Outpatient Rehab

Outpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation treatment centers are typically designed for individuals who have completed an inpatient or residential treatment program or for individuals with mild to moderate drug and alcohol withdrawal symptoms who have opted not to do a residential program. 

Much like an inpatient treatment center, the individual may stay in the outpatient program for anywhere from 2 weeks to several months or longer. While attending an outpatient drug rehab participants do not live at the treatment center as they do in a hospital, residential setting or inpatient rehab.  Many participants continue to live in their own homes or in sober living facilities.

The level of care varies significantly with regard to the intensity and type of program available. Some outpatient drug rehab programs offer UA (urine analysis) drug testing and psycho-education services only. Other intensive outpatient programs resemble residential programs in services offered and effectiveness.  Which program is the best fit for an individual depends on the severity of their addiction, length of use and commitment to recover and their specific needs. The goal of any outpatient drug rehab is to assist participants develop a solid foundation in recovery and to provide a bridge back to life so that they may lead successful substance free lives.  However greater freedom may have positive as well as negative consequences.

Outpatient or day treatment programs typically include groups on addiction, codependency, gender specific groups, relapse prevention, psychodrama, process and 12 step groups among many others.  Individual sessions use many different therapeutic approaches that can range from insight-oriented psychotherapy to cognitive behavioral therapy.  Specialized groups and services may also be offered including family and couples work, DBT, EMDR, life coaching, case management, psychiatry, yoga and meditation.

The advantages of attending an outpatient treatment program are many. Individuals who enroll in outpatient treatment at the same facility where they completed detox or inpatient receive continuity of care and greater social support both peer and therapeutic.  Compared with inpatient, individuals in an outpatient program are free to function in their daily lives by living at home and going to work therefore incurring fewer disruptions to their routine.  The odds of remaining sober after detox alone are very slim.  In the filed of addiction treatment, non-completion of treatment is a large problem.  Approximately 50 percent of individuals in treatment do not complete the first month.  Not competing treatment is found to lower success rates and have poor long-term outcomes.  A positive outcome if found more often when individuals transfer from detox or residential to prolonged outpatient treatment programs.  (Psychiatric Services 50:813-817, 1999)

Many individuals who enter detox or residential programs are mandated by something outside of themselves.  This mandate may be physical such as liver damage or it may be social such as pressure from family or possible job loss.  Why an individual enters treatment is less important than why they stay.  A benefit of entering an outpatient program is that by the time the decision to extend treatment is made the individuals mind has cleared more compared to when they entered treatment.  Having a say in their life and still participating in an aftercare program provides the recovering individual with ownership of their recovery.