Beachway Therapy Center Overview of Services

The therapists at Beachway Therapy Center have a caseload of four to eight clients. Beachway Therapy Center only accepts 24 clients at a time. This allows Beachway Therapy Center to provide unsurpassed individual attention. Beachway Therapy Center specifically designs each client’s treatment plan to meet his or her individual needs.

Beachway Therapy Center believes in going beyond the minimum care standard set forth by most other treatment centers and the State of Florida.

The Doctors, therapist and other specialists at Beachway Therapy Center believe that providing more than one individual therapy session is the best way to help clients enrolled in our program. By giving the client multiple therapy sessions on an as needed bases the client is better equipped to deal with the underlying issues that desperately need to be addressed and dealt with. By offering as needed individual therapy sessions, minimum of once a week, a therapist is able to truly identify the core problems and provide the client with the time needed to effectively handle and move past the issues.

Download the daily schedule

Clinical Staff / Medical Services

Denis Holmes – CEO

Dr. Mark Willner – Medical Director

Dr. Craig Vrablic, PhD, MSN, ARNP-BC – Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner & Clinical Sexologist

Dr. Eric Leon – Chiropractor

Dan Schimmel, LCSW, CAP - Clinical Director

William Shlifer, MSW CAP – Lead Therapist

Tammy Kapadia Espinosa, MSW – Primary Therapist

Steven Sachs, CAC, CASAC NY – Primary Therapist

Paul Henry, MSW, – Primary Therapist, Christian Program Facilitator

Brian Esposito, CAC Intern – Primary Counselor - Group Facilitator

Megan Teutsch – Licensed Art Therapist, BA Psychology and Art History

Mike Ferri – Psychodrama Facilitator

Olivia Holmes, BA Psychology – Director of Human Resources

Stephen Howley – Admissions Director

Zanna Howley – Outreach Director 

Educational Group Section:

Each day the facility provides addiction education groups which cover a wide variety of subjects such as:

• The Disease Concept:  Addresses the disease of addiction and how it affects the body, mind and spirit of a client.

• Relapse Prevention:  Teaches a client about the triggers and signs that are common in relapsing and what to do to prevent personal relapse upon conclusion of treatment.

• Family Dynamics:  The affects of addiction on the family are addressed and highlights the role of addiction in the clients family unit.

• 12-Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous:  Provides the client with an introduction to 12-steps and highlights the importance of sponsorship.

• Processing Feelings and Emotions:  The client is provided with the skills to recognize feelings and emotions and how to effectively act upon impulse and spontaneity. 

• Grief and Loss:  Many clients have lost someone or something important to them.  The loss could be instrumental in the life and addiction of a client and needs to be handled accordingly.  Beachway Therapy Center teaches a client about the grief process and what is  to be experienced.

• Codependency: Clients learn that behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that go beyond normal kinds of self-sacrifice and care taking can lead back to using. Clients learn how to gain independence from these behaviors.

• Relationships: Clients learn how to set healthy boundaries and build and strengthen relationships that have been damaged by their addiction.

• Self-Esteem:  While in treatment a client is taught about self-esteem and given the skills and tools needed to build a positive and stronger sense of self-esteem. The client is also provided with the chance to learn about helping others build self-esteem, which can be beneficial throughout life.

• Gender Groups: Beachway Therapy Center’s therapist recognize that men and women recover differently and the need for gender specific groups. Weekly men and women meet separately to discuss issues related to them and their recovery.

• Caseload Therapeutic Process Groups: Clients will have the opportunity to meet in small groups with their individual therapist to discuss issues that may require intensive therapy or a group perspective. Clients find it refreshing to have a place to open up and share their lives for the first time in a small group setting.

• Equine Therapy: For over 40 years horses have been recognized and extensively used in Europe for their therapeutic value in helping to improve cognitive, physical, emotional, social, and behavioral skills. Equine therapy is a combination of many horse related activities. Horses are responsive animals with awareness and sensitivity to their surroundings and to people. They are large and powerful and create an environment to overcome fear. Horses are considered a valuable partner in physical and emotional healing to develop confidence.

• Music Therapy: Music Therapy has been shown to have significant effect on an individual’s relaxation, respiration rate, self reported pain reduction, and behaviorally observed and self-reported anxiety levels.

• Art Therapy: Art Therapy is the therapeutic use of art making, within a professional relationship, by people who experience illness, trauma, or challenges in living, and by people who seek personal development. Through creating art and reflecting on the art products and processes, people can increase awareness of self and others enjoy the life-affirming pleasure of making art.

• Psychodrama Therapy: The engine that moves the process of psychodrama is CREATIVITY, which, according to Moreno, is fueled by SPONTANEITY. Creative acts generate changes; produces results, new products, and new ways of doing things. So, what is Psychodrama? As a therapy method it is client-centered. It explores client’s interpersonal and trans-personal relationships. It involves a person on emotional / affective, intuitive, behavioral and cognitive levels. It targets beliefs, feelings, actions and social context integration. As a philosophy it teaches us to see ourselves as instruments of creativity.

Specialty Series

Our specialty series is a therapist recommended program for clients who have specific issues and or dual diagnoses. The specialty series gives the therapist and the client time to address specific issues in more depth. The small group format of this series allows the client to share more openly and not be intimidated. This format also allows the group to discover that they are not alone in their challenges. They are able to share their experiences and gain strength from each other. Each specialty series runs for two weeks. This gives the client time to work on these specific issues while simultaneously addressing their alcoholism and / or addiction. Our ability to provide these specific services vastly improves our clients mental health and strengthens their recovery process.

• Grief and Loss
• PTSD
• Sexual Abuse
• Depression and Anxiety

Christian Drug Treatment Program Overview

Relationship with God:  A client is taught about the love and forgiveness that comes from having a relationship with God and that personal healing begins through God and not self.

Prayer:  A client is provided with the chance to pray with others, taught how to pray and encouraged to commune daily with others for prayer.

Meditation:  A client is taught the differences between prayer and meditation.  The focus of prayer is to speak to God, while meditating the client focuses on listening to God speaking to them.

Bible Study:  Bible study is focused on helping the client and teaching how beneficial scriptural reading and meditation can be.  The word of God can help a client resist the temptation and allure of drugs and alcohol and help the client break the cycle of addiction. 

12 Steps:  Through integration of the 12 steps and the Life Recovery Bible clients learn how to live a God-centered life without the use of drugs and alcohol.

Phase II “The Next Right Step”

During the second phase of our program clients are offered Life Skills education, training and assistance in a sober structured environment. Clients also continue their weekly individual therapy seasons and attend three relapse prevention groups per week. Clients are provided with transportation to and from therapy, weekly food allowance, housing, and gym memberships.

Beachway Therapy Centers Phase II program allows our clients to make “The Next Right Step”. They are provided continuing care in a structured sober environment. They are guided in making the correct decisions to ensure lifelong sobriety. 

Resume Building:  The client is taught how to format a professional resume, learns to identify strengths as a potential employee.

Job Coaching:  Beachway Therapy Center helps the client learn how to find a job and hone interview skills.  The client also receives workplace development though one-on-one attention from an employment coach.

Interview Skills:  The client is taught about potential interview questions and how to answer interview questions in a polite and effective manner, as well as how to appropriately dress for an interview, all of which combine to enhance the chances of the client securing a job.

Financial Budgeting:  The client is taught money management skills.  Home inspections are done regularly each night and in the morning and are designed to teach the client about the responsibilities and cleanliness needed in a home environment.

Weekly Food Card:  The client is provided with the opportunity to go shopping for healthy food and learn how to effectively shop for groceries on a weekly basis. 

Outside Meetings, Support Groups and Other Functions

Daily 12-Step Meetings:  Clients are invited to attend daily 12-step meetings, encouraged and required to find a supportive and motivational sponsor.

Support Groups:  A client is encouraged to obtain telephone numbers from other members of the recovery program and begin contacting others to build a support network.

Monitored Community Events:  Clients are taught how to have fun in recovery, without using drugs or alcohol.  Clients attend snorkeling trips, fishing expeditions, Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous events, bowling, dinners, conferences, beach outings and picnics.

Volunteer Opportunities:  Beachway Therapy Center works hard at teaching clients the importance of humility and selflessness, giving back to the community through volunteer activities provides clients with the chance to feel better about themselves and to give back to others and society. 

Aftercare Plan Section

Each client receives a therapist-designed aftercare plan once the outcome of treatment has been decided.  The treatment plan will only be formulated after it has been decided if the client is to return home or remain locally once treatment at Beachway Therapy Center has been concluded.

Every month, the client will be contacted by a case manager who will inquire as to how the client is adjusting to life outside of the treatment program, address any concerns and answer any questions a person might have. 

Each client who remains locally after treatment will be relocated into an approved sober living environment.

A client that decides against staying locally after treatment is encouraged to continue aftercare in the area in which they live.  A therapist will work with the client to set up a continued care plan prior to completing treatment.