Glossary of Terms

Listed below are some terms and definitions to help parents navigate through the NorthStar advanced recovery addition therapy system.

12-Step Workshops
While in the NorthStar advanced recovery program, students attend a series of experiential workshops on the 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. The purpose of the workshops is to help students understand the steps and gain self-awareness. Most substance abuse program address the steps through worksheets, but we have found this is not an effective method with our students.

Academic Advisor
Faculty person assigned to each student upon entry into the program who provides advising to assist students making decisions about high school completion, college entrance, learning disabilities and managing academic schedules.

Academic Assessment
Both paper and pencil and essay self-reporting assignments that allow academic advisors to determine a student's learning history, awareness of any disability, and levels of motivation around present and future education.

Achievement
This is one of the steps on the Incentive Program. Students who are on this step will have been at NorthStar aftercare recovery program for a minimum of three months. They will have worked their way up from the Commitment step and will now be able to earn privileges such as Paid Time Off (PTO) from program responsibilities for good behavior. The student must maintain a certain level of integrity and performance to remain on this step.

Activities Committee
The Activities committee coordinates and hosts student weekend activities.

Advancement
When students complete the first year of the NorthStar drug and alcohol recovery program, they have an advancement ceremony in which they celebrate their accomplishments with the NorthStar community and their family. When students are ready to complete the first phase of the program (6 months), they attend an advancement workshop in which they review what skills and insights they have gained during Phase I and how they will use these in Phase II.

Alumni Services
NorthStar provides life coaching by the Academic Staff for students who complete the program in good standing and would benefit from further encouragement and strategy development focusing on their academic and career goals. This service, provided as a series of weekly phone meetings, allows the student to continue receiving coaching in support of goals developed at NorthStar. Students can utilize this service whether they stay in Bend or move to other destination communities after advancement. Contact the Academic Resource Center for more information.

ARC
This is the Academic Resource Center located in downtown Bend where students attend classes on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and have academic advising.

Breathalyzer
Breathalyzer tests are given to students for a late curfew, any suspicion of use and on a random basis.

Budget Review
On Monday night, students document how much money they spent out of their stipend this past week by looking through the receipts they kept from their purchases, totaling the receipts and the remaining cash to reconcile the amount of their last stipend. Once they submit this to their Case Manager, they are eligible for a stipend for the current week. The purpose of Budget Review is to help students be mindful of their spending.

Business Meeting
All students and staff attend Business Meeting to review weekly announcements, plan activities, discuss community issues and recognize student achievement.

Case Manager
This is the staff member who monitors all daily activities of the student and helps the student function in the daily milieu. The case manager is usually the disciplinarian in the living environment and works with students on daily living tasks, time management and peer relations. Case managers work Monday through Thursday from approximately 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Also known as IAP Manager.

Check Request
This is the form a student fills out to access money from their Student Account Fund (SAF). This form must be signed by the case manager and by an administrator before it will be honored. Students are not allowed to write out check requests for cash.

COCC
Central Oregon Community College, a 2-year Associate Degree and Certificate granting college attended by NorthStar students, located in Bend and within walking and biking distance of NorthStar facilities. This is where students will take college classes towards the end of Phase I or the beginning of Phase II.

CODA
This stands for Codependent's Anonymous, which is a 12-step group that students can attend that addresses codependent behavior.

Codependency
Codependency is a term that describes characteristics of a person who lacks a firm sense of identity and tends to obtain a sense of self through interactions with other people. Some of these characteristics include rescuing others, controlling others, lack of boundaries with others, inability to be assertive with others, difficulty identifying one's own wants and/or needs, etc.

Commitment
This is one of the steps on the Incentive Program. Students who are on this step will have been at NorthStar at least two weeks. They will have worked their way up from the Contemplation step and will now be able to use the phone and leave campus not escorted by a mentor. The student must maintain a certain level of integrity and performance to remain on this step.

Committees
NorthStar is governed by student committees (with staff input) that meet weekly. The Leadership committee's job is to oversee the Incentive Program. This committee reviews students who want to earn more privileges and can recommend that a student lose privileges based on that student's behavior. The Honor committee meets with students who have violated the Honor Code to review the student's consequences for getting back into integrity with himself and the community. The Activities committee coordinates and hosts student weekend activities. The Student Life committee coordinates student celebrations. The Recovery committee is in charge of planning sober fun activities and recovery activities such as speakers for meetings.

Community Service
NorthStar requires students to be involved in community service projects. Some of those are set up by NorthStar staff and some require the student to coordinate his/her own community service.

Confidentiality
Because the students at NorthStar are legally adults, parents have no access to student files without student permission. Much of the treatment process will be kept confidential from the parents. However, since parents are usually the financial sponsors and must be kept abreast of student's progress for this reason, students agree when enrolling to have general information conveyed to parents.

Contemplation
This is one of the steps on the Incentive Program. This is the step students start on when they first enter the program. On this step, they do not have phone privileges and are unable to leave campus except for a NorthStar activity and only when escorted by a mentor. The student must work his/her way off this step within one month or he/she will be dropped to the Recommitment step.

Core IAP
This is an assignment sheet that helps guide the student through the Phase I experience. See IAP below.

Counselor
This term is used interchangeably with therapist to indicate the staff member who is primarily responsible for the emotional growth of the student. The counselors meet with students one to two times weekly and work on a wide range of recovery, emotional and family issues.

Daily Activity Card
All Phase I students are evaluated daily on their participation and timeliness in all required activities. They can receive X's or 0's (for non-participation or lateness) for all of their responsibilities. Cumulatively, these cards determine what they will receive for their stipend as well as their readiness for moving up a step in the Incentive Program.

DBT
DBT stands for Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which is a treatment modality used to help individuals who have trouble regulating their emotions. NorthStar uses many of the DBT concepts and teaches students the DBT skills. The skills are grouped into four categories: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation and Interpersonal Effectiveness.

Deep Clean
On Sundays, students perform a more thorough cleaning at all of the facilities. This includes washing the vans, cleaning out the refrigerator, yard-work, etc.

Diary Card
The diary card is a part of DBT. Students fill out a diary card every evening in an attempt to learn more about their daily emotional responding and also to raise their awareness of certain behaviors they are trying to change.

Distress Tolerance
One set of DBT skills; Distress Tolerance is an array of skills that students can use to handle emotional crises without making the situation worse. These skills include ways to distract from the feeling (temporarily), self-soothe or improve the moment.

Distress Tolerance Class
This course defines the How and What skills of one-mindfulness and introduces skills for Distress Tolerance. Students will practice Distress Tolerance skills and demonstrate the how to use two or more of these skills during classroom exercises.

Dr. Lakovics
Dr. Lakovics is our consulting psychiatrist. He sees students on the NorthStar property and meets with staff twice a month. He also will see students in his office if needed.

Early Curfew
This is a consequence used by staff on occasion for infractions such as breaking curfew the night before or late wake up. Early curfew restricts a student to the house at 6 p.m.

Emotion Regulation
One set of DBT skills, Emotion Regulation skills help students learn to label their feelings accurately and to sit with their emotions.

Family IQ
Family IQ is a web-based information and support network for parents located at www.NorthStar.familyiq.com. When a student enrolls in NorthStar, parents are given a one-year subscription for Family IQ. This subscription allows parents to access courses that will help with the task of launching your student into adulthood and resolving some of the past issues. Family IQ also has articles on relevant topics, a chat room forum to network with other parents and a mentoring system.

Family Retreat
There are two Family Retreats per year. The Family Retreat is an intensive five-day family therapy workshop that takes place in Sunriver, Oregon.

GED
The nationally accepted General Education Diploma accepted by any college receiving federal dollars as equivalent to a high school diploma. Students who attend NorthStar and find they have more high school to finish than they may have time to complete while they are here, may be encouraged to consider the GED in order to also earn some college credits while they are in Bend.

Group
Group therapy takes place on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It includes Target Behavior group (done with peers from their living facility), mixed group where students are in group with peers from other facilities, and house group where students are in group with their housemates.

High School Completion
Students who have not completed high school have an opportunity to finish the diploma while at NorthStar. Transcripts from the student's previous high school are evaluated by the COCC Adult High School for hours needed to finish a diploma in Oregon.

Honor Code
The Honor Code is a list of the commitments NorthStar students are agreeing to make to be part of the NorthStar program. They include such things as no substance use, no sexual contact on NorthStar property, abide by the law, etc.

Honor Committee
The Honor committee meets with students who have violated the Honor Code to review the student's consequences for getting back into integrity with himself and the community.

IAP
This stands for Individual Achievement Plan. The IAP is used to direct students to complete the tasks they need to move through the program and to reflect on what they are learning as they go. There is an Orientation IAP which is given to new students that helps them acclimate to the program and to Bend with tasks like opening a bank account. Next the student is given the Core One, Core Two, Core Three and Core Four IAP. Each of these has tasks to help the student integrate the various NorthStar experiences. The student then receives the Transition IAP at approximately four months into the program. With this IAP, the student determines how he/she will spend time in Phase II (school, work, combination) and take steps to begin laying out a Phase II plan. Once a student transitions into Phase II, he/she receives the Phase II IAP which guides him/her through the independent living portion of the program.

Incentive Program
Students in the NorthStar program earn privileges based on their performance and behavior. The Incentive Program has three steps that students can work through to gain more privileges. The first step is Contemplation which is for new students in the program. At this point, their privileges are fairly restricted. Students typically move within a month to the Commitment step where they have a bit more freedom and privilege. Students who desire to earn more privileges can work toward the final step, Achievement, where they have privileges that prepare them for independent living (such as earning Paid Time Off for good behavior). When a student commits a rule violation, he/she can be dropped down to a lower step as a consequence. Students who are struggling with rules or commit a major rule infraction (i.e. relapse) are moved to Recommitment step in which all privileges, including smoking, are removed or rationed.

Individual Therapy
This is used interchangeably with counseling. The counselors meet with students one to two times weekly and work on a wide range of recovery, emotional and family issues. A variety of therapy techniques are used depending on the counselor. Due to confidentiality restrictions, what takes place in therapy sessions is between the student and his/her counselor.

Interpersonal Effectiveness
This is a set of DBT skills that focus on how to effectively negotiate for what you want. The skills vary depending on individual's objective in the communication (i.e. getting what one wants; maintaining a relationship; preserving one's self-respect).

Intervention
This is a planned activity to help a struggling student regain focus and commitment to recovery or the program. An Intervention is done when a student relapses or commits an egregious rule violation (for example, a physical altercation with another student, breaking the law in the Bend community). Interventions are tailored to the student and involve didactic, experiential and therapeutic activities. Sometimes interventions cost extra depending on if extra staff resources are needed. An intervention can include referral to primary chemical dependency treatment or a refresher time at a primary treatment program the student has already attended.

Leadership Committee
The Leadership committee's job is to oversee the Incentive Program. This committee reviews students who want to earn more privileges and can recommend that a student lose privileges based on that student's behavior.

Learning Strengths Profile
A summary of students Learning Styles, Multiple Intelligences, Academic needs, short and long-term goals outlining individual academic interests and challenges.

Love Alive
This is the final workshop students attend in which they address barriers to stepping into their power as an adult and come out of the workshop with a Power Statement. The Power Statement is an affirmation of characteristics the student wants to embody as he/she steps into adulthood.

Mindfulness
This is one of the four DBT skills that students are taught. The purpose of mindfulness is to help students have more awareness of themselves in the present moment. Through awareness, students can then learn to understand their own behavior. The mindfulness skills, such as learning to observe what is going on without judging, are taught to students and practiced each morning.

Move-Out Budget
When a student is ready to move to Phase II, he/she will compile a move-out budget that includes deposit on an apartment, rent, food, utilities, furniture, and house hold items. This budget will be reviewed with parent(s) and approved before student begins the actual move-out process.

Parent Conference
NorthStar hosts three Parent Conferences each year (typically March, June/July and October/November). Parents are encouraged to attend the first available conference after the student enrolls. During Parent Conference, parents learn more about how the program works and more about young adult development. We work with parents and students to help begin (or continue) the dialog of what an adult-to-adult relationship looks like for the parent and student.

Phase I
This is the first six months (approximately) of the program when students are living in the NorthStar facilities.

Phase II
This is the second six months (approximately) of the program when students are living in their own apartments and have scheduled NorthStar commitments and activities in addition to school and/or work responsibilities.

PTO
(Paid Time Off) This is a privilege students can earn and use while on Achievement step. Students can earn half a day of PTO with every two perfect participation cards. Students can take PTO by informing their case manager 24 hours in advance and then taking time free from NorthStar responsibilities.

Recommitment
When a student relapses, commits an egregious act (such as breaking the law) or has been consistently non-compliant, he/she is placed on Recommitment. All privileges are suspended and the student is either placed in an intervention and/or is asked to draw up a behavioral contract with his/her case manager to address the problems. The student must follow this behavioral contract for at least one week and maintain compliance with other program requirements in order to get off Recommitment and earn privileges back. The decision to promote a student back up to Contemplation is made by Leadership Committee with input from the Program Director.

Recovery Class
The class is designed to provide students with definitions of and strategies for understanding the 12-steps to recovery. The relationship of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and the achievement of sobriety will also be discussed.

Recovery Committee
The Recovery committee is in charge of planning sober fun activities and recovery activities such as speakers for meetings.

Recovery Group
This is a weekly in house meeting where students, outside speakers and other tells their life stories and share step work. Students also plan fun activities during this time to practice having sober fun.

Recreation Team
This is a group of NorthStar staff who have the responsibility for designing and implementing a variety of recreation activities to introduce students to the concept of having fun sober. This team includes the Program Director, the Case Managers and a number of the Residential Counselors.

Relapse
NorthStar students make a commitment to remain sober. A relapse happens when a student uses alcohol or other drugs while in the program. A relapse can include using an over-the-counter medication for the purpose of getting high, abusing a student's own medications, giving or selling medications to other students, using a "natural" substance for the purpose of getting high. Staff may refer to a lapse back into inappropriate behavior as a relapse also.

Relapse Policy
Each family should have reviewed, signed and received a copy of the Relapse Policy. The first time a student is caught or comes forward admitting to relapsing, the student will usually go through an Intervention to get back on track with recovery. If the student is caught or admits to using after an intervention, he/she will be discharged from the program with recommendations/referrals for further care if the student/parents wish.

Residential Counselor
The Residential Counselor is the person who is staffing the facilities during the night and on weekends. This person's job is to maintain student safety, coordinate students receiving their medication and provide a listening ear for student concerns.

Ruth Herbert
Ruth is our nurse practitioner who sees the students for minor medical issues and illness. Ruth comes to NorthStar one day per week.

Smoking Pit
The only designated smoking area at each facility.

Stipend
This is the student's weekly "paycheck" with which they buy toiletries, cigarettes and treats. The amount of the stipend is determined by the Incentive step the student is on minus any fines or zeros indicating non-participation on the daily activity card ($1.00 per zero). Students may also receive a bonus for a perfect participation card. In order to receive a stipend, students must complete a Budget Review process and submit to his/her Case Manager.

Student Account Fund
(SAF) This is the slush fund students use for doctor's visits, personal care or new clothing, hobbies or extra recreation activities, etc. In order to access these funds, students must fill out a check request which is signed by the Case Manager and an administrator. Any amount over $50 is discussed with parents for approval.

Student Life Committee
The Student Life committee coordinates student celebrations.

Thinking Errors
Thinking Errors refer to cognitive distortions that we use to allow us to engage in irresponsible behavior. For example, "Lack of Interest in Responsible Performance" is a Thinking Error in which the individual convinces him/herself that going to school, doing homework, holding a job, etc., is not exciting enough or rewarding enough. These thoughts justify criminal or deviant behavior such as dealing drugs to make money quicker. NorthStar has two Thinking Errors groups per week that students can attend to help them understand irresponsible thinking patterns and how these patterns play out in the students' life.

Transfer Student
A student who has college credits from one college and requests that a second college to which he or she has applied accept them toward a degree program. Students attending NorthStar may transfer credits from previous colleges into COCC. Students attending COCC may transfer credits earned in Bend to colleges they wish to attend after NorthStar.

Treatment Review
This is our treatment team meeting which happens once a week. Students attend this meeting one time a month to present their goals for the coming month and discuss the course of their treatment with staff. They also receive feedback from staff about their progress and can make suggestions or requests about how the treatment team can help them reach their goals.

White Glove
Students must do an extra thorough deep-clean of their living space prior to moving into Phase, i.e. clean the baseboards, clean behind the refrigerator, etc.