Everyone has different addiction recovery needs. You may need to step away from familiar routines, places, and people to heal. You may need the structure, security and focus residential treatment provides. You may not be able to choose this option because of family, work and time commitments. When residential care isn’t an option, outpatient drug rehab is a good alternative.

What Does Outpatient Drug Rehab Involve?

Outpatient drug rehab programs offer an amazing array of options and intensities. They offer briefer check-ins for those stepping down from more intensive care. They offer daily, hours-long programs for those seeking more support for recovery. They offer partial hospitalization programs that involve spending all day at a treatment facility. Some programs provide care for just a few hours each week. Some ask patients to participate in treatment for 30 hours each week. No matter how much time you spend at a facility or at home, you should receive compassionate, comprehensive care.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration1 lists the following as core components of any outpatient program:

  • Program orientation and intake
  • Comprehensive biopsychosocial assessment
  • Individual treatment planning
  • Group counseling
  • Individual counseling
  • Family counseling
  • Psychoeducational programming
  • Case management
  • Integration of clients into mutual-help and community-based support groups
  • 24-hour crisis coverage
  • Medical treatment
  • Substance use screening and monitoring (urine or breath tests)
  • Vocational and educational services
  • Psychiatric evaluation and psychotherapy
  • Transition management and discharge planning

Whether you’re just beginning your recovery journey or transitioning to a different level of care, you can find the care and resources you need in an outpatient program. Foundations Recovery Network offers these core components and more at all our locations to ensure a smooth transition to or from Black Bear Lodge.

What Treatment Do I Need?

You aren’t a recovery professional. This means you don’t have to have all, or any, of the answers to your recovery. You may not even know what answers you are looking for. Treatment will provide the knowledge, skills, and tools you need. Early, professional assessments will help you identify the challenges you face. Understanding professionals will guide you in your quest to overcome them.

You may need treatment for co-occurring mental health and addiction issues. These concerns often overlap. You get the best recovery results when you treat both at the same time. You can find relief from issues such as schizophrenia, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias as you learn to manage addiction. Many outpatient drug rehab programs can identify and address co-occurring issues. Make sure you get an accurate assessment and find integrated care.

You may want to include your family in your treatment and recovery. Outpatient drug rehab makes this easy. Family therapy sessions help members learn how to support one another. Individual sessions help family members find personal strength and knowledge about addiction and its effects. Outpatient programs that offer family treatment offer opportunities for reuniting, communicating, and healing.

Outpatient treatment also offers group therapy, access to community resources, and alternative treatment methods. You can choose programs that include meditation and yoga or experiential therapy outings. Job training, housing assistance, and legal aid can be part of your care. Make sure you choose a program that offers the help you need and take advantage of all aspects of this help.

Will Outpatient Drug Rehab Work for Me?

Outpatient care won’t be right for everyone. It is worth considering if you and your healthcare provider or addiction treatment specialist agree it could be a worthwhile, effective option. It is worth considering if otherwise barriers to inpatient care would keep you from getting any treatment at all.

You may benefit from beginning your recovery with the support and structure of an inpatient program. If you have a negative home or social environment or if you struggle with co-occurring disorders, you may need this level of care. If you have a strong support system outside of care or have completed more intensive care, you can get great results from an outpatient program.

Outpatient care is also worth considering if inpatient treatment simply isn’t an option due to the time, distance, or costs involved. According to Advances in Alcohol & Substance Abuse,“[Day treatment programs] have been found to have equal or superior results to inpatient hospitalization at one-half to one-third the cost.”2 If financial concerns are otherwise keeping you from recovery, choose outpatient care over no care at all. Look for drug rehab that accepts your insurance or provides care on a sliding scale. Both inpatient and outpatient programs are happy to work with you to make the most of your insurance coverage or create reasonable payment plans. Cost shouldn’t be the deciding factor when it comes to whether or not you get the care you need, but it may influence your decision when it comes to making treatment work.

No matter the drug rehab option you choose, participate in the program and stay engaged. Ask for help through motivational interviewing or incentive-based therapies if you worry you don’t have the interest or ability to stay committed. Use the resources available to you. Continue working on recovery long after immediate treatment ends. Learn to trust yourself and others. Lean on your strengths and skills when times are tough. Reach out to peers and professionals when your own strength isn’t enough.

Recovery Unscripted

Recovery Unscripted

In this episode of Recovery Unscripted, Alex Dorsey and Ashley Buchanan help us take a look at the role outpatient treatment plays in the overall recovery journey. They share how they approach helping people safely and effectively step down from residential treatment to outpatient to aftercare to a sustainable life in recovery.

The right outpatient drug rehab program, and there will always be a team of caring individuals ready to support and encourage you. Choose Black Bear Lodge for your inpatient or outpatient care, and know you have a lifetime of support and sobriety ahead of you. Call 706-909-9811 to learn more about what we offer and how we can help you or your loved one thrive.

Continue Reading

Attending an Outpatient Program Post Inpatient Treatment

In a fascinating article produced by The Los Angeles Times, the authors suggest that addiction treatment programs tend to last for 30 days simply because they’re based on military systems. If addicted military people enrolled in treatment and they stayed for 30 days or fewer, they didn’t need to be reassigned. The date has little to do with efficacy of treatment, but it became the model that insurance plans favored, and it became the most common standard of care.

It’s a shame since most people need much longer than a month in order to overcome an addiction. In fact, most people need many months, if not years, of help. Much of that assistance comes in the form of outpatient programs that take hold when inpatient care is complete.

The Role of Outpatient Care

People who attempt to get sober without any kind of treatment at all tend to relapse back into use at a rate that exceeds the rate seen in those who participate in professional treatment, according to a study in the journal Addiction. In a rehab program, people have the opportunity to step away from the challenges of everyday life and really look at why they use drugs, and what they should be doing differently.

When people emerge from these inpatient programs, they can be sober and have a number of skills they can use to preserve that sobriety. But they may also have old habits, drug-using friends and drug-friendly spaces waiting for them at home. When their programs are complete, they might slide back into bad habits once more.

Outpatient programs are designed to build on the lessons learned in inpatient rehab. It’s a form of ongoing care that allows people to discuss the new challenges they face with their return home, along with the lessons they’ve not quite finished while under the care of a rehab program.

Outpatient Program Options

While outpatient programs are designed to help anyone with an addiction, there are a number of different options available to addicted people. There isn’t only one outpatient program open to addicted people.

A few options include:

  • Day hospitalization, in which the person spends all day in the program and goes home at night to sleep
  • Appointment only, in which the person goes to work, lives at home, and otherwise lives a normal life, while attending several appointments for addiction
  • Relapse prevention, in which the person meets with a group of addicted people and a counselor, and they focus exclusively on issues pertaining to relapse
  • Life skills, which also utilizes a group format, but which allows addicted people to discuss a number of different factors that could lead to a relapse

It’s common for people to participate in intensive levels of outpatient care in the weeks that immediately follow inpatient care, and then people tend to transition to less intensive forms of care as they heal and become more adept at keeping their triggers in check. It’s likely, however, that people will need some kind of outpatient care for the rest of life, just so they can continue to tap into methods they can use to keep their addictions under control.

At Black Bear Lodge, we believe in the value of outpatient care, and that’s why we provide intensive outreach for each patient that comes to us for care. When our program is complete, our clients know just what to do when they get home to stay on track, and we’re always available to provide additional support. If you’d like to know more about our programs and how they may be able to help you or someone you love, please call us at 706-909-9811.

Sources

Addiction Treatment

Ready to Begin Healing?