Trauma and drug and alcohol addiction recovery is a highly personalized experience. And those seeking help in recovery have choices on what treatments and therapies to use, including where the person lives during treatment and how often they receive services or direct care from medical and recovery specialists. One option for those seeking an outpatient program for addiction or trauma recovery program is to participate in an Intensive Outpatient Program or an IOP.
What is an IOP?
This is a type of treatment recovery program for those who will benefit from concentrated, immediate therapeutic support and treatment while living in their own homes. Weekly therapy sessions and other regular treatments are provided to those in Intensive Outpatient care, but those in treatment usually can maintain their work, school, or other personal commitments simultaneously.
What Are the Benefits?
Programs with this structure are a valuable treatment option for those who need support during recovery, and IOP treatment has some unique advantages over residential treatment programs.
- Allows You to Live at Home Participants can remain in safe, healthy home environments during treatment.
- Gives More Privacy Because the program is non-residential, participants can maintain closer ties with home and family members over other in-patient participants. This allows those going through treatment to maintain higher levels of privacy as they recover from trauma or addiction.
- Helps Maintain Support Networks Non-residential IOP programs encourage and enable participants to keep strong ties with healthy support networks during treatment.
- Offers Flexible Scheduling Intensive Outpatient recovery programs allow participants to schedule necessary treatments and therapies around work, school, and other personal responsibilities. Participants will not have to disrupt as much of their personal life to receive treatment in a non-residential program since programs offer day, night, and weekend program sessions.
- Provides Structure Those undergoing Intensive Outpatient treatment benefit from having a structured recovery plan that integrates therapy and treatment services with healthy routines that build productive habits.
- Supplies Real-life Skill Practice Participants in IOP treatment programs will be able to practice therapy strategies and coping skills in their home life, work, school, and other personal responsibilities daily in this non-residential program.
Who Can Benefit?
While a non-residential treatment program is appealing for many reasons, clients with specific needs will benefit the most from this type of program.
- Patients who don’t need detox may benefit from this outpatient treatment option.
- Those who do not need 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week monitoring can participate in outpatient programs.
- Participants who are not in immediate danger or do not pose a direct threat to those around them can utilize a non-residential program.
- Clients who need help completing everyday tasks due to trauma or addiction may benefit from outpatient treatment.
What is the objective of an IOP Program?
This type of outpatient program aims to provide clients with the necessary therapeutics for recovery while benefitting from their at-home support system and maintaining and building their healthy everyday routines with personal responsibilities like work and school.
