Gateway Foundation has been providing substance abuse assessment and treatment services for offenders since our first counselor stepped foot inside the Cook County Jail in 1970. In the decades to follow, we have honed our delivery of services and improved our treatment models to specifically address issues that are prevalent for clients involved in the criminal justice system.
Our treatment programming has always been designed to meet individualized needs, as identified through comprehensive psycho-social assessments and clinical interviews. From the treatment perspective, Gateway views assessment as a dynamic process, not an event, which ensures that clinicians not only evaluate clients during the admission process, but also at various points throughout the treatment episode. This ensures that the services we provide are targeted at the specific needs and risks identified at each point in time, which improves the efficacy of each intervention.
Gateway’s clinical assessments and evaluations include evidence-based, standardized instruments which allow us to quantify risks and needs. Our standard assessment instruments include the Addiction Severity Index, developed by Thomas A. McLellan, Ph.D., and an additional battery of assessments for criminal justice populations that were developed by Texas Christian University’s Institute of Behavioral Research. When coupled with our extensive clinical interview, Gateway counselors are able to use this information to make reliable assessments of an individual’s level of impairment due to alcohol, drugs and other life stressors. This information then guides clinical recommendations for the level of care deemed appropriate for each client.
For more information about Gateway’s use of the TCU assessments, click here.
Our experience within the treatment environment enabled us to perfect our overall assessment process for criminal justice populations, which in turn allowed us to implement it as a stand-alone product. Assessment services are provided at all outpatient locations, as well as through contracts with various departments of corrections and county jurisdictions.
Gateway provides additional assessments for clients admitted into contracted treatment programs within the MO DOC system as well.
