Understanding Continuum of Care

Every individual will experience a different path in their journey to recovery. There are many options in the course of one‘s recovery that may play a role. Below are definitions of different treatment options you may encounter during your journey.

​

Assessment

A specialist gathers information about the individual’s situation; helps identify and plan the most appropriate treatment path with the highest rate of success for the individual. Many residential facilities will require an assessment upon admission into a program.

​

Detoxification

A short term stay, anywhere from 3 – 7 days, providing medical supervision to minimize physical withdrawal symptoms while keeping you safe as your system is purged from drugs and alcohol.  Programs offer different detox medications, and will incorporate counseling and therapy to help with the psychological distress an individual may experience.

​

Inpatient Treatment Services

A longer period of stay that offers a very structured and defined atmosphere. This type of a setting helps the patient focus on physical and psychological healing utilizing counseling and other support services.

 

Residential/Recovery Homes

A group home, recovery home or halfway house is a short or long-term stay that offers housing, meals and meetings in a community environment. The goal is for each resident to work on his or her recovery and learn the skills as well as have support to establish a better quality of life. All group houses have drug testing and case management services.

​

Outpatient Treatment Services

Includes a variety of services including daily meetings, 12-step recovery, one-on-one case management and counseling. Morning and evening hours allow for outpatient clients to work, job-search, attend to family commitments and other obligations while receiving treatment. Some outpatient programs provide child-care.

 

Support/Self Help Group

Daily and weekly meetings that you and/or your family can attend for continued support during sobriety.

 

Medication Assisted Treatment –Suboxone, Methadone, Vivitrol

These medications help to fight cravings and withdrawals from opiate addiction. The medication makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to feel the effects of an opiate. Many people are very successful on suboxone, methadone, and vivitrol.

• Methadone is a synthetic opiate that is used to treat opiate addiction. It works to fight cravings as well as withdrawals. Many people are very successful on methadone. Methadone is used as a short-term treatment or maintenance program.

• Suboxone is used to treat opioid addiction. It helps to fight cravings and makes it extremely difficult or impossible to feel the effects of an opiate. Suboxone has very few withdrawal symptoms when people off the treatment. This is an opiate replacement medication similar to methadone. Patients administer this medication on their own. Generally, patients who do better on Suboxone have shorter use-histories and stable support systems at home.

• Vivitrol (Naltrexone) is a prescription injectable medication used to treat alcohol dependence and to prevent relapse of opioid dependence by blocking opiates, such as heroin, from reaching the receptors in the brain, and makes it impossible to get high. This medication metabolizes and wears off at different times depending on the person. Generally, it lasts for 24-30 days.