Intensive Outpatient

An inpatient outpatient program (IOP) is the bridge between inpatient rehab and outpatient care. You’ll live at home or in a sober living facility, but you’ll spend hours in care each week.

The best IOPs customize care, offering therapies based on patients’ wants and needs. These therapies could be part of your IOP:

• Group therapy: During group therapy sessions, participants learn communication skills and healthy social experiences that do not involve drugs or alcohol.
• Individual counseling: Individual counseling sessions address a recovering addict’s urgent issues and their current efforts to maintain abstinence. The counselor reviews reactions to group therapy topics and goes over the treatment plan and coping strategies. Sensitive issues that are difficult to discuss in the group are also addressed.
• Complementary therapies: Many intensive outpatient programs complement traditional therapies with a more holistic approach. This can include things like art therapy, music therapy, fitness classes, yoga, and meditation. These complementary treatments allow recovering addicts to heal in nonverbal ways.
• Support groups: Recovering addicts who are participants in an intensive outpatient program can benefit significantly from joining peer support groups like Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous. The 12-step programs advocated by these support groups provide a structure for recovery that complements the formal treatment.

Costs can vary depending on the type of treatment you need and the length of care required. Most IOPs work with insurance companies and can smooth your enrollment process to ensure you use your benefits properly.

Intensive outpatient rehab is a good choice for people who have a safe and supportive home environment filled with encouraging family members. If a recovering individual lives with people who use drugs or drink excessively, residential drug rehab is a better option for them.

Intensive outpatient programs are also not recommended for individuals with severe, long-standing addictions or co-occurring mental health disorders. In these cases, inpatient or residential treatment with 24-hour supervision and immersive recovery environments are generally recommended.