Choosing to go to drug and alcohol rehab is an important step towards reclaiming your life. Unfortunately, not everyone can commit to spending one to three months on a closed campus for inpatient treatment. Many people have families to care for, jobs to attend, or other pressing responsibilities. Sometimes the costs of inpatient treatment simply aren’t feasible.
The good news is that outpatient rehab is a far more affordable, flexible alternative for those who need it. Best of all, outpatient care for addiction provides access to many of the same clinical services offered by inpatient programs.
If you want help for drug or alcohol addiction, outpatient treatment is a worthwhile consideration. Throughout your program, you’ll be able to stay in contact with your loved ones. You can enjoy privacy, and you can start using the skills that you develop in treatment right away. Attending outpatient treatment can also make it easier to transition back to every day, post-treatment living. Let’s review more of the benefits of outpatient rehab,
Flexible Treatment Schedules
Outpatient treatment programs are available in varying levels of intensity and time commitments. Some outpatient programs only require a few hours a week to fulfill your treatment plan. Others have more robust scheduling that will require several hours each day.
Most outpatient rehabs also offer treatment schedules that allow you to work during the day. With our Intensive Outpatient Program, patients are asked to be present for treatment for 9 hours a week. Treatment takes place Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 6-9pm. This allows our patients plenty of time to work, finish school, and care for their families.
For many people, one of the greatest benefits of outpatient treatment is being able to continue going to work or school. At the start of your program, you’ll establish a feasible, manageable schedule for treatment by working with your counselor. You’ll have plenty of time to do all the things that you need to do while still making your recovery a top priority.
Maintain Employment or School Schedules
You can’t be the best employee or student that you’re able to be until you confront your addiction head-on. With outpatient rehab, you don’t have to put work or school on hold. After you’ve completed our initial detox and inpatient program, you can resume a regular or modified schedule right away. Best of all, you can attend treatment discreetly. You don’t have to let your co-workers or employer know that you’re receiving addiction support unless you want to.
When people continue attending work or school while in outpatient treatment, they’re immediately and continuously coached on how to face real-world stressors and triggers without relapsing. They get solid support systems that they can reach out to throughout the day when feeling overwhelmed. Given that outpatient treatment is largely self-managed, you’ll also have the ability to request more structure or additional support as needed.
Ability to Live at Home or in Sober Living
With inpatient treatment, recovering addicts spend all of their time on a single, closed campus. They might have the benefit of family days or visitation hours, but they’re largely cut off from the outside world. For many people, this type of isolation can be incredibly beneficial.
During the formative stages of addiction recovery, inpatient treatment helps people avoid enabling or toxic relationships, family trauma, and high-risk environments. However, if you have a loving and supportive family unit, or if you have the opportunity to stay in a sober living facility, staying on a closed campus might not be necessary.
If you remain at home, you can start rebuilding the relationships that your addiction has destroyed while you’re in treatment. In your free time, you and your loved ones can attend family therapy or marriage counseling. More importantly, you can start experiencing the sense of comfort and normalcy that you were missing while addicted.
If you choose to stay in a sober living facility, you’ll have the opportunity to work with onsite counselors to establish a sustainable, comfortable lifestyle. They can help you find career-building services, job opportunities that fit your skills, and even options in long-term housing assistance among other things. You’ll have the benefit of needs-specific support services and knowledgeable guides both in your outpatient program and at home, in your chosen sober living facility.
Similar Clinical Services as Inpatient Treatment
Choosing to attend outpatient treatment doesn’t mean that you’ll miss out on important clinical services such as:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
- Group Therapy
- Dual Diagnosis Treatment
Outpatient programs are staffed by knowledgeable, experienced professionals who are capable of meeting a broad range of needs. They can help patients with co-occurring mental health disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and many others.
During outpatient treatment, you’ll receive both private and group counseling. You can also take part in stress management activities, skill-building workshops, strategy sessions, and receive many other helpful treatment components. At Mississippi Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center, we pride ourselves on providing an outpatient program that’s just as robust and all-inclusive as our inpatient treatment services.
Practice What You’ve Learned in Real-Time
For those who can afford inpatient treatment and have the option of temporarily leaving work or school, inpatient rehab can be very beneficial. Inpatient rehab completely removes patients from the stressors, triggers, and other challenges of the outside world. It gives them a chance to make getting better their sole focus.
However, with inpatient programs, leaving treatment can sometimes be daunting. Although patients have learned new coping skills and healthier ways of managing their stress, they haven’t yet had the opportunity to put these skills into practice. This is one area in which outpatient rehab trumps inpatient services. When you take part in an outpatient program, you’ll have the opportunity to use and strengthen your new coping skills every day.
Build Relationships in the Local Community
People in outpatient rehab are constantly building networks to support their new sober lifestyles. This is true whether they remain at home or opt to live in sober living houses. During your program, you can actively look for resources that will help you combat some of the most common causes of relapse such as:
- Joblessness
- Homelessness
- Social isolation
- General financial distress
Even as you continue going to work or school, and spending time in your outpatient program, you can actively build your long-term support team. You won’t have to wait for your treatment to end to find and join local sober meetings, establish accountability partners or sober sponsors, and participate in support groups. You can meet with professionals who will connect you with transportation and housing assistance, and with other important resources.
Lower Cost than Inpatient Rehab
For many people, the biggest draw of outpatient rehab is its significantly lower cost. Many outpatient rehab programs cost just 25 percent of the total cost of inpatient treatment. Even with an insurance plan that will cover the majority of your treatment-related expenses, outpatient services can be far more financially accessible.
With outpatient services, you’ll have less out-of-pocket spending to worry about. In most cases, you’ll also have fewer travel-related costs. If you pair outpatient rehab with a sober living facility, your overall living costs will be manageable and easy to do deal with.
Ongoing Support
One of the most dangerous things for a recovering addict to do is to exit treatment and return to everyday life without the benefit of ongoing support. During inpatient addiction treatment, all patients are encouraged to develop solid support plans before exiting.
However, if you complete your addiction treatment in outpatient rehab, you’ll already be building relationships with outside support services long before your treatment is over. Moreover, given the far lower cost of outpatient treatment, if you need additional, structured rehab after completing your initial program, you may be able to enroll in a professional relapse prevention program without spending beyond your means.
At Mississippi Drug and Alcohol Treatment Center, we recognize that individual treatment needs can vary greatly. That’s why we offer comprehensive inpatient and outpatient programs. With our outpatient rehab, you can make recovery a top priority while still spending time with your loved ones, and while continuing to attend work or school.
If you’re ready to get on the path to recovery but aren’t ready to commit to inpatient rehab, we can help. Get in touch with us today.
Understanding Dual Diagnosis: Addiction & Mental Health
