Intensive Outpatient Treatment, typically referred to as IOP, is an outpatient level of care for addiction treatment that is recommended by clinical or medical professionals to certain individuals suffering from substance use disorder or co-occurring disorders when they meet criteria for such services through an assessment or evaluation. IOP treatment for addiction can be an initial access point to care for individuals whose clinical issues meet those certain criteria or can also be used as the next step or as an aftercare recommended level of care for those individuals discharging from a higher level of care, such as an inpatient detox, inpatient rehab or residential addiction treatment program.
IOP addiction treatment programs can be beneficial for people that do not necessarily need or meet criteria for a detox, inpatient rehab or residential treatment level of care, for individuals whose life station, career or situation make admitting to an inpatient or residential level of care for 28 or 30 days unlikely or impossible, or for individuals who require treatment but fall on the lower end of the substance use disorder spectrum. Intensive Outpatient (IOP) treatment is beneficial for several reasons. First, it is ideally and meant to be a community-based treatment program, which allows for patients to continue to work or attend college classes while still receiving vital addiction treatment. IOP treatment can often also be customized to meet a patient’s daily schedule. Additionally, being a community-based treatment program, individuals attending IOP can also have their family, employers, EAPs and other impacted and interested parties engage with the IOP treatment provider, providing from necessary support for the patient, transparency, goal setting and allows for the loved ones to receive treatment, support, coaching and understanding, which in turn allows for better treatment and recovery outcomes. For those people whom do not need or meet criteria for going away to a rehab or residential treatment center, IOP treatment can allow for comprehensive services and takes away the sometimes detrimental or dangerous time period of having to discharge from a rehab, travel back home and become situated in a new routine that can add stressors and/or anxiety that can sometimes lead to relapse.
An IOP addiction treatment program can also allow for an important reintegration back home for those people who do clinically need an inpatient detox, 30 day rehab or residential treatment stay. An IOP program is a vital piece of the addiction treatment continuum of care, allows for step down in intensity while still receiving comprehensive services and allows for a slow, steady and appropriate reintegration back into society and a patient’s daily lives. For those that have attended a rehab program away from home, having a supportive environment with comprehensive clinical services allows for a patient to transition back to life, to their family, to the workplace or to higher education with the necessary support to deal with what can be a difficult transition after rehab.
Here at Maryland Addiction Recovery Center, we offer several intensive outpatient (IOP) addiction and co-occurring treatment services. We offer a daytime IOP program that typically starts at 5 days a week of group therapy sessions. We also offer an evening program, typically for working professionals, that begins at 3 evenings a week of group therapy. Because IOP treatment needs to be comprehensive, all of our IOP programs include weekly individual sessions with one of the MARC primary therapists, a full time Master’s Level clinician, as well as family therapy sessions that can include parents, spouses, siblings or other loved ones impacted and affected by the patient’s addiction and mental health history of behaviors. Since many people suffering from addiction deal with mental health issues or co-occurring disorders, all the Maryland Addiction Recovery Center IOP programs include individual sessions with one of our psychiatrists that includes, when needed, medication management services. Our intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment programs can also, when needed, include ambulatory detox services for opioids and opioid use disorder.
For those individuals in need of treatment from addiction, but who do not need an inpatient detox or month-long rehab stay, IOP treatment typically is the vital access point to care to aid them in beginning a journey of health, recovery, and quality of life. Additionally, for those individuals returning back home after a detox or residential treatment stay, intensive outpatient treatment is often the vital and necessary next step in the treatment continuum, where patients receive comprehensive clinical services while reintegrating back into their community, reestablishing healthy relationships with their family and returning appropriately to work or college with the necessary support to achieve success.
If you or someone you know needs help for addiction or dual diagnosis issues, please give us a call. Maryland Addiction Recovery Center offers the most comprehensive dual diagnosis addiction treatment in the Mid-Atlantic area. If we aren’t the best fit for you or your loved one, we will take the necessary time to work with you to find a treatment center or provider that better fits your needs. Please give us a call at (410) 773-0500 or email our team at info@marylandaddictionrecovery.com. For more information on all of our drug addiction, alcohol addiction and co-occurring disorder services and recovery resources, please visit our website: Maryland’s Premier Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center.
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