Maryland Addiction Recovery Center opened in late December 2013 and accepted patients beginning on January 6, 2014 (which technically is considered MARC’s anniversary.) Initially, MARC offered intensive outpatient treatment services for individuals suffering from addiction, substance use disorder, and co-occurring disorders. At the time, MARC offered morning or daytime IOP programs, eventually beginning an evening IOP program and an afternoon IOP program for teens and adolescents. Over time, MARC began our long-term, comprehensive extended care Community Living Treatment program, with patients receiving addiction and mental health treatment during the day at the MARC clinical campus, while living in the fully staffed MARC Community Living campus and focusing on necessary life skills development and personal recovery support. The MARC long-term extended care Community Living Treatment program has really become the flagship program that MARC is known for throughout the country. During that time, we have continued to offer daytime and evening intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment programs to serve those in need in our local community and throughout the state of Maryland.
However, for those patients in our IOP programs that didn’t necessarily need a full community living extended care treatment experience but were in need of a safe, sober living environment, there have been unfortunately few options. While locally there were some solid, structured sober livings or recovery houses that we were able to work with to provide sober living for MARC IOP patients, the options were limited at best, and many of these sober homes were typically full. So, for a patient that was completing residential treatment or inpatient rehab needing to return to the area and receive an IOP treatment level of care as well as a sober living or recovery house, often that option didn’t exist for them in the local Baltimore County and surrounding area. For MARC patients, they were able to admit directly into IOP and hopefully find a sober living option that had bed availability or would instead need to admit into the MARC extended care Community Living Treatment program and step-down over a period of time through the continuum of care into IOP treatment while still living with MARC. There was no option to directly admit into a MARC intensive outpatient program with an associated sober living house.
Fortunately, we saw the dire need for these services. Therefore, MARC is proud to announce that we are now able to offer patients in need direct access to an IOP level of care and a sober living experience that service at MARC thanks to our new male and female recovery houses. Starting the first of the year in 2023, we now offer direct access to care for those in need of addiction treatment at an IOP level, with the ability to live at a MARC sober living home. While MARC will continue to treat patients in our long-term extended care Community Living Treatment program that we’ve become known for, as well as direct admit for local Baltimore County and surrounding Maryland area residents into our outpatient PHP program and our daytime or evening IOP treatment programs that don’t require sober living or supportive recovery housing, we are now able to offer those that need these specific services the ability to admit into IOP program and provide structured, sober living.
Starting in 2023, MARC will offer separate male and female sober living homes. Overseen by a full-time manager as well as a live-in house manager, these MARC sober living homes will provide needed safety, structure, and sober community for patients as they attend IOP programming at Maryland Addiction Recovery Center. These homes will include typical sober living rules and regulations, including curfews, drug testing, accountability measures, involvement in the local recovery community, and the requirement to be engaged in treatment, higher education, or employment. Additionally, these homes will offer cleanliness and all necessary amenities to provide a safe and comfortable living environment. As is the case with sober living homes, those living in the recovery houses will be responsible for weekly rent, to contribute to the upkeep and cleanliness of the home, and to take an active role in their own personal recovery and be part of the local recovery community.
This new service at MARC of IOP with sober living is meant to increase accessibility to high quality addiction and mental health services, while not replacing the vital need of many patients for our extended care Community Living Treatment program. Patients with high acuity, failure to thrive issues, multiple treatment experiences, and a vital need for life skills development would still be suggested for MARC’s extended care treatment program, while local patients that meet criteria for intensive outpatient treatment care that have an established healthy, safe, and supportive living environment would still be appropriate to admit to MARC’s daytime or evening IOP programs. This new service line of intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment with associated sober living for men and women is for those patients that do not need comprehensive extended care treatment, do meet criteria for IOP, but who also need a safe and structured recovery house or sober living environment to support clinical programming.
These homes are perfectly located for those patients to attend IOP programming while also finding employment or engaging in higher education initiatives. Additionally, they are located in the heart of some of the strongest recovery communities in the local Baltimore and Baltimore County areas, with hundreds of 12-Step meetings and other recovery meetings, a thriving clinical community of therapists, counselors, and psychiatrists, and in close proximity to gyms, commerce and shopping, parks, movie theaters, restaurants and numerous other activities and social events. This new level of care offered at MARC will perfectly support patients in engaging in life-saving treatment, living in a safe and sober environment, and concurrently creating a happy and fulfilling life in early recovery.
If you or someone you know needs help for addiction or co-occurring disorder 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 (866) 929-4318 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 at www.marylandaddictionrecovery.com.
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