Austen Riggs Center

Description

About the Austen Riggs Center
The Austen Riggs Center is a small notforprofit open psychiatric continuum of care specializing in the psychotherapeutic treatment of psychiatric disorders Internationally known for its respectful work with emotionally troubled individuals who have failed to benefit from previous treatment Riggs is located in the small town of Stockbridge Massachusetts on Norman Rockwells Main Street

For over 85 years the Austen Riggs Center has offered longterm residential and hospitallevel psychiatric treatment based on intensive fourtimesweekly individual psychotherapy provided by psychiatrists and psychologists who have advanced and specialized training From hospital to residential to supervised and unsupervised apartment living Riggs provides continuity of care with the same psychotherapist psychopharmacologist and interdisciplinary team through various levels of treatment and living arrangements With academic affiiliations with Harvard Medical School and Yale University School of Medicine Riggs is the only psychiatric treatment center in the United States providing longer term intensive individual psychotherapy to help otherwise treatment resistant patients take charge of their lives

Mission
The mission of the Austen Riggs Center is to improve the lives of emotionally troubled and treatmentresistant patients by providing quality and costeffective treatment The focus throughout the Centers programs is the importance of human relationships and the responsibility and dignity of the individual

The basic ingredients essential to fulfilling the Centers mission are

Treatment organized around an intensive individual therapeutic relationship
focusing on the patients recognition and tolerance of experiences of
conflict and pain leading to the development of a sense of perspective on
the illness

An open therapeutic community involving all staff and patients

A careful assessment phase including psychological testing

A range of programs geared to individual levels of capability and need

Continuous treatment by the same multidisciplinary team as patients move
between programs

Psychopharmacologic treatment

Group work substance abuse treatment family treatment and help with
reintegration into the external community

A broad activities program for creative expression with patients in the role
of student free from clinical interpretation

Ongoing staff training research and education to further the primary
clinical task

Recruitment and retention of quality staff

Vision
In an increasingly complex and fragmented world the dignity of the individual the importance of human relationships and the centrality of a sense of community are in danger The focus and traditions of the Austen Riggs Center orient the staff to help troubled patients meet these and other rapidly changing psychological challenges of contemporary society We intend to build on our distinguished past helping our patients develop personal competence in a completely open setting that emphasizes the individuals capacity to face and take responsibility for his or her lifepast present and future We will continue to nurture our patients strengths foster their social functioning and encourage family collaboration Through our research education and training programs we will continue to educate professionals in our psychodynamic perspective applying this learning to a broad range of psychosocial problems Finally in this time of diminishing mental health benefits we will continue to develop costeffective treatment settings that focus on individual psychotherapy community living and the recognition of the limitations of resources

Values
Affirmation of the dignity and responsibility of the individual

Recognition appreciation and enhancement of individual strengths

The importance of human relationships

Respect for individual differences

The centrality of the psychotherapeutic relationship

The learning opportunities in a community of differentiated voices

The importance of examined living

Attention to the conflict between individual choice and the requirements of a
community

Openness to innovation and creativity

An open setting to promote personal responsibility and freedom of choice in
treatment

The importance of recognizing and preserving multiple roles including those
of student and community member

Provision of treatment based on quality and outcome not profit

History

In 1907 while recuperating from tuberculosis at his home in Stockbridge Massachusetts New York internist Dr Austen Fox Riggs began to expand his interest in psychiatry and psychology Influenced by the mental hygiene movement of the time he developed his own system of treatment based on talk therapy combined with a structured routine of daily activities that emphasized a balance between work play rest and exercise He founded the quotStockbridge Institute for the Psychoneuroses renamed The Austen Riggs Foundationquot in 1919

Dr Riggs died in 1940 and was succeeded in 1947 by Dr Robert P Knight who came from the Menninger Clinic and became President of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychoanalytic Association Led by Dr Knight Austen Riggs became internationally recognized as the center of American ego psychology with a staff of preeminent psychoanalysts including Erik H Erikson David Rapaport Merton Gill Roy Schafer and Margaret BrenmanGibson all of whom made major contributions to this important area of psychoanalytic thought Under his directorship the Therapeutic Community Program was developed to enhance the authority of patients and support the open setting Joan Erikson the artist and dancer began the Activities Program including the Theater Program and the Montessori Nursery School After Dr Knights death Dr Otto Will formerly of Chestnut Lodge directed the Center and brought his understanding of early attachment problems and psychotic vulnerability to the treatment program

Austen Riggs Center clinicians have a long history of making significant theoretical and clinical contributions to the mental health field Eriksons Young Man Luther was written from his experience of treating a Riggs patient Knights original paper describing borderline personality disorder also derived from his clinical experience at Riggs This tradition continues through Riggs Erikson Institute for Education and Research which applies the learning from intensive work with patients to the problems of the larger society

Over the years the clinical program at Riggs has increasingly focused on the context for the patients illness and family treatment has become an important aspect of the work Along with growth in the continuum of care residential day treatment and aftercare programs designed to support patients transition and reintegration into society Riggs developed interdisciplinary clinical teams which allow continuity of care with the same clinicians throughout a patients stay at Riggs Together these evolutions in clinical programs have created a stronger and more responsive institution

The Stockbridge Campus

Since 1907 the Austen Riggs Center has been an integral part of Main Street StockbridgeNorman Rockwells quintessential American small town The Inn which operates as both an inpatient and residential facility with a capacity for 40 beds was built in the early 1890s and was sold to Riggs in 1930 The Medical Office Building was built in the early 1890s and purchased by the Center to function as the locus for medical and administrative offices The Elms providing residential housing for eight patients was built in 1772 by Timothy Edwards a Revolutionary War colonel and the son of Jonathan Edwards the second minister of the Stockbridge Congregational Church The Elms Cottage was the site where the first transAtlantic cable message was successfully received from Europe by Cyrus W Field

Patients resided as paying guests at the Purinton House on Main Street until 1939 when Riggs purchased the building for patient housing Damaged by a fire in 1981 the building was renovated with funds provided by Trustee Peter IB Lavan and renamed Lavan Hall in his honor

An Expanded Therapeutic Community

In 2005 Lavan Hall was redesigned to meet the growing needs of the therapeutic community The residence was reconfigured from single units with one common kitchen and living room to three multibedroom apartments each with its own kitchen living room and common area

In response to patient need the Center purchased the Lilac Inn in Lenox and renovated it to accommodate eight patients with educational offerings supporting the development of social roles as employee parent student and citizen

The cornerstone of the growing therapeutic community is the new Patient Community Center designed to serve as a central gathering place The new building is attached to the existing Patient Inn and contains rooms for group and community meetings social events classrooms recreation and exercise as well as staff offices Moving these activities and offices to the new building provides a focused space for the Therapeutic Community allowing more quiet space and additional rooms at the Inn for newly admitted patients