Addiction does not discriminate by age. Adults 55+ experience substance use disorders for the same biological and psychological reasons younger adults do — but the clinical picture, medical context, and recovery considerations are distinct. RECO Intensive's Older Adults track is built for this population.
What the Older Adults track includes
Standard continuum of addiction care with clinical adaptations for older-adult medical complexity, medication management nuance, social-isolation considerations, and the recovery-stage questions of clients in late career or retirement.
What's specifically adapted
- Medical complexity management — chronic conditions are more common; medication interactions matter more; medical coordination with outside providers is more involved
- Prescription-dependency focus — many older-adult clients arrive with long-term prescription-opioid, benzodiazepine, or sleep-medication dependence
- Cognitive assessment — distinguishing substance-related cognitive impairment from age-related changes
- Isolation and grief work — many older-adult clients are processing loss of spouse, friends, role, identity
- Family-of-origin work with adult children whose roles in the family system have shifted
- Slower-paced therapeutic approach where appropriate to the client's pace
- Aftercare planning for retirement-stage life
Who this track serves
Adults 55+ with active substance use disorders. Clients whose retirement triggered or unmasked an addiction. Long-term prescription-opioid or benzodiazepine clients. Older adults whose adult children are intervening for the first time. Anyone whose recovery picture has the specific shape of older-adult life.
What older-adult recovery looks like at RECO
The clinical depth is the same as for any client; the pacing and clinical adaptations differ. Many older-adult clients describe RECO as the first clinical setting that didn't treat them as either too old to recover or as a complicating medical case to manage. Real recovery work for the population.
Why RECO's Older Adults track is different
Many programs send older-adult clients to elder-care facilities or general medical-rehab settings that don't address addiction with full clinical depth. Ours treats older-adult addiction as the real clinical condition it is — with the medical, psychiatric, and therapeutic coordination the population deserves.