Ashburn Clinic Can Help You
Anei tātou nā ko te pō, anā tātou nā he rā ki tua
Here we are in the night, but day is on the way.
Congratulations on taking this step – seeking mental health support isn’t always easy. Here you can learn more about Ashburn Clinic, how to join us, what to bring, what daily life looks like, and the treatments we offer.
Ashburn’s programme is for people aged 17 years or older with conditions such as personality disorders, depression, anxiety and mood disorders, post-traumatic stress including sexual abuse and trauma, eating disorders, addictions and substance use, and life crises.
We also offer specialist groups for challenges including addiction and eating disorders.
We employ psychiatrists, psychotherapists, nurses, occupational therapists, GPs, a dietitian, clinical pharmacist, and support staff.
Referrals are required from a registered health professional. Inpatients may be funded privately or through pathways with Te Whatu Ora | Health New Zealand or the Accident Compensation Corporation.
Why a Democratic Therapeutic Community?
In a Democratic Therapeutic Community, daily life is structured around group meetings, activities, and shared living tasks. Patients also contribute significantly to the hospital activities and each other’s care and treatment, helping to foster a sense of responsibility, belonging, and empowerment. It may be a treatment approach that patients have never experienced before and may take some time adjusting to.
At Ashburn, we focus on understanding the meaning behind your feelings, actions and relationships. By exploring your challenges and sharing with others, you can develop practical strategies to manage difficulties and take steps toward recovery.
Patient Experiences
“Don’t Give Up!”
I’m not sure who you are, but I really want to write this to you. First of all, well done for getting this far and taking a courageous step to either consider coming to Ashburn, or if you are waiting for admission, keep waiting and don’t give up! The first step in your treatment has already started; you’ve made the first move. You rock!
It’s weird to think that something like mental illness can have so much control over our lives, right? But there is hope that you can learn to cope with your mental illness, no matter how bad it is. Even if there’s only a tiny 1% hope that you’re holding on to, there is still HOPE!
We’re far better than our illnesses or our unpleasant life experiences, which have had a serious impact on our lives. Remember that, because sometimes we don’t remember these things in our most distressing times.
If you’ve experienced being in any psychiatric hospital, then Ashburn is completely different. You don’t know me, but believe me. It was one of the fears I had about coming to Ashburn. We are not acute and have a choice to be here. We are all seeking treatment out of the goodness of our own hearts (probably with some support). We are not in a locked unit and the food here is way better than being in a hospital. I am not tricking you!
I guess being at Ashburn in what you make of it. The more you put yourself out there, the more you will get out of it. I am not going to lie. It’s hard work! It was a total shock and different to what I was expecting, which has motivated me to write this. I survived the initial few weeks and you can too. I found it challenging leaving my clinical team because they were familiar to me, and they were familiar with me!
The thought of having to repeat my story, AGAIN and form new relationships with professionals was daunting at first. It doesn’t happen overnight and it is not expected to happen overnight.
Coming into a therapeutic group environment was quite difficult. At Ashburn we are referred to as a “community”. I found it quite exposing. For me personally, I was used to keeping things inside or opening up to one or two professionals over a period of time. Ashburn is a “community of enquiry”, so patients will ask you questions. It is daunting at first but not for too long. You really just have to press through the first few weeks. I am not going to pretend that it’s a walk in the park when you get here because it is not. There were many times I wanted to run away and go home because it was hard. But I am very glad I stayed. Everyone I talked to said they had the same thoughts.
The community share their experiences. I found this hard at first to get used to. In my head I would think “What? Did they really just say that out loud in front of everyone?” I have found it reassuring and valuable to hear other people who have been affected by mental illness experiences. I no longer feel so alone in what I am going through which is an amazing feeling! We all come here for different reasons but the underlying factor that makes it easier to remember we have all been affected by mental illness in some way, shape or form, which has cause enough disruption to come to a place like Ashburn. Using the group is a powerful resource.
In the first few weeks I pretended to be okay in front of clinical staff and the community. I was really only fooling myself and making myself exhausted trying to put on a front. I would go to my bedroom and crumble! Be true to yourself. This is a safe and accepting place.
There will most likely be several moments you will feel like crying or you will cry. But crying is healthy. It is not viewed as a weakness. It shows that we have feeling and emotion. You will always have the community’s support. The community, although it sounds scary, being surrounded by other unwell patients, is actually a really powerful resource and a huge part of your treatment. They pick you up when you are down and have that insight because of their own lived experiences. It’s a welcoming community and I genuinely mean that. If you’re worried about relocating, just remember that everyone here has relocated and moved into a new environment. So again, you’re not alone.
It truly is hard work but it is not impossible. You just can’t give up! There will be numerous times where you’ll probably want to and you’ll feel like being here is the hardest thing on earth, but you know what? You’ve made it this far and you can make this work. You’re not alone. You’re not alone!
Good luck in your treatment, whether it is at Ashburn or any other service. You’ve got this!
Stick to it when it gets hard. Ride through the discomfort. Don’t let anything hold you back. You deserve every possible chance to become well again. To come here was the best decision I ever made. Recognise the discomfort, sit through it and then push through it.
If you’ve had long term involvement with a local clinical team then try and conclude that in a way that is meaningful to you.
I am only 2 months into my treatment and I feel like I am making so much progress already.
I truly value and respect Ashburn! It just takes a while to settle in. You’ll have your bad days and your good days but in your bad days you are fully supported, if you let yourself be supported.
I am not writing this to sell Ashburn to you. I am writing this because I genuinely feel that it would have been so easy for me to give up on my treatment in the early days because I didn’t have any insight into what being part of a democratic therapeutic community looked and felt like.
Good luck!
– Former Ashburn Clinic Resident
“What Makes Ashburn Different?”
From my experience, the democratic therapeutic community here at Ashburn focuses on treating the whole person and not just the surface presenting symptoms or maladaptive coping strategies. This means that the focus is on looking at things like underlying trauma, feelings and emotions and using the support of the groups and individual therapy to work through the often-painful things that have brought patients to Ashburn Clinic.
I have observed that Ashburn uses a very holistic approach to treating mental health difficulties and patients work together to problem solve and make decisions about treatment. An example of this that I have noticed is when reviewing a patient’s observation status, patients have a say as well as staff as to whether a patient comes off or stay on observation. It is a decision that is made as a community and I believe this sets Ashburn aside from other treatment centres.
As chairperson, I have the very important role of chairing meetings where patients work together to understand behaviour and to challenge each other. This creates a culture of enquiry in which patients are able to engage in and be a part of each other’s healing in a very unique way. Often this can seem upon arrival to be confronting but it is a part of a community approach to helping understand behaviours and thought patterns.
Being a part of this community has been a very unique experience and one that has benefited my treatment in more ways than one. I feel honoured to be able to work alongside so many others who are also working through difficult emotions, feelings and experiences. I have learned so much from other patients and the similar experiences and feelings we share. Learning and working together to heal is how I believe the democratic therapeutic community works best and what is different about Ashburn compared to other treatment centres I have been in.
In my time here, I have been able to work through a lot of very painful experiences, thoughts and feelings in both a group setting and in individual therapy and talking one on one with other patients. Sometimes the connections you make in a casual setting outside of groups can be just as healing as the therapeutic program that is offered through the day as you make connections with people who all have similar experiences and feelings.
This approach has helped me understand myself and my behaviours more deeply and I believe this has led to the changes I have made in my life in both my thinking and behaviours. I owe my life to this democratic therapeutic community and am so honoured to be a part of something so unique and so healing.
– Former Ashburn Clinic Resident