Intensive Outpatient

Once they’ve completed medical school, new doctors aren’t just handed a scalpel, shoved into an operating room and told to go at it. They must serve an internship before they can actually practice medicine.

Same goes for alcoholics and drug addicts who successfully complete a residential substance abuse program. A responsible treatment center can’t just put them on a plane and say, “Good luck. Try not to order a drink on the flight home.”

The professional staff at Morningside Recovery knows that long-term sobriety requires more than participation in its 90-day extended care program. The months you spend within the safety and comfort of Morningside’s facilities is time well spent. Our psychologists, therapists, counselors and case managers have but one goal in mind when you arrive, and that’s to prepare you for a life free of alcohol, drugs and other disorders.

But the ugly truth is this: Some studies estimate that nearly half of those who complete a residential treatment program relapse within the first year. However, recovery success rates dramatically climb to more than 80 percent for those who continue to participate in outpatient treatment. Morningside has an intensive outpatient program that is designed to ease you into a new way of life in what we like to call “the normal world.”

Ours is a longer and more comprehensive program than most outpatient treatment endeavors out there, generally scheduled for a full three months and geared to those who have already successfully completed a residential program. However, under some circumstances and depending on an assessment with an outpatient counselor, we will accept a candidate who has yet to complete a residential program.

Morningside’s intensive outpatient program meets from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday in one of our private and comfortable group meeting rooms. In addition, we encourage participants to supplement this 10-hour program with at least two 12-step meetings a week.

The curriculum consists of individual and group therapy, as well as educational sessions on such topics as relapse prevention, recognizing triggers that lead to substance abuse, transitional living skills and how to actually have fun in sobriety. All meetings are led by one of our professional clinicians.

Other life-skill topics discussed in these group sessions include:

• Identifying relapse clues
• Managing cravings
• Avoiding high-risk situations
• Understanding relapse prevention
• Ways to handle stress, anger and depression

Educational group workshops explore the science of drug abuse, including such topics as the effects of alcohol and drugs on the body, stages of addiction and the psychological and physiological effects of drugs.

During Morningside’s outpatient treatment, you will be taught how to use the tools of 12-step programs and how to integrate these tools into programs available in your own community. We offer workshops on how to take advantage of your local community resources and its health care professionals to assist you in your sobriety goals. Our clinicians will provide you with a community-based referral for ongoing care with a local therapist, psychiatrist or doctor.

All of these classes, group meetings and individual planning sessions specifically focus on your long-term sobriety. In recovery, this is where the rubber meets the road. Time and time again we see clients released to their communities without a “plan.” And when you don’t have a well-thought-out plan, you relapse. It’s as simple – and unfortunate – as that.

By extending your residential stay with an intensive outpatient regimen, you are receiving the life-skill training that will serve you well once you’re out and about on the streets of your own community again. You will have the tools you need to avoid the temptations and pitfalls that will no doubt seek you out. And you will have that “picket fence” of sober friends and supporters to assist you in your recovery.