It is time. You are ready to get healthy and have made the decision to seek treatment for your addiction. But what is the right level of care for you, and how do you make sense of the vernacular of treatment levels? Let’s sort it out, starting with the most intensive level of care.
Inpatient Hospitalization
This intensive level of treatment involves 24-hour care and supervision from a trained medical staff. If you have recently used, or currently are using heavily, and serious detox is a concern, an initial period of hospitalized care may be where you need to start. At Covenant Hills, we conduct an initial assessment to determine whether medical detox is warranted. If it is, we will transfer you to an affiliated medical facility until you are stabilized.
You may also be referred if you are experiencing severe co-occurring issues such as deep depression, suicidal thoughts or debilitating anxiety or panic attacks. Hospitalization can last from a few days to a few weeks depending on the severity of your symptoms. While there, professional and caring staff focus on stabilizing your body and mind so you can enter residential treatment.
Residential Inpatient
If you needed to stabilize initially with Inpatient Hospitalization, you will transition to a residential care facility once you are ready. If you are addicted to narcotics, prescription drugs or alcohol, but did not require initial hospitalization, you will frequently begin your treatment in a residential care facility, often referred to residential inpatient. Covenant Hills offers gender specific residential inpatient care at our facilities in Orange County, California and San Antonio, Texas.
Residential Inpatient care involves dormitories or apartment-style living, kitchens or dining facilities, and outdoor space for activities. There is freedom of movement and the ability to socialize, as well as individual quiet time. Covenant Hills’ award-winning residential staff includes medical doctors, nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, dietitians, licensed counselors and ordained clergy for spiritual care. Residential care implies 24-hour supervision from a licensed therapist and/or medical staff, but is a residential environment compare to the hospital environment in inpatient hospitalization.
Residential treatment involves one-on-one and group sessions, activities, the learning of tools and techniques to help overcome your addiction, fitness and nutritional education and spiritual care for those who desire it. Treatment generally lasts several weeks, but can continue for several months depending on the level of care required.
Partial Hospitalization
While the name implies hospitalization, this level of care usually means a less supervised environment than Residential Inpatient. Partial Hospitalization generally refers to supervised therapy and counseling during the day and perhaps early evening, then returning to one’s living quarters for the evening. Some facilities may provide modest supervision at night, but not at the level of Residential Inpatient.
Days are very structured and similar to Residential Inpatient, but evenings and weekends are not as closely supervised. If you complete Residential Inpatient, you may transition to a Partial Hospitalization facility, or you may transition to Transitional Care.
Transitional Care
Some larger facilities like Covenant Hills have transitional housing for their residential clients who complete their residential inpatient level of care. Toward the end of residential care, you and your case manager will begin planning your comprehensive strategy for a long-term recovery. For many, continuing treatment in a semi-structured, sobriety-valued environment is an ideal path to continue to full sobriety and recovery. By keeping the stress of your outside world outside of your treatment environment, recovery, learning and healing continues. More in depth recovery is explored and tools and techniques for long-term health are reinforced.
The Covenant Hills transitional care program is pursued by about half of our clients. For the other half, and for those who complete transitional care, a final transition is made to aftercare. Aftercare may involve a structured environment upon returning to home – a combination of a 12-Step recovery group, regular sessions with a therapist and faith-based social activities, or it could involve an intensive outpatient program (IOP).
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Intensive Outpatient Programs can be entered as an initial phase of treatment or after completing treatment. The characteristic of an IOP is you remain in your home environment in the evenings, but spend much of your time during the week engaged in intensive treatment.
The Covenant Hills Intensive Outpatient Program is often a good choice for residents in Orange County, San Diego and Los Angeles in California, and San Antonio in Texas who, for personal life reasons, cannot enter residential inpatient care. The professional staff is exactly the same as our residential inpatient staff, providing the same high level of compassionate and skilled care.
Many who elect this form of initial treatment have life situations that make it very difficult to commit to residential care. Single parents with young children at home and no extended family, for example, may see this as the best fit for treatment. Treatment sessions can be all-day, partial or half-day, and evening sessions. Costs, because bed space is not required, can be less than inpatient care.
A notable challenge inherent in IOPs, especially for those who choose it as their initial form of treatment, is it does not remove the patient from the potential negative influences of their existing environment. That can be a challenge for many, and pressure their treatment effectiveness.
If you continue to need structured treatment after their residential or transitional treatment, an IOP offers as much structure as possible while allowing you to return to your home environment. You reinforce the learnings from residential care, receive support and encouragement and maintain the discipline and positive influences in your life while providing the opportunity to reconnect with family, friends, jobs and other commitments.
At Covenant Hills, we provide continual assessments for our clients, from the moment they arrive to after they leave our care. We provide drug addiction afterare support through our alumni programs, and also offer a guaranteed relapse prevention program for free if you relapse within the first year.
If you or a loved one is considering drug or alcohol addiction treatment, call Covenant Hills now at 888.758.9677 to speak with a treatment specialist. They will answer all of your questions about treatment, provide a free assessment and discuss what a treatment program might look like for you.
