Companion Services

A: Companion Services consists of one-to-one personal attention, support, and structure by individual staff for patients who need assistance managing their current level of functioning. The Arroyos provides four different types of Companion Services: Personal Companions, Life Coaches, Travel Companions, and Personalized Living Companions.

Companion Services are recommended in a variety of different circumstances. A Personal Companion may be helpful when a patient has difficulty going out in public alone, managing certain independent living skills such as shopping or banking, or may be at risk of wandering or becoming emotionally unstable. A Life Coach may be helpful when a patient is wanting to actively develop more independent living skills in an area such as learning to use public transportation, or how to order meals in a restaurant, or how to interact with others in a natural social situation. A Travel Companion may be helpful when the patient needs to travel to another city, state, or country and is unable to make the trip independently. A Personalized Living Companion may be helpful when a patient requires around the clock monitoring, observation, and support in a private setting such as an apartment or hotel room.

A: Personal Companions provide a supportive and structuring role for patients who need attention and monitoring while they are focused on maintaining their current level of functioning. At times a patient may need a Personal Companion to come to their house during the daytime for a few hours to help them structure their daily activities such as preparing lunch or doing laundry. Or, a patient may need a Personal Companion to take them shopping, to a restaurant, or go with them to a movie or sporting event.

Life Coaches play a more active role than Personal Companions in that they are providing an instructional or active guiding role with the patient. Life Coaches will work with the treatment team and the patient and his or her family to identify specific independent living skills that the patient needs to acquire. These skills may be as basic as grooming or doing dishes, or as complex as applying for a driver’s license, balancing a checkbook, or registering for a college course. The Life Coach will show the patient how to do the task, do the task with the patient, and then observe the patient doing the task, until the patient feels confident that he or she is capable of doing the task without the presence of the Life Coach.

Travel Companions provide a calming, structured presence when a patient needs to travel from one location to another. The patient may be taking any form of transportation such as an automobile, train, plane, or ship. The patient may be traveling across town or to another continent. Our Travel Companions work with our treatment team, the patient, and his or her family to assist with itinerary planning, ticketing, baggage, travel documents, passports and visas, and other complexities of travel that may be too complex or stressful if the patient were to travel alone.

A: Our Personalized Living Program is appropriate for patients who are having psychiatric problems that are too acute for our Transitional Living Services, but that are not so severe as to require hospitalization. These patients require around the clock observation and attention in a private setting such as an apartment, their home, or a hotel suite. Personalized Living Companions stay with the patient 24 hours a day and observe him or her while taking medications, report to the treatment team regarding psychiatric symptoms, transport the patient to and from appointments, and ensure that the patient is not left alone at any time for his or her own safety.