Our Addiction Recovery Program
Recovery from substance use disorder requires constant support, both through the immediate challenges of withdrawal and the long-term challenges beyond.
Customized Substance Abuse Treatment in Bucks County
Substance use disorder (SUD) is a difficult challenge to overcome on your own. Substance use disorder (commonly, known as addiction) actually rewires the brain and leads to behaviors most of us normally would never imagine. Therefore, recovery can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to achieve alone.
For many people with substance use disorders, the road to recovery requires a significant level of support. For those people, as well as all other seeking help for substance use disorder, Avise Wellness Collective is a premiere addiction recovery program in Pennsylvania, supporting Bucks County and the surrounding areas.
We know that every person’s journey with substance use disorder is unique, and so, too, is each person’s journey to treatment and recovery. At Avise Wellness Collective, we begin by assessing each person on an individual level, so we can meet you where you are. To do so, we craft a customized treatment plan that considers which evidence-based practices are most likely to work best for you and what support is necessary for you to achieve a live in recovery through the years ahead.
Our Addiction Recovery Levels of Care
Depending on the point of your journey with substance use disorder you are experiencing, different levels of care may be necessary. For example, depending on how frequent and compulsive your substance use is, the level of support you have in place, and more, you may need more or less active assistance to get the best results out of your program. We offer multiple different outpatient programs that range from traditional outpatient programs to partial hospitalization programs in order to ensure that we can help the broadest possible range of needs.
The most intense level of treatment that we provide is a partial hospitalization program. Partial hospitalization programs, or PHPs, offer mental health therapy and clinical support in a treatment center environment during the day most days of the week. This keeps our patients in continuous contact with the support teams through the most difficult parts of withdrawal and recovery. It also places patients adjacent to medical support to safely manage withdrawal symptoms. Unlike an inpatient treatment center, however, our PHP patients can return home in the evening and maintain family, work, or school obligations.
Our intensive outpatient program works on a similar schedule to partial hospitalization but with a slightly reduced time investment each day. Intensive outpatient programs are well-suited to people whose responsibilities or obligations make the time commitment of a partial hospitalization program difficult but are still int he phase of their recovery where everyday support would be helpful. Our IOP services provide access to medical interventions if necessary and can function like a day program where patients attend rehabilitation sessions as well as work or school during the day, then return home at night.
Our outpatient program is best suited for those who have milder cases of a substance use disorder, represented by being able to go multiple days without using and having a low change of severe withdrawal symptoms. Alternatively, many people continue with traditional outpatient services once they complete a residential, PHP, or IOP program. Our outpatient program is capable of providing support and accountability while providing resources for difficulties that arise along the way.
For those individuals who are suited for our outpatient programs, we also offer telehealth services. If your location or schedule makes it difficult for you to attend meetings or appointments in person, we have the ability to make appointments that match your needs at your convenience. We understand that not every person has the time or flexibility to make it to one more thing in their day, and that doesn’t mean that they don’t have the commitment or drive to recovery from their substance use disorder with the appropriate support.
Alumni Support and Aftercare
Recovery is a journey that lasts a lifetime; after all, substance use disorders cannot be cured simply by spending time accessing treatment. However, our outpatient services can give people the tools they need to manage SUD and achieve lasting recovery. As clients prepare to re-enter the world outside of an SUD treatment program, our aftercare and alumni support programs are capable of providing continued access to our recovery community as well as long-term recovery strategies and resources. With resources like life skills development, sober housing assistance, alumni groups, group therapy, relapse prevention programs, and more, people can remain in recovery long-term.
Medication Management and Assisted Addiction Treatment
Managing Withdrawal
Withdrawal is a medical reality for many people recovering from substance use disorder. After years of substance use, a person’s body and brain become accustomed to functioning in the presence of chemicals to the extent that the brain pathways can become rewired. When the chemical is removed, neither the body nor the brain knows what to do without it, and this can cause severe symptoms that pose a significant threat.
Mild symptoms of withdrawal include irritability, anxiety, achiness, and cravings. Moderate cases of withdrawal can cause shakiness, sweatiness, and gastrointestinal complications. In particularly severe cases, paranoia, hallucinations, and seizures can occur. While not every person will go through withdrawal, it is crucial to address it in a medically-supervised environment with appropriate medications.
Many people come to Avise Wellness Collective with a full schedule of medications to handle physical and mental health conditions. However, these medications can be difficult to schedule and manage in the best of situations, and mental health conditions and SUD may have contributed to a further decline in your ability to utilize them effectively. In addition, some medications are not ideal for those in treatment for SUD.
As a part of our outpatient services, Avise Wellness Collective will conduct an initial assessment of your need for medications and work with you to streamline and improve your prescribed medications. Our professionals can review your prescriptions, conference with you regarding side effects, adjust dosages or even change your prescriptions to ensure all medications are contributing to your treatment goals. This medication management plan can thoroughly detail your needed medications, ensure you understand each, and help you take all medications as directed.
There are a wide variety of medications available to help people through withdrawal safely, as well as to control cravings and urges. However, these medications must be used in conjunction with other therapies to help control all aspects of substance use disorder. Medication-assisted treatment programs like the one here at Avise Wellness Center incorporate the use of FDA-approved medications along with individual and group counseling, behavioral therapies, and other treatment methods.
Opioid Use Disorder:
- Methadone can block the euphoric effects of opioids, reduce cravings, and attenuate withdrawals.
- Naltrexone primarily acts to reduce the euphoric effects of opioids to reduce cravings.
- Buprenorphine can reduce cravings and moderate withdrawal symptoms by blocking the euphoric effects of opioids.
Alcohol Use Disorder:
- Naltrexone can be used for alcohol use disorder, much like it is with opioid use disorder: to minimize intoxication and reduce cravings.
- Acamprosate may work to help restore the normal brain pathways of people who have used alcohol long-term but it may not be effective in halting withdrawals.
- Disulfiram should only be used by those who are no longer drinking alcohol, as it serves as a deterrent for alcohol use by inducing illness with alcohol consumption.
Dual Diagnosis Treatment: Pursuing Mental Health and Recovery Together
Substance use disorder often arises alongside other mental health conditions or even as a direct result of attempts to numb the symptoms of mental health conditions. Approximately 1 in 4 people with one or more significant mental health conditions also have a substance use disorder. In many cases, mental health and SUD are intimately tied to one another.
Approximately 1 in 4 people with one or more significant mental health conditions also have a substance use disorder.
Data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse
Substance use is a way that many people try to cope with traumatic events or mental health symptoms like anxiety, depression, intrusive thoughts related to PTSD, and more. Without concurrent treatment for the mental health condition, patients cannot address the root causes behind their SUD. Subsequently, the SUD treatment cannot be successful.
At Avise Wellness Collective, one of the first steps we take during the intake process is to open up a conversation about mental health. This allows us to assess any mental health conditions, devise a proper treatment pan, and address mental health alongside SUD. Patients can begin working on the symptoms of their mental health condition as they reorganize their habits, life, and relationship with substance abuse.
Confidentiality and Professionalism
While we might wish the world was better than it is, we understand that sometimes people unfairly judge people with substance use disorders. Knowing that the information we deal with is sensitive both personally and professionally for our clients, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of confidentiality and professionalism. In order for recovery to take place, you need space to be open, to be vulnerable, and to talk about mistakes you may have made in the past. That trust is a sacred bond between patient and provider.
We make this promise to each and every person who enters our doors: no person that you have not specifically authorized will ever gain access to your information from anyone at Avise Wellness Collective.
