Understanding PHPs for Outpatient Treatment

Partial hospitalization programs - also known as PHPs - are among the most intensive forms of outpatient treatment. Through these programs, you might be able to overcome your substance use disorder. Read on to find out more:

Understanding Partial Hospitalization Programs

You can address a substance abuse and addiction disorder in several ways. Some of the programs that offer help with these conditions tend to be strict. To this end, they will typically require your attention and concentration around the clock.

Other programs might be a little less constrictive. This means that you will only have to spend a couple of hours every week at the treatment center to receive the recovery services you need.

A partial hospitalization program falls midway between these two types of programs. For instance, they are not classified as residential treatment programs. As such, you won't be asked to move into the treatment center to benefit from rehabilitation.

However, they are not based on appointments in the same way a regular outpatient treatment program would be. Instead, they will offer the committed and in-depth level of care that you need to overcome your substance use disorder.

This type of program is typically recommended if you have a high risk of relapse that requires special attention but continue enjoying the support of family and friends back at home.

But what exactly is a partial hospitalization program? Essentially, it is defined as an outpatient treatment program that is typically based in hospitals, clinics, and other treatment facilities.

The services that you can expect when you choose this form of addiction recovery include but are not always limited to the following:

  • Aftercare programming
  • Behavior management
  • Family counseling
  • Group therapy
  • Individual therapy
  • Medication management
  • Psychiatric evaluation
  • Psychological testing
  • Relapse prevention
  • Vocational education and training

Although these treatment options might seem robust at first, they could go a long way in helping you overcome your substance use and addiction. However, you first need to prepare and plan for treatment before enrolling in a partial hospitalization program.

Preparing for PHPs

Some of the things that you can do - and get done - before you check into such an outpatient treatment program include:

1. Assessments and Evaluation

You might not always benefit from partial hospitalization programs, and it might not be the right solution for your addiction. In fact, you may not have the ability to decide that PHPs are ideal while you are struggling with a substance use disorder. This is because your addiction might impact your ability to form informed decisions.

To this end, it is recommended that you go through thorough assessment and testing to ensure that PHP is the right way to deal with your addiction. This means that you will work with addiction treatment professionals, who will examine the nature and extent of your addiction.

Further, they will work with you to determine the different outpatient treatment options that are open to you. The assessment might be useful in ensuring that you only check into a partial hospitalization program because it is ideal for your recovery.

2. Payment

Secondly, you need to decide how you are going to offset the cost of treatment at a PHP. This effectively means that you should put your affairs in order, check that your insurance coverage (if any) is going to offset the cost of your recovery services, and work how you will afford treatment through other options.

Most partial hospitalization programs tend to cost more than a regular outpatient treatment program. This is because they will offer more intensive programs and services. This means that you should talk to your insurance provider to find out how much of your treatment they will take care of.

3. Create a Treatment Plan

You should also work with your intake professionals to determine the types of treatment that will be offered while you are enrolled in the partial hospitalization program. In many cases, this will mean that you have to create a highly customized, personalized, and unique treatment plan.

This plan will most likely include some forms of therapy and counseling. This is because you need help understanding the difficulties that caused your addiction, as well as overcome them.

You may also have to go through functional testing and mental health testing to ensure that the treatment program understands all the challenges that you are facing. Through such testing, they can prepare the right treatment plan that could help you achieve full recovery.

4. Treatment Schedules

Often, partial hospitalization programs provide strict schedules that you need to follow before you can start witnessing improvements in your addiction and substance abuse. A typical schedule will be something in the line of:

  • 8 a.m.: Transportation to the PHP facility
  • 8 - 9 a.m.: Group counseling
  • 9 -11 a.m.: Skill-building sessions that could involve emotional regulation, mediation, communication skills, and distress tolerance
  • 11 a.m. - 12 p.m.: Group counseling for poor mental health (if any) and substance use disorders
  • 12 -1 p.m.: Lunch break and time for private meditation
  • 1 - 2 p.m.: Life skills training, which could include nutrition, leisure activities, and medication management
  • 2 - 3 p.m.: Final group meeting
  • 3 - 4 p.m.: Transportation from the facility

As you can see, your days at a partial hospitalization program would be packed and filled with different activities. The goal of this type of outpatient treatment would be to help you understand your addiction and learn how to overcome it.

Overcoming Addiction through PHP

Finally, you should understand that outpatient treatment offered through partial hospitalization programs can provide you with the short term care that could help you deal with your substance abuse. In particular, these programs are ideal if you are struggling with a severe crisis as a result of your addiction or poor mental health.

Even so, PHPs are not long term programs. At the end of the program, you need to be prepared for the next steps that you have to take to continue on the road to full recovery from your addiction. These steps might involve participating in another form of outpatient treatment, such as intensive outpatient or a regular outpatient program.

CITATIONS

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1021342309585

https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Reports/downloads/Leung_PHP_PPS_2010.pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10120295

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/partial-hospitalization

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2150137813518063

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