
There is a tremendous benefit in having different therapists and clinicians each of whom have worked with you once or twice throughout the week, one-on-one, pool their experiences and discuss how they can best help you achieve permanent success and happiness.
13. Gourmet Cooking
Healthful, nutritious, meticulously prepared meals by our chefs are a delightful part of the Brookhaven experience.
Why?
Three times a day there’s a wonderful break when everyone sits down to superb meals lovingly prepared and delightfully presented. Each client is surveyed for any favorite foods that can be prepared for them, or for any special dietary restrictions. Brookhaven has a dietitian on staff to assist with any patient needs. The meals are hearty, diverse, and plentiful, because food and its careful preparation does make a difference.
14. Our Belief About Addiction, Substance Abuse, Emotional and Mental Health Treatment
Throughout the entire addiction industry, there is widespread belief that addiction and alcoholism are diseases in and of themselves, isolated from outside or more complicating causes. That belief results in the treatment of the effects of addiction and alcoholism rather than in the treatment of their root causes. We believe that addiction and substance abuse are not diseases in themselves but are often symptoms, caused by diverse ailments of the mind and body. In order to stop the feelings of emptiness and worthlessness, some women turn to addictive activities to make the painful feelings go away. Addictive behaviors are diverse and may include shopping, working, exercising, gambling, alcohol abuse, prescription drugs, recreational drugs, chat rooms, video games, eating or sexual activity.
None of these can fill the void and instead act to destroy mental, physical and emotional health even further. During the addiction a woman cannot typically see or feel the consequences of her actions, but she does know she wants it to stop. However, women rarely ask for help because of the pervasive feelings of shame and a mistaken belief that they should be able to stop on their own.
The shadow of addiction and substance abuse is dark and threatening, but when faced with care and compassion, we can discover and heal these ailments. We see the basis for our belief proven every week at Brookhaven when healing comes from loving oneself, and accepting and resolving issues physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally.
15. On-Site Detox
We provide on-site detox with medical supervision and twenty-four hour one-on-one nursing care. The psychiatrist who oversees our detox procedure is our Medical Director who is a Board Certified General Psychiatrist, with a 25-year background in therapy.
Why?
Addiction and alcoholism disappear as a result of their causes being healed, but detoxification must occur before treatment of the underlying causes can begin. If the causes remain undiscovered and untreated, substance abuse will almost certainly continue. That is the heart of it. Our psychiatrist is also going to approach treatment from a therapeutic perspective and gather a thorough background history to provide each client with the most accurate diagnosis and care.
16. On-Site Nurse
Nursing staff on premises twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Why?
The clients who come to Brookhaven are seeking help and safety. To insure the safety of every client, we provide continual nursing care with nurses who are trained in our field of work. At Brookhaven you and your loved one(s) are in good, caring, expert hands.
17. No demeaning chores like scrubbing floors or washing toilets
These and similar activities are often demanded from other treatment facilities under the guise of “therapy” but you will never find them at Brookhaven.
Why?
We believe it is demeaning to require a person who is ill and seeking treatment to wash our floors and scrub our toilets as one is asked to do at most treatment centers. At Brookhaven each client is treated with the utmost respect and dignity. We would no more ask a client to do basic housekeeping work than a medical hospital would ask a heart patient to do so. A broken woman who is seeking treatment has a self-image that is already tarnished. One of our tasks is to rebuild a healthy self-image in those who come to us for help. Requiring a client to scrub a floor or wash a toilet only reinforces the belief that she has done something “bad” for which punishment is required. At Brookhaven, our goal is to discover the malady, heal it, and return the client to a purposeful and productive life.
18. The magical part
There is a quality about Brookhaven that words cannot adequately capture. Nearly everyone who comes to Brookhaven comments that the actual experience of being here far surpasses anything they imagined from looking at our website or from their initial conversations with us. Words like serene, beautiful, and peaceful are often used. After you have been at Brookhaven a few days, you will most likely say what most everyone says, “This is the best thing I ever did for myself. I love it here. This is the right place for me.” When a new client walks in the door of Brookhaven, the ladies who are already here welcome them and assure them they made the right choice. No one wants to be struggling through life. When they are healed, they are always grateful for the care and friendships they have built here.
19. Family Therapy
Involving a patient’s family members and friends in the treatment process is crucial to recovery. This also allows the family members to learn about the process of recovery and how each person plays a different role in the client’s life.
Why?
Each woman is redefining herself as she becomes strong and independent while at Brookhaven. It is necessary to help families understand and appreciate the process of treatment and continued recovery. Family therapy allows each client to work through past issues with family members while still in Brookhaven’s safe and nurturing environment.
20. Continuing Care Program
Every client who graduates from our treatment program receives continuing care after she leaves Brookhaven.
Why?
A Continuing Care Program is just that: a program that continues the excellent care that began at Brookhaven. The program actually begins as soon as a client arrives and continues every week until departure. The focus of our treatment is a successful and sustainable new beginning. As such, throughout the client’s treatment, we are looking for ways to provide care and support after the client leaves. Assistance is hand-tailored to suit the client’s needs when they return home. For example, if they need a sobriety coach, we’ll find one. If they need a sober living environment, we’ll also find that. If they need to enroll in a gym, we’ll set it up. We become thoroughly familiar with each client. If they previously worked with a therapist and want to continue with that person, we will make contact and give the therapist any recommendations we may have that will assist in the client’s continuing care program. If she needs therapy and does not have a previous therapist, we will locate one in the desired therapy field and arrange for an appointment when she returns home. We will also brief the therapist in the areas of importance.
We also have a group of recovery coaches and spiritual counselors who provide phone sessions to work on any potential triggers that may arise after returning home and who will assist clients in achieving any goals they have now that they are sober and more highly functional. For clients with busy schedules, these phone sessions are convenient and highly effective.
In the final session before leaving, we go over the client’s individual Continuing Care Packet. In this packet, each therapist inserts his or her personal recommendations and goals for when recovery continues at home. All appointments, addresses and contact information for your Continuing Care therapists and the Continuing Care personnel are also included in this packet.
This level of care and concern for graduates cannot be found anywhere else in the world. We strive to ensure that you receive the finest care available when you are no longer at Brookhaven, and our clients tell us they feel as if they will always be a part of us.
To Put Clients At Ease
While you are a client, we invite you to use our telephones. You may also bring your favorite music, books and other things you normally use when at home. We have discovered that restricting telephone use or visits from family or friends only causes unnecessary stress and anxiety. As much as possible, your normal life should continue when you come into treatment. We will weave our treatment program into your life so you will not experience any stress from being out of contact with loved ones or business needs while you are here. That permits you to achieve maximum effectiveness from the program. The added benefit is that when you leave Brookhaven you should not experience any “return shock”, but instead have a smooth transition.
We have many other therapists and program components that can be viewed on our website such as a program overview, and client testimonials. I invite you to call us, toll free, (877) 817-3422, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year to talk about how we can help you. Feel free to email us as well at .
From the entire treatment team and staff of Brookhaven, we wish you good fortune in pursuing the goal of returning to radiant health.
Jacqueline Dawes
Founder, Brookhaven