If you or someone close to you is struggling with addiction, getting help can seem overwhelming, even if you are ready. What levels of addiction treatment are best for you? Why are there so many names? Do you need treatment at all?
What Are the Different Levels of Addiction Treatment?
Substance abuse levels of care can be divided into two main categories:
Inpatient
Inpatient programs give you full-time care. If people in your home do not support your decision to get clean, or you know that you need supervision to stay on the right track, an inpatient program is best. This is the most intensive program because your schedule is entirely dictated for you to include activities, holistic therapy, and evidence-based therapy. You live at the facility, dine at the facility, and surround yourself with medically trained staff who can help you out anytime and a network of people struggling in the same way and can offer moral support.
Outpatient
Outpatient programs are designed for people who might not be able to afford a full-time rehab center, people who are unable to take off a few months from their responsibilities and need something they can integrate around their home and work schedule, or people who have already completed inpatient rehabilitation and are transitioning back to their everyday lives but continuing with their outpatient treatment to solidify the skills they learned for recovery.
| Inpatient | Outpatient |
| Names include residential rehab, inpatient, live-in care, hospitalization, medically supervised rehab | Names include: partial hospitalization, detoxification, intensive outpatient, and outpatient |
| Usually 30, 60, or 90 days | Can last months or years |
| You live at the facility | You live at home |
| Used for those who need supervision full time during their recovery | Intended for those who do not need full supervision or who have previously completed an inpatient program |
| Provides complete schedules each day with therapy and recovery activities | You attend the rehab center for weekly meetings, on a schedule determined during your consultation |
| Most expensive but also comes with full-time care | Less expensive because you live at home and provide your own meals |
These two levels of addiction care contain a few options intended for different scenarios.
For example, you might require detox in each of these levels of care. Detoxification is a process whereby you remove the remaining toxins from your body. Detox for someone with a minor addiction might be handled at home, but detox for heroin, alcohol, or cocaine has severe withdrawal symptoms and is best handled under medical supervision.
Detoxification can be medically assisted or medically supervised, which means that you stay at a rehab facility or hospital for a few nights while your body goes through withdrawal. During that time, your vitals are monitored, and you are given medications to ease the discomfort.
Hospitalization or Partial hospitalization are two similar treatments (differing in length of stay) that cover detox. During a consultation, this might be recommended for you.
How to Find the Best Addiction Treatment for Me?
If you are ready to find care, the right levels of substance abuse treatment will fit your circumstances and make you comfortable, not necessarily anyone else. Programs and therapies that worked for a family member or friend may not suit you.
Review Your Circumstances
So, start reviewing your circumstances and what you think is a good fit. The right addiction level of care may not go in order from complete inpatient to outpatient; if you are aware of your addiction early enough, you can seek outpatient levels of treatment immediately, with or without a medically supervised detox.
Examine Rehab Centers
Look at different rehab centers in your area. The type of therapy they offer might be essential for you. There are facilities specializing only in inpatient procedures and facilities specializing only in outpatient procedures. Similarly, those that offer both may or may not provide something called dual diagnosis, a facility that targets substance abuse and underlying mental health conditions simultaneously.
Get a Consultation
Before you make a decision, get a consultation. No matter which rehab center stands out to you, you should find it easy to speak with someone about your circumstances, your level of addiction, and what substances you are struggling with. A thorough examination of your medical history, history of drug abuse or alcoholism, current circumstances, and mental health can help determine what level of care is best and what program gives you vital recovery skills.
Addiction Treatment Programs in Southern California
You are ready for addiction treatment programs in Southern California, consider Coachella Valley. Our facility offers different substance abuse levels of care, and we work with you to find the most appropriate one. We can help you start your path to recovery with a complete detox and then transition easily into your residential or outpatient program, complete with evidence-based practices and holistic therapies.
If you are ready to find out which levels of addiction treatment are right for you, reach out to Coachella Valley.
