New Redwood City outpatient center treats mental health, substance use

“We’re not forcing you to do really anything but what we are doing is providing you with the choices and then encouraging you and empowering you to make your own decision of what you feel is going to work best for you,” Amarni said. 

The center focuses on getting to the root of the problem through individual and group therapy, psychiatric and medical care, and neurofeedback sessions — a biofeedback system that tracks and depicts a patient’s brain waves to teach self-control of brain functions. Armani said neurofeedback has been shown to reduce symptoms of PTSD, depression and anxiety. 

Additionally, every worker at the center is trained and certified in eye movement desensitization reprocessing, or EMDR, a gold standard treatment technique for post-traumatic stress disorder and other trauma-related disorders. 

“When we look at substance abuse in the majority of cases, whether it’s big T or little T, there’s trauma usually underneath all that,” said Clinical Director Katie Plumb. “If we’re not treating the root of it and you’re just treating the symptom, it’s going to come back.”

A distinguishing asset of the treatment center, Amarni said, was its option for a treatment track focused on emotional intelligence and mindfulness. This track focuses on building an awareness of and resiliency to destructive emotions to be able to intervene before they become too overwhelming. Armani said that becoming in tune with your own emotions allows you to build healthier connections with other people. 

“It’s been said that the opposite of addiction is connection, so we’re kind of connecting the dots for people here,” Armani said. 

The center was brought to Redwood City to serve the mental wellness needs of the working class as an in-network center contracted with most major insurance companies. Amarni noticed there was a disparity in treatment centers in the Bay Area as most others available are out of network. 

“We’ve always had the philosophy of, we will go where we’re needed,” Amarni said. “We also are very kind of a boutique center because we’re not so large. We didn’t want to expand the Burbank location to a bigger space because we feel that the quality of care is compromised with the more people that you have.” 

As an outpatient treatment center, Plumb said they have the benefit of working concurrently alongside any other efforts a patient may be making to address their mental health and substance use disorders. She said this helps equip individuals to continue making progress away from their facility. 

“They still have a taste of the outside world, they’re able to directly use the skills they learn here and apply them when they go home at night,” Plumb said. 

Plumb said that their place in treating mental health is vital to have in the community because often, people may feel they have to wait until their symptoms become so overwhelming that they can only consider more intensive care. She said that Multi Concept Recovery allows for individuals to have a resource before it gets to that point. 

“That premise that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps is a really damaging one because it prevents people from reaching out when it’s just a normal thing to need help with,” she said.

The treatment center is waiting on its state license from the Department of Health Care Systems to begin treating substance abuse, but is currently treating patients with mental health concerns.

Amarni and Plumb both said that stigma around addiction and mental health can often discourage individuals from seeking treatment but hope that the Peninsula community becomes aware of the resources available at their facility. Armani emphasized Multi Concept Recovery as an option for those who just need a bit more support. 

“A lot of times people feel reluctant to say ‘I’m really struggling and I think I need extra support,’” Armani said. “Sometimes they’re unable to identify what that support could be. To somebody that is maybe thinking that, just give us a call. We’ll answer the phone.”

For more information, you can reach Multi Concept Recovery at (818) 433-8345.

ana@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106