When you first come to Serenity Therapeutic Centre, time will be taken to get to know you, your child/adolescent, and/or the family, exploring your strengths and areas you would like to improve. We do this by conducting evaluations which take the form of interviews (with all relevant persons), observations (e.g., of caregiver and the child, or the child at school if necessary), and a brief medical examination. You may also be asked to conduct investigations if the doctor deems it necessary. The initial assessment can be 2-4 sessions long, and you may be asked to invite other family members or persons close to you, to facilitate a comprehensive evaluation. The treatment plan will be unique to you and informed by you. You may also be offered books and other activities to use between sessions to enhance your treatment. Most treatment plans are time-sensitive, meaning they end after you have mastered the skills you need. However, follow-up sessions are offered when needed. The services offered include psychiatric medication management, parent management training, and individual psychotherapy including trauma-based interventions and sandtray therapy.
If the psychiatrist deems that you need services that Serenity Therapeutic Centre does not offer, you will be given information on other places to seek that care.
Once a person expresses interest in coming to Serenity Therapeutic Centre or is referred by a provider, they are asked to complete intake forms. For a child or adolescent, the legal guardians will be provided with an intake form for them to complete as well as forms for a teacher to complete if the child/adolescent attends a school. The intake forms contain general information that would aid in the evaluation. They would also help to determine how urgently the client needs to be seen and whether Serenity Therapeutic Centre would suit the client’s needs. When a form is submitted, the information is stored in a secure location and kept confidential. Serenity Therapeutic Centre staff will then contact the client to arrange an appointment.
The psychotherapy appointments will start with 5- 10 minutes of relaxation to help clients to mentally adjust to the change in pace and connect with their bodies, thoughts, and feelings. The sessions will be 60 minutes long and may sometimes be 1.5 hours. There will be a 10-minute warning before the end of the session.
Structure is important to all of us, in every aspect of our lives. When we are expecting an event to start and end at a particular time, we can become restless when it does not. The uncertainty seems to destabilize us. Therefore, being on time is not only important for clients, but also for Serenity Therapeutic Centre staff, who strive to perform at their optimum level for each patient, respect every client’s time, and try to see persons as close to the time they ask for help as possible.
You are therefore asked to:
The following is also strictly implemented for Serenity Therapeutic staff and our clients:
The exceptions to these rules above are emergencies (e.g., personal or close family emergencies that need to be attended to, hospitalizations, or court orders).
Serenity Therapeutic Centre staff will only be available via telephone outside of normal working hours (8:30 AM – 4 PM) at a cost of $100 per 15 minutes. Clients are encouraged to use the 203 hotline or go to the nearest emergency room if in crisis.
To ensure safe use of medications, Serenity Therapeutic Centre staff will not renew prescriptions without a follow-up appointment.