At OPI, Young Adults become part of a committed NEW peer group---a supportive family of friends who help each other confront the distractions and temptations that exist for all of us in the real world while taking advantage of all the exciting opportunities available there.
Ultimately, OPI is about balance and helping our Participants learn to experience success as well as joy and fulfillment in their lives.
They develop more skillful ways to communicate and deal with anxiety.
They develop the strength and internal fortitude needed to take a chance and set a goal and direction for themselves.
They learn to define how they are going to earn a living, find supportive relationships and improve communication with family and loved ones.
THREE MONTH INCREMENTS
OPI’s fee structure is based on a quarterly billing system. Participants sign up for three months, then continue their stay for additional three-month periods with mutual consent from Parents/sponsors and OPI. Or, they may move to Aftercare (billed in 2-month segments) or to our Outpatient Services Program. (The Outpatient Program provides a menu of services with different payment options). They also may move on to complete goals set at OPI.
OPI does not accept insurance. However, OPI is accredited by JCAHO which may assist parents in obtaining some reimbursement from their insurance carriers.
OPI’S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES
OPI is unique because we put together boutique educational and/or vocational packages utilizing many different resources and educational opportunities that exist in our metropolitan area.
This department is a “therapeutic bridge” helping to re-engage Participants in the learning process. Our Participants’ educational success if our #1 Goal.
Upon entering OPI, each Participant meets with Staff to review past transcripts and decide future educational and/or vocational goals.
Young adults can get a high school diploma or a GED or enter the workforce while participating in OPI counseling programs designed to help them internalize a sense of commitment to long term goals, maintain their focus and cultivate the skills necessary to integrate back into the complexity of a Metropolitan environment.
Our Educational Team establishes the trust and support Participants need to be able to choose and create these individualized plans their educational growth. These plans may include sub-specialized educational counseling, SAT and GED Prep with the goal of helping them to re-acclimate to the classroom environment, assisting them to complete degrees already in progress.
We help them learn to develop and maintain study skills and the ability to organize time and schedules.
We teach Participants how to create study guides and to follow scheduled study hours so they can perform academically as independent students.
We help them with homework assignments.
Participants can take classes at near-by Pierce College, California State University, Northridge; Moorpark College, Antioch College, Cal Lutheran, UCLA, Santa Monica City College, the Los Angeles Film School, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and more.
A variety of other educational opportunities also exist at The Sound and Audio Engineering Institute (SAE), Musician’s Institute, the West Valley Occupational Center and the Westlake Culinary Institute.
Participants can take classes at UCLA Extension that are transferrable, without having to meet admission criteria for the University-at-large. Sometimes, being on an exciting large campus is helpful as a therapeutic bridge to help re-engage Participants in the educational process.
We also utilize weekend courses, seminars and lectures through institutes such as the Hollywood Film Institute or the Kavali Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara.
We facilitate the use of specialized tutoring services when necessary and utilize learning centers in close proximity to the Institute.
Participants can go to the West Valley Occupational Center and be certified in fields ranging from Child Care Worker to Automotive Repair.
DEPARTMENT OF CAREER, VOLUNTEER AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
Here, our Young Adults ask “What type of work can I do that would meet my goals and be fun to do?”
OPI Participants receive support in all phases of job procurement including resume creation, cover letter exercises and mock interview experiences, to name a few. They learn the value of networking, transferable skills and job search techniques.
Procuring a job is one more way our Participants learn the value of building an internal sense of discipline and of persevering during difficult times.
We help Participants search for jobs in the local area. Our Young Adults are employed in everything from retail, service jobs and administrative to education and film and more.
At OPI, we see volunteering as an opportunity to build and develop skills and interests. Through volunteering, Participants learn skills such as resume writing and social skills. They make friends and develop relationships in the local community.
Volunteer or internship activities can serve as a bridge to paying careers i.e. volunteering on a film set or volunteering at a Home for the Aged that can lead to certification and eventual employment in that field.
Our Participants have had internships in such industry-related fields as the music and film fields, talent agencies, marketing, computers, graphic design, social media and mobile electronics.
DEPARTMENT OF EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Here is where Participants sign up to have fun, share exciting recreational opportunities and start building healthy and supportive peer networks.
OPI WEEKENDS ARE FILLED WITH A MYRIAD OF ACITIVITES, BOTH PHYSICAL AND NON-PHYSICAL, including basketball, surfing, swimming, bowling, bouldering, hiking, paintballing, working out with a personal trainer, Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Tai Kwon Do, Mixed martial arts and much more.
Our Participants can experience the meditative arts or take guitar or Japanese Koto lessons or sign up for classes at Playhouse West plus much more.
On Fridays OPI takes all Participants out for a dinner-on-the-town
Some activities are mandatory including a weekly cooking class and Music and Emotions Class.
Two outings a month are scheduled “just for the girls”: These range from “Chick Flick Night” to a Mani/Pedi night or dinner and a movie.
CUSTOMIZED ADVENTURE TRAVEL TRIPS
We believe that, through Travel, Participants learn that life is a continuous journey where people can seek excitement in healthy and stimulating ways. (SEE “WHAT OPI PROVIDES”)
So far, Participants have traveled to Kenya, Turkey, Greece, the Galapagos Islands and South America (these trips are at a cost that is additional to the program).
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY
OPI Participants work with our individual psychotherapists and psychiatrists.
By having the opportunity to explore and understand their internal thinking processes and feelings, our Participants learn to use these insights to achieve the real life objectives they set for themselves here. This process helps them:
Maintain their commitment to long term goals;
Keep their focus and maintain optimism and fortitude;
Learn to grow from the mistakes they inevitably make.
We integrate evidence-based psychotherapies into our therapeutic repertory including Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and Mentalization Techniques.
Professionals from McLean Hospital/Harvard University and UCLA have trained our staff at OPI.
GROUP PSYCHOTHERAPY
We believe that an important way for Participants to improve personal growth and achieve greater communication and life skills is by peers helping peers.
We facilitate this experience by having numerous dynamically-oriented psychotherapy groups and groups where Gestalt-oriented principals are used such as our In-Vivo Group where Participants improve social and communication skills through role-playing.
The dynamics that occur when people live together in many ways mirror the dynamics that occur within family conflicts. We hold Milieu meetings so Participants can discuss issues unique to their living environment and issues related to their abilities to share space and responsibilities with others.
We have an In Vivo or Social Skills groups so Participants can explore their unique developmental and social skills issues. Techniques such as role playing and behavioral rehearsals are utilized.
We have a women’s group, a Music and Emotions group as well as many groups that focus on addiction issues such as computer addiction.
LIFE COACHING
Here, Participants can receive one-to-one support and attention to help them define and work toward their goals.
Life coaching provides greater individualized support to Participants crossing developmental and cognitive thresholds.
Staff helps Participants define and work toward goals, creating small action steps that are accomplished and measured through a system of accountability.
In addition, Participants are in 24/7 contact with our Administration and Independent Living Specialists who meet weekly to review their progress.
THE OPI ADDICTIONS PROGRAM
What distinguishes OPI is that we want each Participant to truly appreciate and embrace sobriety and acknowledge that maintaining sobriety is an essential part of their personal growth as they begin to move forward toward meeting their educational, professional as well as personal and recreational goals.
We provide an environment in which our Participants support each other whether the issues are chemical dependency, overwhelming anxiety or more unique and complex situations such as Asperger’s Syndrome.
Participants struggling with Chemical Dependency meet with our Director to devise an individual plan that will foster sobriety. This is done through many formats but most important is the active commitment of the Participant to create a set of patterns and support that will allow him/her to meet their commitment to continued sobriety.
We find that there are many young people who, for many reasons, are unable to embrace the 12-step philosophy.
Participants who choose not to engage in the 12-step process take advantage of the in-house addictions groups conducted by our staff.
However, traditional community-based 12-step meetings have always been powerful tools for those in our Chemical Dependency Arm. Participants are driven to a multitude of community-based 12-step meetings that address everything from alcohol/drug abuse to eating disorders.
Participants in our CD Program meet with our addictions counselors and staff in individual sessions and in in-house addiction groups including a computer addictions group are held.
The myriad of activities at OPI also serve to help Participants in CD Services discover their personal passions. They participate in everything from boxing and Martial Arts to music, dance, art and volunteer opportunities.
Special weekly social events that serve to verify that fun can be had without the use of drugs or alcohol are held for our CD Participants
Participants in the CD Program receive random urine drug testing.
OPI isn’t suitable for those young adults who have used intravenous heroin or other opiates or who are in Stage 4 substance abuse characterized by escalating use of alcohol, drugs or “hard drugs” accompanied by deteriorating physical condition and inability to control use.
OPI AFTERCARE
OPI offers a continuum of care through its AfterCare Program.
Here, participants have access to our supportive community long after the more structured and supervised portions of the program are over. They continue to have access to all OPI activities and services.
In AfterCare, Participants are still part of our program but they are more independent, living in their own apartment nearby.
They continue to have ongoing access to, and supervision from, all OPI staff and therapists. They attend OPI groups and individual psychotherapy sessions, activities and outings, can access our transportation services, our psychotherapeutic services, medication management Services and Life Coaching.
Some Participants choose not to participate in our AfterCare Program and move on to other destinations.
Some continue to live close-by, engaging in Outpatient Therapy and maintaining supportive relationships with OPI staff and peers. They often serving as peer mentors for Young Adults just joining OPI.
BASICIALLY, WE BELIEVE IN FAMILY
OPI Participants develop the strength and internal fortitude to take a chance and establish a goal and direction for themselves by exploring opportunities to redefine how they are going to earn a living, support themselves, find loving and supportive relationships among peers and colleagues and improve communication with family and loved ones.
By integrating into our OPI family, Participants revisit their understanding of their own family.
As a result, OPI families re-establish that bridge of communication they used to have with each other that allows for greater acceptance as well as tolerance and clarification of differences and shared values.
OPI therapists are our case managers. They are in communication with families on a regular basis at a frequency that is collaboratively determined by them. Many families choose weekly communication with the therapist/case managers.
