Inpatient treatment offers women seeking recovery a place to heal and grow. It is a protected environment where you are immersed in recovery and have the opportunity to learn new tools and coping skills that help to overcome addiction and lead a happy, healthy and successful life outside of treatment. During an inpatient recovery program you will come up against a variety of challenges as you learn new ways of thinking and behaving. Emotions will come up during treatment and so will cravings. The good news is that treatment offers you the opportunity to experience all this in a supportive environment where you have access to staff 24/7 and can take advantage of regular therapy sessions and group counseling with peers. You always have someone to turn to, and your environment is free of negative or unsafe elements. What Happens When You Leave Treatment? For many women, this question leads to uncertainty and even anxiety. Although you may look forward to returning to “normal life” and the freedom that comes with it, you may also wonder how you will stay on the right path outside of the safety of treatment. What will you do if you have a craving? How will you cope with triggers? What happens if you need help or if something goes wrong? Ideally, you will have begun to build a support system of women, including a sponsor, that you can turn to for support. You will be leaving treatment and moving on to a home that is clean and sober, or at the very least respects your new clean and sober lifestyle. For many women, the solution to transitioning successfully from treatment is through an intensive outpatient program (IOP). What Is An IOP? An IOP is an outpatient treatment program that typically follows an inpatient program. An intensive outpatient program consists of regular sessions that you will attend, often at the very same place you attended inpatient treatment. Some of the services offered during IOP include group therapy, individual counseling, relapse prevention classes and topical education groups on subjects such as anger management, parenting and life skills. An IOP bridges the gap between residential treatment and normal life with no structure or support. For some women, this lack of structure and support after treatment is not adequate and relapse is a risk. This can be particularly common if there is no support in place after treatment. An IOP provides that support. As you progress through the program you will have continued opportunities to develop friendships and connections that can be there for you in the long term, as well as a strong foundation of recovery that will help you through the challenges of life after treatment. Advantages Of An IOP A Sense Of Structure While you don’t live at an IOP, you do attend regular sessions that give you a sense of consistency. You know that no matter what else is going on in your life, you can count on these sessions to be there for you and provide you with the resources and security you need to deal with whatever comes your way. Support An IOP can be an ongoing source of support for those first few months after treatment. You will get support from both staff and peers, just like at inpatient treatment. One of the biggest reason people relapse after treatment is lack of support. So often, people go from treatment back to their old situations and environments and completely lose touch with the recovery community. Even though they want to stay clean and sober, the support just isn’t there. Without that constant encouragement and accountability, it can be all too easy to slip back into old, familiar patterns. After all, you have spent far more time in this lifestyle than a clean and sober one. IOP gives you support. You have people in your corner, cheering you on. You have people who will call you on your stuff and give you a sense of accountability. This will help keep you on the right path. Tools You Can Use Right Now When you are in an inpatient program, time will be devoted to discussing potential scenarios and situations that you may run into in daily life after treatment. For example, how will you stay clean and sober during stressful times? How will you handle it when a friend or family member offers you drugs, or is using around you? What do you do when you feel like using? With IOP, you have the opportunity to bring your individual, real-life situations to your sessions so that you can gain insight and get feedback from others. You may get tips for dealing with difficult situations or support for what you are going through. Wayside House IOP In addition to our comprehensive inpatient treatment program for women, Wayside House also offers an intensive outpatient program for women who have completed our residential program. We offer relapse prevention education and offer ongoing support for our alumni. To find out more about our recovery programs, call 561-278-0055 today.