Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)

First, it is important to understand what an intensive outpatient program is.

IOP is a 3-4 day a week program designed to give you group, individual, and family counseling options. Traditionally, an IOP program is 9-10 hours weekly. You and the intake counselor will discuss the duration of that program when you admit. The focus for IOP is on helping people maintain recovery than achieving it.

Research has shown that for over 30 years now that engaging in group therapies produces the best outcomes for recovery.

One of the most effective types of therapy for addiction treatment takes place among your peers in recovery. Group therapy treats substance abuse, addiction, and associated psychological disorders. In group treatment, you explore topics common to your addiction, gain insight about yourself through others’ eyes, and learn from the experiences of your peers. Although group therapy is not easy at first, you soon look forward to your sessions and what you gain. It is a schedule of sessions with at least one therapist guiding several participants through education and support for their common disease. Members of the group play a major role in its success. Together with other types of therapy, group proves to be an important and highly effective treatment for addiction.

One of the purposes of group counseling is reducing members’ symptoms to help them achieve recovery.

People wanting lasting recovery find group treatment extremely helpful. After all, group therapy exists for ending drug use and maintaining sobriety without relapse. According to leading experts, group therapy achieves this as well as individual counseling, if not better.

Group counselors help members learn how to build healthy relationships based on trust, gain and utilize support from people traveling the same path, and build confidence and self-esteem while reducing stress, guilt, and pain. In group therapy, members learn how to stop behaving in destructive ways and receive guidance during these sessions for continuing progress and self-awareness. Members also learn communication skills, relapse prevention techniques, and stress-reducing skills while addressing more in depth issues, supporting and motivating each other, and gaining problem-solving skills.

One of the greatest benefits of group treatment is its quick availability to people looking to recover. The group setting means more people gain treatment at once, cutting down on wait time for therapy. Group fills gaps between individual counseling sessions and expands on what you learn through one-on-one therapy.