The essential elements of the Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) are structured, open-ended groups that focus on specific topics related to early recovery and relapse prevention skills. Each group is 3 hours in length and meets every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6 pm to 9 pm for 12 weeks, including a weekly Family Education Group session.

IOP utilizes evidence-based treatments to prevent relapse by providing individuals with healthy coping skills and the development of a strong support network. The treatment model incorporates many different components of addiction treatment, including:

• Relapse prevention skills
• Stress management
• Introduction to 12-steps
• The neurobiology of addiction
• Cognitive and behavioral strategies to manage emotions

Family involvement is strongly encouraged as their participation increases the likelihood of successful treatment and helps them through their own recovery process. Family members will learn about the recovery process, setting healthy boundaries, ways to rebuild trust, and the disease process of addiction.

The primary components of IOP are:

• Group counseling and therapy
• Individual treatment planning and review
• Individual counseling
• Psychoeducational programming
• Weekly random drug screens
• Pharmacotherapy and medication management
• Family involvement and counseling
• Transition management and discharge planning

Taking the First Step

Your first appointment will consist of a comprehensive substance abuse evaluation. This evaluation is a tool used to determine the extent of your substance use so treatment professionals can create an individualized care plan well suited to your needs and situation. Through written assessments and interviews, staff will inquire about your health history, past and present drug and/or alcohol use, the manner and behaviors by which it's affected your life, co-occurring psychiatric and medical issues, and history of treatment.

The coordination of treatment is facilitated by a multidisciplinary team offering medical, therapeutic, and recovery support. In accordance with our Patient-and-Family Centered Care philosophy, Augusta University Health desires to establish a healthy environment by giving you the tools to help your loved one while addressing the issues that have negatively impacted your own life.

Family in Recovery

Family involvement is strongly encouraged as their participation increases the likelihood of successful treatment and helps them through their own recovery process. Family members will learn about:

• The recovery process
• Setting healthy boundaries
• Methods to rebuild trust
• The disease process of addiction

Family Education Group

Each Wednesday there will be a 90 minute Family Education component presented to patients and their families that will include group discussions and program topics such as the neurobiology of addiction, physical effects of drugs and alcohol, family roles, behavioral conditioning, enabling, and codependency.

There are many definitions for recovery, but it can most aptly be defined as "not having to put anything in your body to change the way you feel." A popular 12-step slogan is "to live life on life's terms." Although sobriety is considered a necessary condition for recovery, it is not sufficient. There are many causes for relapse but the inability to control stress often leads to a strong craving for an individuals drug of choice. The many facets of treatment are designed to effectively cope with the inevitability of stressful events with specific skills and social support.

Early Recovery Skills

These skills are specific and behavioral, with a focus on the core components of actively engaging in a recovery program. The purpose of the skills group is to:

• Teach patients how to schedule time.
• Identify internal and external triggers.
• Utilize relapse prevention strategies.
• Learn cognitive tools to reduce cravings.
• target the behavioral and neurological components of the reward pathway.

Patients will also be introduced the 12-step program and will be asked to attend meetings to begin developing a community support network in conjunction with IOP treatment.

Relapse Prevention

Relapse prevention is a primary component of the program that provides the underlying basis for how patients learn to maintain sobriety. The groups are highly structured with a specific format for each session. The evidence-based therapies incorporated throughout IOP provide integration of:

• Neurobehavioral Concepts
• Motivational Interviewing
• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
• Contingency Management
• Family Therapy

Mindfulness Training

Difficulty in coping with negative thoughts and feelings is a pervasive factor in the development of substance abuse issues and the ability to maintain sobriety. Mindfulness training teaches acceptance of uncomfortable sensations, memories, or urges by bringing awareness to the present moment. Mindfulness practice has also been shown to reduce emotional reactivity by learning how to simply acknowledge and then disengage from distracting thoughts and emotions.

Research shows that addiction compromises the function of the prefrontal cortex - the region of the brain that enables us to think and plan for the future - while the reward system in the midbrain exerts control over behavior as the craving for higher levels of dopamine overrides the ability to think rationally. Essentially, the prefrontal cortex goes offline along with the ability to think about the consequences of drug and alcohol abuse.

A component of the brain, the Default Mode Network (DMN), becomes activated when the brain becomes stressed, whether ruminating about the past, worrying about the future, or when craving occurs. Meditation has been shown to make this network quiet down which, in turn, allows the thinking brain to come back online. This has important implications for recovery since negative emotional states such as stress are strong predictors of relapse.