Aleut Community of Saint Paul Island

In Alaska, substance abuse treatment programs provide a full spectrum of addiction care, which may include detox, residential, and intensive outpatient programs. These programs incorporate evidence-based therapies such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), trauma-focused therapy, and mindfulness-based therapy. You’ll learn emotional regulation skills, new coping strategies, and develop a supportive recovery community, which are essential components of long-term recovery.

Clients engaged in an outpatient rehab program receive regular therapeutic care while continuing to live at home. Outpatient care is designed for clients in more advanced stages of recovery who no longer require intensive supervision. Many clients in outpatient treatment continue to work or attend school, while receiving counseling and education during the evening, night, or weekend. Levels of care vary based on clients’ needs, ranging from partial hospitalization (PHP) and intensive outpatient (IOP) to standard outpatient programming.

Clients engaged in intensive outpatient programs (IOP) receive between nine and 20 hours of outpatient treatment per week. Intensive outpatient drug rehabs offer a wide variety of services, including medication assisted treatment (MAT), individual, group, and family counseling, and evidence-based complementary care, such as acupuncture, massage, and meditation. The intensity and frequency of treatment generally decreases as clients progress in their recovery. Clients often transition into IOP from inpatient rehab but may choose IOP instead of inpatient treatment.

Group meetings, peer sponsorship, and spiritual development are the primary treatment modalities in 12 step programs, often considered a gold standard in addiction recovery. These programs emphasize healing in body, mind, and spirit as a cornerstone of recovery, though participants do not need to be religiously affiliated to attend. Recovery meetings are free, anonymous, open to the public, and available 365 days per year in communities across the US and around the world.

Completing a drug or alcohol rehab program shouldn't spell the end of substance abuse treatment. Aftercare involves making a sustainable plan for recovery, including ongoing support. This can include sober living arrangements like halfway houses, career counseling, and setting a patient up with community programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA).

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a clinical approach to helping people with substance abuse issues and other conditions shift behavior in positive ways. It is more goal-oriented than traditional psychotherapy, as MI counselors directly attempt to get clients to consider making behavioral change (rather than wait for them to come to conclusions themselves). Its primary purpose is to resolve ambivalence and help clients become able to make healthy choices freely.

Trauma therapy addresses traumatic incidents from a client's past that are likely affecting their present-day experience. Trauma is often one of the primary triggers and potential causes of addiction, and can stem from child sexual abuse, domestic violence, having a parent with a mental illness, losing one or both parents at a young age, teenage or adult sexual assault, or any number of other factors. The purpose of trauma therapy is to allow a patient to process trauma and move through and past it, with the help of trained and compassionate mental health professionals.

Trauma therapy addresses traumatic incidents from a client's past that are likely affecting their present-day experience. Trauma is often one of the primary triggers and potential causes of addiction, and can stem from child sexual abuse, domestic violence, having a parent with a mental illness, losing one or both parents at a young age, teenage or adult sexual assault, or any number of other factors. The purpose of trauma therapy is to allow a patient to process trauma and move through and past it, with the help of trained and compassionate mental health professionals.