Important Info on Ending Mandated Therapy Sessions

NurseJackie69 · Jan 24

Most Consent Orders (NOT ALL, but MOST) will have something in there saying the Nurse must see a therapist certified in Addiction, or an Addictionologist or Addiction Provider, etc, etc and that provider has to send the BON a quarterly report. All of this varies SOME and is specific to each nurse, but in General, the above is common in most cases. Most consent orders will also say something to the effect that you have to see one of the above providers until they determine treatment is no longer warranted. In some cases, the consent order will say you need to see the Addiction Provider for your full time in monitoring, but this is NOT as common. What is MORE common is that the nurse has to see an addiction provider for the amount of time the addiction provider determines that the nurse doesn't need to see him or her any longer.

IMPORTANT. MAXIMUM THERAPEUTIC BENEFIT REACHED. Those words are important for nurses who are in the situation in which they don't necessarily have to see the addiction provider for their full time in monitoring, but only up until the point that the providers deems it necessary. Most nurses I have found ASSume. The Assume they HAVE TO see the addiction provider for their full duration of monitoring and do NOT fully read the words in their consent order. Most consent orders, not all, but over 50% actually do not require you to see an addictionologist for the duration IF the addiction provider deems that you have reach maximum therapeutic benefit.

Will the above apply to every nurse? Of course not. Some nurses will be mandated to see an addiction provider for their entire duration, but you would be surprised how many actually Do Not have to if they get that letter from the Addiction Provider, and you would be surprised by how many that have consent orders stating the Addiction Provider component is for the full term in monitoring, but nurses who attain Maximum Therapeutic Benefit get that letter and modify the consent order and the BON approves it. If you are sober for 2 years, in monitoring, no positive tests, active in recovery meetings, most nurses shouldn't need an Addiction Provider after 2 years. Some do and some will, but most don't, and in many of these cases, the Addiction Provider is literally taking your money after the first 2 or 2.5 years in which seeing them further is offering little to no benefit IF.......IF........IF.....that nurse is active in recovery meetings. If the nurse is not active in recovery meetings, then absolutely for sure, the nurse needs to be seeing that Provider for the duration.

Additionally, EVEN IF your consent order isn't clear or specific on the amount of time you need to see an Addiction Provider, or if your Consent Order clearly says you have to see one for the entire duration of monitoring, you can get a letter from the Addiction Provider/Therapist, etc that says you have reached maximum therapeutic benefit, then request to modify your consent order to take out the addiction provider requirements.

Obviously, it's up to the Therapist/Addiction Provider and their willingness to write that letter if they feel you are good to go. At the same time, Many Therapists/Addiction Providers equally ASSUME that you must see them for your entire duration of monitoring because the nurses doesn't know for sure if they have to. It's very important for your first meeting or early on in the process when you start seeing the Addiction Provider to let them know up front, "I will be honest with you and want to get help and will work hard, but I also will ask you to be honest with me and fair in treatment and when the time comes that I have reached a Maximum Therapeutic Benefit, that you write that letter for me and to the BON, and I hope with hard work I don't need to see you for 5 years." When you say something like that, it immediately lets the provider know Up Front that she/he and you at least have a timeline, an endpoint, a goal, and that you are not simply here for a full 5 year timeframe where the addiction provider takes your money for the last 3 years when you should have likely been able to be done with the addiction provider after the first 2 years.

Read your consent Orders and again, put an expectation on your Addiction Provider. Don't leave the amount of time you need to see them open or up in the air. Isn't it amazing how so many Addiction Providers AMAZINGLY determine that you no longer need to see them at Incredibly, the EXACT same time your monitoring program ends? LOL. It's not suppose to work like that as an Addiction Provider or any therapist. You are suppose to treat the patient until a maximum therapeutic benefit has been reached, and if nurses were more persistent on giving that reminder to the addiction provider, many (not all, but many) could save themselves thousands of dollars by being released early from the Addiction Provider Requirement that is in the consent order.