Addiction affects every area of your life, and help is available.
One of the greatest hurdles for many people looking for addiction help is deciding what kind of help you need.
What services do you need, what kind of professional, and what kind of facility?
Let’s start at the beginning-
Addiction Services
Types of services
- Intervention
- Medical Detox/Social Detox
- Outpatient/Intensive Outpatient (IOP)
- Inpatient/Residential
- Monitoring
- Sober Living
- Psychiatrist/Psychologist
- Recovery Coach
Professional Interventionist
What is an Intervention?
Starting at the very beginning, determine whether or not you need professional help getting your loved one to treatment.
An intervention with a Professional Interventionist can help bridge the gap between the family and the addicted person. An interventionist is a valuable tool that can make the difference between your loved one getting angry and shutting down, or hearing a loving message and agreeing to go to treatment.
Intervention is a strategic process that involves identifying pain points, creating solutions, providing unprecedented knowledge and insight to treatment centers nationwide, and crafting a conversation that fosters a loving conversation between family and friends. All of which leads to getting your loved one in treatment.
If you are struggling to have a conversation about treatment, if every attempt leads to anger and fighting, or your loved one leaving, you will benefit from the guidance of a Professional Interventionist.
Interventionists typically travel nationwide to provide services and will walk you through every step. For more information from a veteran Intervention Professional and a closer look at the process, read more from our own Overland Park, KS Interventionist Angela Pugh.
Alcohol Detox
Alcohol & Drug Detox Centers
There are different models of detox centers and a few things to think about when considering detox.
Alcohol Withdrawal
Alcohol and Benzodiazepines (anti-anxiety meds) both have a dangerous withdrawal process and should always seek medical supervision. You can enter your local hospital Emergency Room or find a detox center that specializes in alcohol and drug detox to help you determine your next steps.
Depending on where you are, titles and names may be a bit different. Kansas City detox centers are usually referred to as medical detox or social detox.
I’ll tell you the differences between the two types of facilities so you will understand the gist, regardless of what your city may call it.
A medical detox is a facility that has medical staff and medical supervision. Again, alcohol detox is extremely dangerous, as well as benzodiazepines, so these definitely need that medical component.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse says:
During this acute phase of detox, or withdrawal, medical staff will check on the person regularly and monitor their vitals and overall well-being. Also, if a life-threatening situation arises as a result of withdrawal, a medical detox facility is properly equipped to handle these issues appropriately.
A social model detox is a fairly simple concept. A social detox environment is a structured, safe place for someone to go through detox/withdrawal when they are medically stable and do not have any medical necessity.
This is a safe place to sleep, eat, shower, and get drugs and alcohol out of your system in a clean environment.
With any substance, if your person is actively under the influence, the best first step is detox. Substances wreak havoc on your body and mind, and some are very dangerous. Medical guidance is always a good place to start.
Some inpatient drug rehab centers have detox as a part of their program. If you have an inpatient facility in mind, it’s good to ask them if detox is a part of the process, or if your person needs to seek detox elsewhere.
Outpatient Treatment & Intensive Outpatient (IOP)
Outpatient Rehab
Outpatient and Intensive Outpatient treatment consist of several groups a week, and individual therapy with a licensed or certified professional.
The treatment schedule includes process groups, relapse prevention, support groups and others depending on the program.
Often, outpatient centers offer day programs and night programs to accommodate work schedules, and attendance is several days a week. A standard outpatient treatment may be 2-3 days a week for 1-3 hours per day, while Intensive Outpatient is a higher level of care meeting more days and more hours per week.
Outpatient rehab allows the client to live at home and attend work and school normally, or tend to family obligations with little interference. You attend you groups at the specified times and you continue living life without interruption.
Inpatient Drug Rehab
Inpatient/Residential Treatment
In an inpatient, or residential, treatment program a person checks themselves into the facility to live in a healthy and controlled environment 24 hours a day.
When entering an inpatient facility you are fully immersed in a recovery lifestyle with little to no use of phones and computers, no job, no car. Your full-time job is your sobriety and recovery.
Every facility is different as to their rules on electronics etc. and it is good to ask all of those questions in advance.
Your loved one will attend groups on a daily basis, have medical supervision, access to professional therapists on a weekly basis, participate in socialization and relapse prevention groups, exercise, and many other types of therapies and activities.
All food and transportation is provided by the treatment center and the treatment center will communicate with the family as necessary with updates and upcoming events.
It is not easy to know what to ask a treatment center when you call. We found a great list of questions here from our friends at Addiction Unlimited Podcast that will help you get familiar with how treatment works and know what to expect.
If you are doing detox in a separate facility from inpatient treatment, it is always recommended that you go directly from detox to inpatient with zero stops in between. Best case scenario is to detox in the same place so the transition is seamless, but if circumstances don’t allow that then go straight from one to the other, and use a sober companion service if necessary.
Addiction Monitoring Services
Addiction Monitoring has been around for awhile, and is a great asset to help establish stable recovery.
These programs vary in structure and duration, and what services are provided. In fact, many treatment are now providing these services when a client leaves their facility.
The downside is, if you or your loved one have gone to a different state for treatment, but you are returning to your home state after treatment, it can be challenging for someone to monitor. That being said, much of this process lies in the willingness of the person because they have to be the one to attend their IOP, show up for scheduled meetings, and answer the phone when called.
Monitoring is an added support for the newly recovering person because it provides an additional layer of supervision and accountability. My favorite monitoring programs are run by Recovery Coaches who have personal knowledge and experience with recovery themselves. They are available during off hours instead of only being available during office hours by appointment only, they can meet for coffee, and have great recovery conversations with your loved one.
You can learn more about Recovery Coaches here, and we often create personalized plans to fit your life and level of need.
Sober Living
We know for sure that the longer we can keep someone engaged in a recovery process and lifestyle, the better the odds of long-term sobriety.
This means it’s a great idea to go to sober living straight from inpatient treatment, or live in sober living while you are attending outpatient rehab or IOP.
Sober living provides a structured environment, while still returning people to normal everyday functioning of going to work or school and being with family.
Sober living houses have curfew and chores, random urine and breath testing to ensure sobriety, and different requirements for recovery meeting attendance and other things. You can find more information on Kansas City Recovery sober living here, and a list of our rules and criteria.
Things that are important to consider in sober living are the basic rules, cleanliness, who enforces the rules, what are the expectations of weekly meetings, and what are the policies around relapse and medications in the home.
Many sober living houses will not allow common medications utilized for Medication-Assisted-Treatment (MAT) like Methadone or Suboxone. And most don’t accept people taking narcotic or abuseable medications like Aderrall, Ativan, and others.
Some people get frustrated with these policies, but I would urge you to consider the big picture. A sober living home has to protect ALL of its members. If one person is taking Suboxone, which still contains opiates, then every other opiate addict in the home can be triggered by this.
There is a lot at stake when you are caring for many people and their sobriety, and none of us takes this lightly.
Addiction Psychiatrist/Psychologist/Counselor
Many people use these professional terms interchangeably although they are actually very different things.
Firstly, a psychiatrist is an actual medical doctor. This is why they have the power to prescribe medication. Some psychiatrists specialize in addiction and the treatment of addiction and it’s common co-occurring mental health issues.
A psychologist is not a medical doctor, and can not prescribe medication. A psychologist may specialize in a certain treatment area, or may do generalized therapy. It is good to ask other trusted professionals for referrals, or ask your friends and family who they have used.
And Addiction Counselor is another person with specialized knowledge and education surrounding addiction and can typically do assessments and evaluations, as well as general counseling as it pertains to addiction.
It is important to understand that every state has different laws for credentialing, education, and licensing. Do your due diligence, ask for referrals, read websites and reviews, and make a lot of calls to get your questions answered.
You are welcome to email me directly, at help@kansascityrecovery.com, with those questions, too. I have relationships with professionals across the country and I am happy to help.
Recovery Coach
The main thing to be clear about when anyone calls themselves a Coach, is that coaching is an unregulated field. What that means is, there is no state or federal requirement to obtain a license or certification to call yourself a coach.
Many states have adopted training programs for people to work in treatment centers as Recovery Coaches, or Peer Mentors, or Recovery Support Specialist, or many other names I have encountered these last few years. But anyone can hang a sign on their door and call themselves a Life Coach or any other kind of coach they want.
There are many highly qualified training programs that offer certifications for coaching and require ongoing education to maintain that certification. But it is not required to practice as a Coach.
Any Coach who takes their career seriously will always be engaged in continuing education to be able to provide the best possible services to clients. And if a Coach is no good, you will know.
A Recovery Coach has personal knowledge of a recovery lifestyle and living alcohol and drug free. They truly walk the walk.
A Recovery Coach has freedom to be available evenings and weekends, to meet you at your favorite recovery meeting, and talk about the principles of recovery with you over coffee.
A Recovery Coach is not an AA sponsor and does not work steps, and they are not therapists or doctors with the knowledge or right to diagnose or treat any condition.
This is a great tool with promising research.
Conclusion
There are a lot of things to consider when looking for addiction help. This should help break down the process, the professionals, and the order we go in.
Remember that many substances are dangerous, and seeking the guidance of a professional is ALWAYS a good idea.
Any kind of treatment is a very serious decision and it deserves the time and energy to make a good choice.