Inpatient addiction treatment is ideal for people with severe addictions, however; it’s not always a feasible option for those who need it. Intensive outpatient addiction treatment is a good alternative for parents of young children, those with employment obligations, or anyone who’s unable to pause their daily lives for addiction treatment.
Intensive outpatient addiction treatment, while it doesn’t include meals and overnight accommodations, is akin to inpatient addiction treatment in rigor and recovery goals. These goals fluctuate with the needs of the local population, but the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration points out that all intensive outpatient addiction treatment programs address these universal goals:
Achieve abstinence
Adopt behaviors conducive to a healthy lifestyle abstinent of drugs and alcohol
Ease active engagement in community-based support groups, such as 12-step programs
Help patients improve their mental, emotional, and social well-being by offering resources and guidance in the areas of housing, employment and the compliance of probation obligations
Assist patients in establishing a positive support network of friends, family and sober peers
Develop or enhance patients’ problem-solving and coping abilities
Intensive outpatient addiction treatment programs facilitate the same concentrated treatment received in inpatient addiction treatment programs, but with a flexibility that allows patients to maintain employment or care for children.
