Intensive Outpatient Treatment

Intensive Outpatient Treatment Programs (IOP) for Addiction Recovery in Delray Beach, FL

Intensive outpatient programs are designed to further recovery in individuals who either do not require drug/alcohol detox or inpatient treatment, or have already completed it. Through the utilization of intensive therapies and group therapy programs, intensive outpatient programs serve to treat the lingering effects of addiction, while helping patients create healthy boundaries and pathways for lifelong recovery.

Intended to accommodate family or work commitments, Delray Beach intensive outpatient programs allow individuals to personalize their substance abuse treatment plans to varying degrees.

At RECO, we work directly with our clients to ensure their ability to maintain employment and familial responsibilities while also adhering to the curriculum of our intensive outpatient program. As clients assimilate into a routine of working and attending substance abuse treatment, a renewed commitment to sobriety emerges.

How Intensive Outpatient Programs Work

When you think of substance abuse treatment programs, you may think first of inpatient treatment programs, also known as residential treatment programs. But while an inpatient program is a good fit for some clients to ensure patient safety for those who are struggling with severe withdrawal symptoms, who have severe co occurring disorders, or who are in early recovery from severe substance addiction, for other patients, an outpatient program may be a better fit.

While inpatient facilities require the patient to live full-time at their substance addiction treatment facilities, outpatient treatment programs (or IOP treatment programs) allow patients to live on their own while they receive intensive outpatient treatment.

Compared to inpatient care, intensive outpatient treatment can offer similarly immersive addiction treatment services while allowing patients substantially more freedom. For instance, patients whose family or work commitments preclude residential treatment programs may find IOP treatment a more palpable option.

Intensive outpatient treatment also tends to cost less than inpatient treatment but can offer similar benefits. In a partial hospitalization program, among the most intensive outpatient program available in American addiction centers, patients will spend as many as five days a week at their addiction treatment centers receiving outpatient services.

Accordingly, some patients may choose to begin their addiction treatment in an inpatient program before switching to an intensive outpatient program as soon as they are stable enough to leave inpatient treatment.

Still, the time spent in intensive outpatient treatment is often a fragile period of recovery. Individuals may feel overwhelmed by the mental, emotional, and physical complexities of maintaining sobriety outside of the sheltered world of residential treatment. Intensive outpatient programs aim to calm these fears, acting as a comprehensive resource and a compassionate guide.

In both residential treatment programs and intensive outpatient programs, a specialized team of primary therapists, medical doctors, behavioral health technicians, and case managers work together to provide capacity for healing through individualized instruction and addiction treatment.

Individual therapy is usually at the core of these programs. Individual counseling, such as the kind offered in cognitive behavioral therapy or dialectical behavioral therapy, two of the most common and established forms of individual therapy, can help teach patients with substance abuse problems coping strategies and problem solving skills that they can use to help combat drug addiction.

Group sessions are also offered in most intensive outpatient programs and other American addiction centers. Though group therapy can resemble outside support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, support groups differ from group therapy because group therapy is presided over by an expert in behavioral health.

While group leaders in support groups are usually people in recovery with no specific expertise, group therapy is guided by a trained behavioral health expert that can guide group sessions. Group therapy may be more focused on specific topics like relapse prevention or tailored towards coping strategies for specific co occurring disorders or specific vocational training.

However, both group therapy and support groups can serve as important spaces for group members to widen their emotional support system as they connect with other group members, and as important outlets for painful feelings that may come up during the course of addiction treatment.

Family therapy, which invites family members into the recovery process, is also often offered in residential treatment programs and intensive outpatient programs. This can be an important part of addiction treatment because it prepares family members to serve as a support system for the member struggling with drug abuse, and the presence of a behavioral health expert gives family members a safe space to discuss their own reactions to the individual’s drug abuse and develop healthier patterns of relating to one another.

Dual diagnosis treatment is also offered in most American addiction centers. Most patients who struggle with substance abuse struggle with co occurring disorders that worsen their mental health. In fact, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, up to half of all substance abuse patients also suffer from mental illness at some point in their life, and the opposite is also true—half of all mental health patients will also struggle with substance abuse.

This may be because many mental health patients who do not receive treatment for their mental health issues may resort to substance abuse to help manage their symptoms. Thus, these underlying mental health issues must be addressed in order for the patient to be able to break the pattern and guard against future substance abuse.

Sometimes, these mental health issues may warrant the use of medication. Thus, medication management is often offered in residential treatment and outpatient treatment programs. Some patients in early recovery may also benefit from medications that can help ameliorate their drug cravings and lingering withdrawal symptoms, which can aid in relapse prevention, another reason that medication management is critical to addiction treatment.

Other treatment services sometimes offered in American addiction centers include alternative therapies. Some treatment centers will offer these treatment options in addition to conventional behavioral health treatment methods like individual therapy.

These treatment options can enhance the treatment process by working to improve the mental health of the person more broadly as opposed to focusing the issue of substance abuse alone. Though these holistic treatment options may be considered less “scientific” than more conventional treatment options, studies have shown the ability of many of these treatment options to improve patient satisfaction and treatment outcomes.

Aiming to bridge the gap between active rehabilitation and independent living, an intensive outpatient program can be essential to those in the early stages of recovery. RECO Intensive aims to prevent relapse, to perpetuate vital healing processes, and to construct brighter futures for clients and their families.