Residential addiction treatment for Highland Beach families.

For families in Bel Lido Isle, Toscana, and Boca Cove, RECO sits 7 miles up A1A — close enough for realistic family sessions and weekend visits, but with the clinical density (in-house addiction psychiatry, ASAM-guided placement, an unbroken continuum from residential through PHP, IOP, and aftercare) that general Boca behavioral-health practices can't match. The same team that manages residential carries the client through every subsequent level of care.

Highland Beach sits in the quiet oceanfront corridor between Delray and Boca Raton, a 12-minute drive up A1A to RECO Intensive’s clinical campus. For families in Bel Lido Isle, Toscana, or the residences along Ocean Cove, the question with residential addiction treatment is rarely whether help exists nearby — it’s whether the help available matches the clinical complexity of what’s actually going on. General behavioral-health practices in Boca can address mild-to-moderate concerns, but residential-level care requires something different: 24-hour structure, in-house addiction psychiatry, and a continuum that can carry a client from the first week of structured living all the way through aftercare without a handoff to a new team.

RECO’s residential program is designed for the earliest phase of recovery — the window after acute withdrawal has resolved but before early-recovery skills are consolidated enough to make outpatient treatment realistic. For most clients, that’s a 30 to 60-day stay, followed by a structured step-down. The drive from Highland Beach is short enough that family sessions, weekend visits, and discharge planning feel logistically sane rather than another barrier.

When residential is the clinical indication

Residential care isn’t the default; it’s the recommendation when the clinical picture calls for it. The American Society of Addiction Medicine’s placement criteria evaluate six dimensions — acute intoxication and withdrawal potential, biomedical conditions, emotional and behavioral complications, readiness to change, relapse and continued-use potential, and the recovery environment. When several of those dimensions point toward instability, 24-hour structure becomes the level of care that actually fits.

In practice, that looks like a few common patterns. Someone whose home environment includes a partner or roommate still actively using. A client with a co-occurring mood disorder that’s never been properly stabilized. A person who has cycled through outpatient programs without sustained traction, where the structure of going home each evening kept undermining the work being done in the day. A family in Bel Lido Isle whose adult child has been told repeatedly that “you just need more willpower” — when the clinical reality is that willpower without a stable environment and pharmacology rarely holds. Residential isn’t about severity alone. It’s about matching intensity to clinical need, and stepping down deliberately rather than over-treating.

What 30 to 60 days of residential actually covers

The first week is largely about stabilization. Sleep returns. Appetite returns. Cravings begin to fall into a pattern that can be tracked rather than reacted to. Medical and psychiatric assessments happen early — for alcohol use disorder, that often means a discussion of naltrexone or acamprosate; for opioid use disorder, buprenorphine or extended-release naltrexone (Vivitrol). Medication decisions are made with the client, not at them.

From there, the days take on rhythm. Morning groups focused on cognitive-behavioral skills (CBT) and motivational interviewing (MI). Individual therapy two to three times per week. Trauma work where indicated, typically Trauma-Focused CBT or EMDR once the client is stable enough to engage productively. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) modules for clients whose emotion-regulation deficits are central. Family sessions — often virtual midweek, in-person on weekends — because the family system around the client is part of the recovery equation, not separate from it.

The mundane parts matter as much as the clinical work. Active addiction disrupts the daily architecture of a person’s life: when they sleep, what they eat, whether they exercise, how they structure the hours between obligations. Residential rebuilds that architecture deliberately. By week three or four, most clients are operating on a schedule their pre-addiction self would recognize.

The step-down to PHP and IOP

Residential isn’t the destination — it’s the launch point. The typical clinical pathway moves from residential into partial hospitalization (PHP) for four to six weeks, then into intensive outpatient (IOP) for eight to twelve weeks, then into aftercare and alumni programming that continues indefinitely. The arithmetic of that continuum is intentional: each step reduces structure while increasing real-world responsibility, so that by the time a client is back to full independent living, they’ve already been practicing it for months under decreasing levels of clinical scaffolding.

The team that managed residential is the same team that runs PHP and IOP. The psychiatrist who started a client on Vivitrol in week two is the same psychiatrist who adjusts dosing in PHP week six. The therapist who built the case formulation in residential carries it forward. This continuity matters more than most families realize until they’ve watched a loved one have to retell their entire story to a new clinician at a new facility — and watched the momentum dissolve in the retelling.

Real residences, not warehoused beds

RECO operates six residential properties across Delray Beach. The standard we hold them to is straightforward: would we be comfortable having a family member of our own live here for thirty days. House managers are trained in addiction recovery — not security staff, not landlords with a clipboard. They’re part of the clinical model, observing patterns that the daytime treatment team needs to know about: sleep disturbances, social isolation, conflict between residents, the early signs of disengagement that often precede relapse.

The residential environment carries clinical weight. Shared meals, structured downtime, peer accountability, and the simple fact of being among others who are doing the same difficult work — these aren’t incidental. They’re part of why residential outcomes differ from outpatient outcomes for clients who genuinely need this level of care. For families in Highland Beach considering whether to send a loved one ten minutes up A1A versus across the country, the proximity is a feature: family sessions are accessible, weekend visits are realistic, and discharge planning involves a home that’s actually 7 miles away rather than across a time zone.

Insurance, admissions, and how to start

RECO is in-network with most major commercial carriers — Aetna, Cigna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, United, and others. Verification typically takes a few hours and can happen before any clinical decisions are made, so families aren’t navigating financial uncertainty during a moment that’s already emotionally taxing. Admissions calls start with a clinical conversation, not a sales pitch — what’s been tried, what’s working, what isn’t, and whether residential is in fact the right starting point. Sometimes the honest answer is that PHP or IOP is more appropriate, and we’ll say so.

For alcohol use disorder, our alcohol-specific treatment pathway covers the clinical detail. For opioid use disorder — including the patterns we increasingly see involving fentanyl-contaminated supply — see our opioid treatment overview. After residential discharge, many clients transition through our sober-living network while continuing in PHP or IOP — a step that often determines whether the gains of residential hold.

Serving residents of: Bel Lido Isle, Boca Cove, Ocean Cove, Toscana, Penthouse.