Rochester

Rochester, New Hampshire, is home to the villages of East Rochester, Gonic and North Rochester. One of the largest cities in New Hampshire, the city is home to around 30,000 people spread over 40 square miles. Located close to the beaches and mountains alike, Rochester is a picturesque example of a cozy New England city.

However, like many other cities in New Hampshire, Rochester has been experiencing a rapid rise in drug addiction and substance use disorders over the past several years. These substances have shifted from predominantly alcohol to heroin and other opiates. In 2015 alone, over 400 people in New Hampshire died of a drug overdose. This is a 250% increase over the overdose deaths in 2011, showing the magnitude and severity of the problem. The administration of Narcan, an opioid overdose reversing agent, by emergency services rose from 897 in 2012 to a staggering 2,724 in 2015 just three years later.

Addiction has a devastating effect on the lives of substance users and their loved ones. Even when substance abuse doesn’t lead to overdose or death directly, there are a myriad of physical and mental health problems that can follow a person struggling with addiction. Even moderate abuse of alcohol can have destructive effects on the body.

Alcohol use can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease or stroke, cause permanent damage to the liver in the form of cirrhosis, contribute to cancer development and weaken the immune system. These health impacts don’t even consider the more acute risks of alcohol and drug abuse like overdose, impaired driving or dangerous lifestyle factors encouraged by drug abuse, like diseases that can be spread by needle sharing.

Fortunately, Rochester and New Hampshire have been investing considerable resources in the fight against substance abuse, and there are a number of treatment types and options for patients seeking to make a change in their life. Depending on each individual’s needs, there are a range of resources available.

Alcohol and Drug Rehab Center Types

As you evaluate options for yourself or a loved one struggling with addiction, you will want to consider what form and intensity of treatment is best for your specific situation. There is a wide range of treatment options, varying in commitment level and compatibility with other aspects of your life. Understanding these options will help you make the best choice for you or your loved one.

Residential Treatment Programs

Residential or inpatient treatment programs are the most intensive form of rehab. It involves an extended stay within a facility. It can be appropriate for any substance but generally is used in the most severe cases where maximal support is needed.

Residential programs can vary from facility to facility, but they generally have the following features:

• All-in-one evaluation and treatment resources under one roof
• Twenty-four-hour medical supervision with the ability to provide more complex treatment or emergency treatment as needed
• Psychiatric services as often as needed, including medication management
• Both individual and group therapy on a daily basis, including specialty therapy needs and peer group therapy
• Recreational services that can enhance treatment, such as exercise facilities, meditation and yoga classes
• Comprehensive planning for the next steps after inpatient rehab

Patients can expect to spend 30-45 days in an inpatient rehab program, but this can vary based on the facility and on specific patient needs.

Partial Hospitalization Programs

Partial hospitalization programs are the next level of intensity in treatment. These can be the next step for residential treatment program graduates, or they can serve as stand-alone programs for those who wish to maintain some flexibility in their treatment and schedule.

While partial hospitalization programs include many of the same treatment options as inpatient hospitalization, such as medical support and medication management, multiple sessions of group and individual therapy per day, and access to other medical and education resources, it does so without requiring 24-hour supervision or for the patient to stay in one facility for an extended period of time.

However, patients do participate in several sessions per day and spend several hours in treatment. The program is essentially structured as a full-time job. Patients spend working hours at a facility receiving treatment but will sleep at home and maintain more normalcy in their lives. This structure can ease with the transition back to work life, but it is important to note that like with inpatient programs, the patient will be unable to work or study while completing the program due to its full-time nature.

Outpatient Treatment Programs

The final type of rehab treatment is an outpatient program. This requires the least time commitment and provides less support and rigor, but it can be a great fit for patients needing less guidance or as a form of continuing treatment for patients who have completed a residential or partial hospitalization program.

There are many different types of outpatient programs. They can include weekly individual therapy and monthly psychiatric visits. However, most structured outpatient programs are in the form of an intensive outpatient program.

Intensive outpatient programs, or IOPs, are similar to partial hospitalization programs in that they provide a variety of therapy and education services. Additionally, patients may live at home. However, IOPs offer a much lower intensity of treatment than partial hospitalization. Instead of full-time treatment, therapy and activities take closer to three hours per day. These sessions are offered during the evening and weekends, which enables a patient to receive more intense treatment than just weekly individual therapy while still managing work or school obligations.

This can be a good fit for patients who require either less intense treatment or do not have the option to pause their work, school or family duties. It can also serve as a follow-up level of care for patients completing residential or partial hospitalization programs. Given the reduced time commitment, intensive outpatient programs can be utilized for months longer than other kinds of programs, enabling the kind of long-term support that is so critical for patients battling substance abuse and addiction.

Recovery Meetings

One of the least involved but highly effective forms of treatment includes the support that comes from peer recovery meetings. Some people struggling with addiction start here. Someone completing a series of inpatient and outpatient programs can maintain their care indefinitely through a supportive recovery group.

There are many different kinds of recovery groups available. Two of the most common, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, are based on similar models around a 12-step program, including a component of spiritual practice. Participants share their experiences with one another and provide support.

For people not at ease with programs based on higher powers or supreme beings, SMART recovery meetings offer an alternative four-point system that centers self-empowerment as a path out of substance abuse. It has many of the benefits of AA and NA in that group participants share experiences and support each other in the journey toward sobriety.

With so many levels and options for treatment, it is important for patients to make informed decisions about what is best for them. If you are unsure about the most appropriate option, speaking with a representative from a treatment facility or working with your individual therapist could help you navigate the process of figuring out what is best for you.

Green Mountain Treatment Center

Green Mountain Treatment Center is located less than an hour north of Rochester, offering the option for treatment in a picturesque rural setting away from triggering environments. Treatment options range from detox to individual and group theory to aftercare depending on the needs of each individual.

The facility offers an inclusive and holistic approach to substance abuse treatment. In addition to offering all levels of intensity of programs—residential treatment, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs—Green Mountain Treatment Center offers comprehensive program needs like medically supervised detox, dual diagnosis treatment, holistic therapy and more.

• Drug and Alcohol Detox

Each patient begins their journey in a drug and alcohol detox center. For many people, this is a necessary step before beginning rehab treatment. Given the physiological symptoms felt by the patient during the detox process, it is important for supervision and assistance to be available as necessary.

• Medical Detox

In some cases, withdrawal can be serious enough to be life-threatening. It is thus important for patients to be supported by a medical detox center where they can receive medical treatment for the more severe withdrawal symptoms. This can ease this discomfort of withdrawal and also ensure that the more dangerous symptoms like potential seizures or abnormal blood pressure and heart rate are monitored and controlled. Green Mountain Treatment Center offers full medical detox capabilities for safe and effective detox no matter the severity of the addiction.

• Dual Diagnosis Treatment

Often, people suffering from substance abuse are also fighting another mental health disorder at the same time. This can present unique treatment challenges that require a different level of care.

A dual diagnosis treatment center is equipped to treat both substance abuse as well as other mental health disorders. These facilities will have specialists in not just addiction but also depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and many other conditions. Both conditions or more can be addressed at the same time.

Given the many challenges of addiction treatment and the exacerbation in other mental health disorders that can be caused by withdrawal and detox, it is critical for patients with dual diagnoses to have adequate support for all of their needs. Green Mountain Treatment Center in Effingham, New Hampshire, offers comprehensive dual diagnosis care options for any combination of substance abuse and mental health disorder.

• Holistic Therapy

While patients at Green Mountain Treatment Center receive clinical treatment for addiction, including medication as well as individual and group therapy, there are also options for holistic therapy. These non-medical approaches complement a medical approach by offering emotional and spiritual well-being beyond just managing physical symptoms.

Holistic therapy seeks to enrich a client’s life beyond medical treatment. Holistic programs can include fitness-related activities like swimming, gym workouts or hiking, providing stress relief and potential for spiritual reflection and renewal. Such programs can also help establish important habits like regular workouts that can help a patient cope with the pressure of relapse after their program is completed and they are back to their normal life.

Green Mountain Treatment Center considers holistic therapy options just as important as traditional therapy. The facility includes yoga and meditation classes, an on-site gym, the opportunity for time in the outdoors, and outings for bowling, paintball or mini-golf.

Green Mountain Treatment Center is an in-network provider for many health plans and has affordable options to ensure that treatment is accessible for everyone. Reach out to discuss which form of treatment may be best for your situation and next steps to take.