The continuum of substance abuse care means offering a wide range of treatments to meet the individualized needs of people in recovery, no thing their stage.

Any constructive physical, behavioral or mental health treatment plan must include an evident and streamlined continuum of intendance to provide the best possible treatment. A solid continuum of care is especially crucial for individuals receiving drug and alcohol rehab.

Without treatment in a continuum of intendance, patients are more than probable to fall through the gaps in the organisation, which results in poor care and an increased likelihood of relapse, overdose and other hard outcomes.

What is a Continuum of Care?

When people refer to a continuum of intendance, y'all can imagine it as a single thread of treatment that begins when you choose to enter professional rehab and carries through to aftercare and beyond. In a continuum of care, patients more often than not "pace downward" to less intensive levels of care as they recover. In this model, your team personalizes and adjusts intendance to meet your unique needs every stride of the way, including afterward you've left the facility.

Imagine if a heart assail patient had their symptoms treated during the incident and was then sent home without cardiac rehab services or any boosted care. Most people would consider that a dangerous oversight. And then many ways things could become wrong with possibly mortiferous consequences. Yet, people with substance abuse disorders oft receive exactly that: fragmented care with life-threatening consequences as a result.

An ideal continuum of care volition have a wide assortment of services and specialties to meet the individual's unique needs.

Some important services on the continuum would include:

  • Inpatient hospitalization: The highest level of care is reserved for people who need the near intensive services under the supervision of a squad of professionals. These curt-term services are frequently found in astute care hospitals.
  • Inpatient/residential handling: Longer in duration than inpatient hospital stays, residential treatment can final from 28 days to 1 year or longer. These programs still provide 24-60 minutes care from trained staff, but they will offer more freedom.
  • Partial hospitalization programs (PHP) :PHPs provide outpatient handling five days each calendar week for four to 6 hours each day, meaning the person lives and sleeps in their home. This level of handling is a match for people who need structure and consistency but are not appropriate for inpatient or residential.
  • Intensive outpatient programs (IOP): If PHP is besides much handling, IOP could exist the best option. IOPs provide about three hours of treatment ii or iii days of the week.
  • Outpatient: Standard outpatient therapy consists of hour-long therapy sessions ranging from several sessions each week or just one session each month. It can also include teletherapy services.
  • Aftercare: Aftercare services help yous with coping skills for triggers, relapse prevention plans, extra resource and peer support then yous can stay sober and alive a good for you, fulfilling life one time you've left the facility.

In improver to these treatments, a person may need detoxification services that help the body rid itself of the alcohol and drugs safely under the intendance of professionals. Detox can have identify in an inpatient or outpatient setting.

Similarly, medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, should be present on the continuum to manage addictions, cravings, or underlying mental wellness disorders. Not every person will demand all services on the continuum, merely it is important for each service to exist available.

Three Principal Predictors of Long-Term Recovery Success

Three master factors predict whether someone will recover from substance abuse and maintain their recovery over a long period of time.

Those factors are:

  • Support and stability from loved ones
  • Engaging in longer periods of professional care
  • Social and community back up, similar organized support groups

If care is not continuous, starting from the fourth dimension the person arrives at handling, there are numerous places where someone can discontinue care and fall out of recovery. As a result, the cycle may start all over once more.

When Patients Fall Through "Cracks" in the Care Organization

Transitioning out of treatment is a challenging time, and when in that location is not another service in identify, the person's recovery is at greater hazard. Studies prove that simply 20% of people who transition without standing intendance volition avoid relapse later one twelvemonth. Adding continuing care increases the abstinence charge per unit past l%.

A person may go through medical detox during inpatient hospitalization so await weeks or months before getting into a rehabilitation plan. They may never get referred to a programme at all. A lot can happen in those weeks or months, and any number of addiction issues tin land the person right dorsum in the infirmary, in jail or worse.

Likewise, when someone returns habitation from a typical 28-day drug and alcohol rehab plan, more "cracks" can open up up if follow-up plans are non in place. For many people, going domicile ways returning to people who have no interest in supporting them in their recovery.

Lack of follow-upwards can cause them to lapse into one-time habits, resulting in another acute crisis and starting the process over. In the worst cases, the person volition overdose post-obit their period of sobriety and endure grave concrete furnishings.

Benefits of Providing a Continuum of Care

Providers like The Recovery Village have implemented programs that bridge intendance at every stage of the detox and recovery process, including after their customer returns home. For instance, a patient in crisis in a hospital may be immediately referred to our detox facility, where they can go when physically stabilized. While in detox, a identify in a drug and alcohol rehab is secured, so the patient goes directly from detox to rehab.

Before they leave rehab, our clients receive a follow-up plan for returning home, including resources they can use while transitioning to everyday life. The Recovery Village offers many aftercare options that carry people into lifelong recovery afterward their handling, including:

  • Sober living homes
  • Alumni programs
  • Support groups
  • Case management
  • Long-term therapy

Many people are involved in helping patients return to health and productivity after they decide to treat their addiction. The people in recovery themselves do the hardest piece of work of all. Without proper support throughout their journey, the possibility of relapse looms big. If you want to acquire more about drug and booze rehab that is tailored to the whole person, we encourage you to contact united states at any time.

Melissa Carmona

Editor – Melissa Carmona

As the content manager at Advanced Recovery Systems, Melissa Carmona puts years of writing and editing feel to piece of work helping people sympathise substance abuse, habit and mental health disorders. Read more than

Eric Patterson

Medically Reviewed Past – Eric Patterson, LPC

Eric Patterson is a licensed professional counselor in the Pittsburgh area who is dedicated to helping children, adults, and families see their treatment goals. Read more

Proctor, Steven; Herschman, Philip. "The Continuing Intendance Model of Substanc[…]' 'Enough?'" Psychiatry Journal, March 27, 2014. Accessed October 15, 2020.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. "Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: […]uide (3rd Edition)." Jan 2018. Accessed October xv, 2020.

Springer, Dave. "Substance Use Disorder Continuum of Care[…]gaging the Community," Department of Health and Human Services. October 31, 2015. Accessed October 15, 2020.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. "Detoxification and Substance Corruption Treatment." October 2015. Accessed October 15, 2020.

Medical Disclaimer

The Recovery Hamlet aims to amend the quality of life for people struggling with substance utilize or mental health disorder with fact-based content about the nature of behavioral health conditions, treatment options and their related outcomes. We publish cloth that is researched, cited, edited and reviewed by licensed medical professionals. The information nosotros provide is non intended to be a substitute for professional medical communication, diagnosis or treatment. It should not be used in place of the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare providers.