Types Of Addiction Treatment Specialists

Drug abuse/addiction and alcohol abuse/addiction together referred to as substance use disorder (SUD), are harmful, compulsive, relapsing behavioral health disorders that affect more than 46 million American adults and adolescents each year. However, according to recent research reported on by NPR, most people who experience substance use disorders, especially mild forms, do eventually recover either on their own, with the help of peers, or with the help of professional addiction treatment specialists.

If you or someone important to you struggles with an excessive, unmanaged pattern of drug or alcohol use, consider participation in an inpatient or outpatient addiction treatment program. These programs often offer services from different types of addiction treatment specialists, including multidisciplinary recovery teams to provide the best possible care and support for people beginning or returning to their recovery journeys.

Multidisciplinary Addiction Care Teams

Effective addiction treatment facilities rely on different classifications of medical and clinical staff with different backgrounds, credentials, and expertise, allowing them to provide a wide range of evidence-based and holistic treatment options. This diversity means that programs can provide comprehensive care, not missing important aspects of treatment that could benefit clients and allowing specialists to personalize care more effectively.

Common specialists you may find serving at addiction treatment centers include the following.

Licensed Physicians

Medical providers are often retained on staff at addiction treatment centers to manage the physical health and medical needs of all clients receiving care. They are usually a doctor of medicine (MD) or doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO), though you may also encounter advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), advanced nurse practitioners (ANPs), or other medical professionals who are also fully authorized to treat patients under a physician’s supervision.

A recovery center’s physician will be fully authorized to diagnose clients, provide medical care, and prescribe or administer medications. However, you should also pay attention to whether your physician is board certified in addiction medicine or not. If so, this means they have shown, through education, exams, and practical experience, that they are exceptionally qualified to diagnose and treat SUDs and work towards lasting recoveries.

Whatever their credentials, on-staff medical providers usually meet with clients on the first day of their treatment and are involved in reviewing their medical history, providing a physical examination, and managing any medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services.

Psychiatrists

Psychiatrists have attended medical school and earned an MD or DO before continuing on with additional specialized training in psychiatry. This training focuses on the biological aspects of mental illness and behavioral disorders, including substance use disorders, in addition to the psychological aspects of these conditions. It is also possible you may work with a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) who has similar training and is also fully licensed to treat patients under a psychiatrist’s supervision.

Psychiatrists are responsible for screening patients for mental health disorders using specialized psychiatric assessments. They can then establish a treatment plan for any of these potential co-occurring disorders, whether that treatment involves the use of prescription medications, proven forms of psychotherapy, or other targeted interventions ranging from exposure therapy to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.

This dual emphasis on mental and physical health allows treatment centers to meet their clients’ needs more comprehensively, helping to improve their long-term psychological well-being as well as their physical and behavioral well-being.

Therapists

The credentials of any specific therapist serving at an addiction treatment center can vary by the state and the situation, with some common credentials being:

• licensed clinical social worker (LCSW)
• licensed mental health counselor (LMHC)
• licensed professional counselor (LPC)
• licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT)
• licensed psychologist (LP)

Therapists may have either a master’s degree or doctorate, and will usually have specific focuses, though they will be able to use a wide variety of different forms of psychotherapy (talk therapy) and other appropriate evidence-based forms of treatment to address SUDs and co-occurring mental health issues.

In other words, therapists are highly trained professionals who want to help you talk through your problems in a safe and comfortable setting, working with you through conversation and consideration to help you better understand how you work, how addiction works, and what you can do to change and make things better in the future. This process takes time, but your relationship with your therapists in your treatment center or back home can be profoundly meaningful and beneficial as you continue in your recovery.

Nurses

Nursing staff are the backbone of an addiction treatment center and are often the staff members who clients interact with the most. These staff may include both registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) who are authorized to assist physicians and to care for the everyday physical and medical needs of clients, which can sometimes be demanding work in an addiction treatment setting.

On an ongoing basis, nursing staff may be working with medical providers to manage clients, completing admissions assessments for new clients, taking vital readings, dispensing medications, interacting with clients, and watching and reacting to any physical or emotional warning signs as clients work through their personalized treatment plans.

Technicians

Also called aids, addiction treatment technicians are staff members who manage the day-to-day operation of the treatment facility. For instance, they may manage incoming calls, set up appointments, manage the facility’s physical spaces, help with setup and teardown for different events, coordinate meals, manage security, provide orientations and tours, and provide help in countless other meaningful ways.

Technicians are typically college graduates, and many will be actively working towards other degrees or specializations. They serve as a resource when clients have questions or have a non-medical need during their treatment. Potential credentials include behavioral health technician (BHT), mental health technician (MHT), and recovery advocate (RA).

There may also be staff chefs, known as dietary aids, who are responsible for providing nourishing, healthy, and delicious meals for clients to enjoy on a daily basis. Recovery and healing are hard work, so the staff will generally make every effort to accommodate any dietary restrictions so that clients can eat well, bond with other clients, and focus on their treatment during their stay.

Case Managers

While case managers aren’t directly involved in a client’s treatment, they play a key role in the treatment process overall. A case manager facilitates each and every client’s progress in treatment, managing critical internal and external paperwork, identifying client needs, monitoring progress, and working with aftercare providers to help ensure that clients are able to transition into treatment and back out again as smoothly and successfully as possible.

Case managers are typically college graduates but may have other credentials specific to substance abuse treatment in their respective state.

Support Staff

Facilities may also employ a variety of other people responsible for such important tasks as maintenance, transportation, landscaping, communications, office services, and more. While not addiction treatment specialists per se, these staff have a variety of specialized skills, and clients at rehab centers wouldn’t be able to receive the care they do without them.

Types Of Addiction Treatment Services

High-quality addiction treatment plans should always be carefully customized to meet a person’s individual needs, which are usually identified during detailed intake evaluations, medical history reviews, and regular check-ins that take place throughout the treatment process. However, there are a number of standard services that are extremely common to see included in the recovery process at any residential treatment facility.

Medical Detoxification

Medical detox is a service that takes place after someone has become dependent on drugs or alcohol, stopped using them, and begun experiencing uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous withdrawal symptoms as their body’s internal balance is disrupted.

The precise symptoms a person experiences during withdrawal can vary, but often include fever, sleep problems, changes in appetite, headaches, sweating, illness, nausea, and strong cravings or compulsions to use drugs or alcohol. In more serious cases, especially with alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal, acute withdrawal syndrome may produce intense changes in blood pressure and body temperature, hallucinations, convulsions, seizures, vomiting, and more.

By providing withdrawal management in a safe, secure environment, addiction treatment specialists are able to monitor a client’s condition and provide an appropriate response, whether that means offering emotional support, snacks, distractions, or helpful medications to ease the client’s symptoms.

Psychotherapy

Talk therapy is the most common intervention used in addiction treatment settings, and it comes in a wide range of different approaches that can all be adjusted and fine-tuned to fit different situations and needs. While dozens of different forms of psychotherapy have been developed, below are some of the most common forms of group or individual psychotherapy you’ll find in an addiction treatment setting.

Evidence-based therapies for addiction recovery include:

• cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which focuses on identifying harmful patterns of thought and behavior and consciously changing those patterns, replacing them with healthier alternatives
• dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), a variation of CBT that can help people process and manage intense emotions and emotional responses
• motivational interviewing (MI)/motivational enhancement therapy (MET), this brief intervention can help those who are ambivalent about treatment find and hold onto the reasons why recovery is important to them and their loved ones
• family therapy, a group-based therapy that brings together households in order to address underlying problems in emotional intimacy and communication, laying a foundation for healthier long-term relationships and family dynamics in recovery
• contingency management (CM), a long-term therapy that uses tangible rewards in order to reinforce positive behaviors and discourage a return to drug or alcohol use

Dual Diagnosis Care

This form of treatment is reserved for those who enter recovery with both a mental health condition, e.g. depression, an anxiety disorder, PTSD, OCD, ADHD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, etc., and an SUD. Because these conditions can be closely intertwined, patients are best off receiving care for both disorders together.

This process is different for each person, but may involve additional forms of therapy, medications like antidepressants or antipsychotics, and other forms of targeted inpatient mental health treatment.

Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)

Several different medications have been developed and approved to treat different forms of SUD, and others are in development. While some people’s first instinct is to dismiss using “more drugs” as a gimmick or a crutch, the truth is that the right medications have been proven to dramatically improve long-term success in recovery.

Specific medications approved for use in treating alcohol use disorder (AUD) include:

• naltrexone, an opioid antagonist that stifles the pleasure one might feel when binge drinking
• acamprosate, a medication that helps re-balance a person’s disrupted brain chemistry
• disulfiram, a medication that causes uncomfortable reactions when alcohol is consumed

Medications approved for use in treating opioid use disorder (OUD) include:

• naltrexone, an opioid antagonist that blocks the pleasurable effects of opioids
• methadone, a long-acting opioid that blunts the effects of other opioids and prevents withdrawal symptoms
• buprenorphine, a partial opioid agonist that blunts other opioids and prevents withdrawal symptoms

Peer Support Groups

Often, one of the best parts of recovery is the chance for people to meet and build relationships with others who are going through the same challenges and working towards the same goals. Accordingly, peer support groups are often facilitated in these programs, with leaders guiding groups as they learn together, share their stories, offer advice and validation, and find new, healthy ways to move forward.

Peer support groups may also include facilitated 12-step sessions, with clients exposed to storied groups like AA and NA, which have helped countless people work towards authentic and sober lifestyles.

Alternative Treatment Programming

Depending on your treatment center, you may be able to participate in a wide variety of other staff-led activities ranging from animal-based therapies to art therapy, exercise therapy, hiking, cooking, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, educational classes, job counseling, and more.

These courses aren’t just fun and relaxing. They can give clients the opportunity to let their guard down, to feel pleasure, to learn new skills, to make new social connections, and to build confidence and optimism in themselves and in the new world that recovery is opening up to them.

Reach Out To Spring Hill To Get Help Today

Not sure if recovery is the right option for you? Have questions about insurance, privacy, or what to expect? We can help.

At Spring Hill Recovery Center, our trained staff are always ready to listen to your story and to share information. We can even help refer you to resources, including pointing you towards a treatment option that best fits your needs, whether or not that means participating in a personalized treatment plan at our 70-acre retreat-style treatment center located in scenic Ashby, MA.

If you do decide that Spring Hill is right for you, we can help with the next steps.