Busara’s mission is personalized for women who desire a safe place to continue the progress of their treatment. Our women thrive in an environment that is nurturing, safe, and comfortable. Busara has been very successful working with women that other transitional living facilities may find outside their comfort level. Women who have not been successful living at home or in other environments due to continued and possibly combined substance use, mental health and/or behavioral challenges/ physical challenges is the reason that Busara was created. We are successful with our residents because we provide a balance of care, warmth, structure and clinical knowledge.
Busara’s individualized structure, education, and practice of skill refinement within a distinct therapeutic model is extremely unusual in post-treatment housing and programming. Having staff trained in a distinct therapeutic model and who are trauma aware is also extraordinary. Furthermore, having a founder and administrator who is a seasoned Clinical Psychologist sets Busara apart in an even more significant way.
The Rhythm of Recovery
Recovery is daily and is daily achieved through learning to proactively and strategically care for oneself. to truly understand oneself and the limits of self and the need to connect to others for support and feedback. This is a critically important outcome of life at Busara. Recovery occurs through thoughtful and collaborative goal setting, daily making use of available recovery resources and support, putting those resources into motion and finally understanding, and being responsive to, the outcome and the part that they, the individual, plays in their recovery.
Thoughtful accomplishment in the daily aspects of life builds confidence. The learning cycle brings wisdom. Long lasting change comes with the support and feedback of Busara’s staff, our residents, and other outside professionals. This is the rhythm of recovery at Busara.
What do those days look like? Daily focus on recovery, learning to care for ones’ body through meals and movement, attention to ones’ spirit, living with others in peace and kindness, caring for ones’ self financially, allowing for hopes and dreams to take root, making wise relationship decisions, putting all these things into practice and then learning from the result. Discovering or perhaps reclaiming strengths, gifts and talents are also wonderful by-products of this nurturing process which is recovery.
The therapeutic foundation for all interactions with our community members is the incorporation of Dialectical Behavior Therapy or DBT. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) was created to assist individuals with relationship improvement through emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. Living with, and caring about others, in a small community allows new ways of responding to take effect. Future relationships as well as current, have a stronger possibility of enjoyment and satisfaction when we really understand and practice how to be in relationship. This daily intertwining of DBT and our therapeutic support model sets Busara apart from other recovery programs. This is why we choose the name Busara which means wisdom, prudence, and understanding in the Swahili language, to represent our intention.
How Does It Work?
Strategically, with caring and thoughtful personalization and in connected partnership – Busara’s residents interact in community. We partner with recovery experts, mental health professionals, medical professionals, our residents’ families and loved ones, universities, movement professionals, other experts as needed and staff to create a truly individualized experience for long lasting change. Every day is one of moving forward, even on those days when headway seems slow going.
There is a portion of the day for rest and restoration, a portion for growth and challenge, time for relationship building, and a part of the day for participating in the responsibilities of our shared residential space. Learning to practice and enjoy the healthy rhythm of independent life is the daily focus for our residents. Each resident has their own daily and weekly goals and personalized schedule that meets their recovery needs. There is daily accountability and communication with staff.
Dr. Chester is the primary point of contact with regard to admission to Busara. She speaks to the potential resident and anyny treatment or recovery professionals if needed, to determine if Busara is the best fit for recovery goals and life needs. Given our small size and the very personal experience of Busara, it is important to make sure that there is a clear understanding of what is offered at Busara and what our expectations are of each resident.
There are different phases of support and coaching as each woman transitions to Busara and then begins to embrace her change goals. In the first few weeks, there is more interaction with staff as we help the new resident adjust to her new environment, schedule, and community. As she progresses toward the end of her first month, she is expected to be working or pursuing employment, volunteering, or perhaps attending to educational pursuits. The idea is to learn to live independently while still attending therapy and/or recovery programs while have a caring safety net to process the day and the day's emotions. Dr. Chester is an active presence at Busara, meeting regularly with staff and residents to assist with individualized resident planning and achievement as well as supervision and training of staff. All matters pertaining to Busara are within Dr. Chester’s purview.
After Busara, I feel like I am finally able to have control over my life. I'm staying organized, keeping up with my school work, and taking care of my mental and physical health. I feel put together. C.A., 2020