Alyson Orcena, LMFT, Melissa Vallas, MD, Shikha Verma, MD, Ellen Bloch, LCSW, Lianne Tendler, LMFT, Megan Johnston, LMFT
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We can now do almost anything online, from working to grocery shopping to making friends and dating. You can even “visit” your physician via the internet. But you may not know that mental health and addiction treatment services can be accessed online as well. These resources have been available for some time but really came into their own during and after the COVID lockdown.
Healthcare providers, clinics, and treatment programs increased the availability and quality of their telehealth care, and policy changes meant insurance coverage expanded to include these services. As a result, Psychiatric Services found that over a third of opioid use disorder treatment patients found treatment online during the pandemic.
And now online behavioral health services, including those for teen outpatient drug rehab, remain popular and effective. If your teen is struggling with drug use or mental health issues, you aren’t alone. You can choose between the best online and in-person support to fit your family’s needs.
What Is Teen Outpatient Rehab?
Teen outpatient drug rehab is a treatment option that lets your family stay together and live at home while your teen regularly attends addiction or mental health treatment. It can be a step up from individual or family therapy sessions that aren’t providing enough support throughout the week, or it can be a step down from inpatient programs and used to help transition your family back into regular, daily life.
Adolescent outpatient drug rehab can range from a few meetings a week to all-day daily programs. Structured, daily programs are often referred to as intensive outpatient (IOP) rehab. For example at Evolve our teen intensive outpatient rehab looks like three hours of after school programming, five days a week. Our programs last two to three months and offer the following:
- Regular physical and psychiatric evaluation
- Drug testing
- Various types of individual, group, and family therapy
In our IOP program, whether virtual or in person, teens learn recovery and relapse-prevention skills in a safe, supportive environment. This intensive form of outpatient care can serve as an alternative to inpatient care if your teen does not need medical detox or 24/7 supervision. If you’re wondering how it stacks up against residential care, a Psychiatry Online shows that it is just as effective in many scenarios. And with the growing availability of virtual adolescent outpatient therapy, you may be able to find some or all of this type of care online.
What Are the Benefits of Virtual Teen Outpatient Rehab?
A primary benefit of online adolescent outpatient rehab is accessibility. This can be in relation to time, location, finances, comfort, and other personal needs, but whatever the reason for choosing this option, the convenience of virtual can make all the difference.
- Time. A major stumbling block to more intensive treatment options is time. Even an afterschool program can be difficult to access if you factor in travel time, transportation, parents’ work schedules, or if a teen wants to continue to participate in healthy extracurricular activities like sports, band, or school clubs. A teen may not want to (and shouldn’t have to) miss out on healthy social interaction, time with family, or any supplemental schooling like tutoring or academic clubs just to get the help they need.
- Family Engagement. What about finding time to participate as a parent or family as a whole? Family therapy and education is an essential part of a teen’s long-term recovery success, so everyone needs to be able to join in, when appropriate. Virtual care offers the greatest flexibility so that teens and their families can participate in the treatment process together, something that may not be an option with in-person treatment.
- Availability. Another benefit of online teen outpatient addiction rehab is availability. Even if you have the summer free, the time off work, or the most open afterschool schedule, time does you no good if the outpatient resources you need are simply not available in your area. You may live in a rural location with no access to physical addiction treatment programs at all, or you may not have access to the accepting, teen-specific programs that will work best for your teen’s treatment needs. Anyone struggling with addiction and mental health has individual, unique recovery needs and requires a specific, customized treatment plan that can meet those needs. They also need a team of professionals that they “click” with. This is even more true for teens. Virtual services allow you to pick programs like ours at Evolve that have over a decade of experience treating teens, even if you aren’t located near one of our California facilities.
- Comfort. Virtual treatment may be more comfortable or familiar for teens, who spend more and more time connected to others through social media, chat, and the Internet. It may also make accessing addiction treatment possible for teens with co-occurring mental health disorders, which Psychiatric Services reports is up to 80% of teens receiving substance use treatment. Anxiety, depression, and other mental health concerns can make leaving the house and starting treatment difficult or overwhelming. Treatment should always meet patients where they are. And if your teen is most comfortable communicating and sharing through video, calls, chat, or even text, treatment can start there. Online services can replace or be used as an introductory step before transitioning to an in-person teen intensive outpatient rehab, if needed.
- Cost. A final, unfortunate reality of teen intensive outpatient rehab is that it can be expensive. You may not have insurance, or your insurance may not cover the type of program that will benefit your teen the most. Luckily virtual treatment options are increasingly covered by insurance and may be covered where in-person resources are not. If you don’t have coverage for your preferred treatment plan, out-of-pocket costs can be lower for online resources. However, don’t assume you won’t be covered for your first choice of care, no matter the format.
“Between 2008-09 and 2014-15, the number of US adults who received outpatient mental health care in the specialty sector rose from 11.3 million to 13.7 million per year …. [Increases] may be related to recent policy initiatives aimed at reducing financial barriers to care,” according to Health Affairs.
More people are getting the mental health care they need because more people can. This is due to several factors: policies requiring health insurance coverage, increasing awareness of the importance of addiction and mental health treatment, and the availability of alternatives and options for making it affordable. If you’re worried adolescent outpatient addiction rehab won’t be covered, let your treatment provider take on this concern, advocate on your behalf, and work with your insurance to get the most coverage for the online or in-person program that is best for your teen.
Are There Downsides to Virtual Teen Substance Abuse Treatment?
As with all treatment types, there are pros and cons to virtual adolescent addiction treatment. To start, the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships shares that teens have been increasingly lonely since the rise of social media and that many spend less than an hour a day on in-person social interaction outside of school. Face-to-face teen outpatient therapy may allow for a deeper and more meaningful connection with your treatment team. And traditional rehab often includes peer support group meetings that offer opportunities for connection and friendship that teen online substance abuse treatment does not.
Another potential downside is that teen virtual outpatient rehab may not provide the accountability, supervision and intensive support some teens need, especially at the beginning of recovery. Adolescent online drug rehab may not be the right choice in situations where the health and safety of your teen or your family is at risk. So, if your teen needs additional structure, stability, and 24/7 supervision, in-person residential treatment may be called for. At Evolve, our in-person programs are safe, secure, and effective, providing proven results in reducing the severity of anxiety, depression or suicidality and substance use risk.
Is Online Teen Outpatient Rehab the Right Choice?
No single addiction treatment method is right for everyone. Addiction and mental health care needs to be personalized and comprehensive. Your teen has their own personality, history, and recovery needs. Some options won’t fit while others will make the most sense and provide deeper understanding and progress. Teen online addiction treatment can be the solution in many cases, whether as the primary means of treatment or as a transitional resource in partnership with an in-person or residential program. There’s no reason you can’t combine online and in-person treatment to find the right mix that meets your teen’s recovery goals.
Luckily you don’t have to make choices about your teen’s recovery in the dark. At Evolve, we always start with an in-depth assessment to help determine what your teen needs and what options are most likely to work for them. Your treatment team will help you explore the pros and cons of our online options, as well as explain our clinical approach, which includes evidence-based therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, motivational interviewing, and family therapy. We will help you pivot if any aspect of treatment isn’t working for your teen and your family, and we will regularly reevaluate to determine if your teen’s needs have changed as their recovery progresses. Reach out to us at Evolve, and start the conversation about your teen’s options for creating a vibrant future.
