Frequently Asked Questions

Most of our clients start on the Partial Hospitalization level of care which is all day programming Monday through Friday from 9:30am to 4:30pm with an hour break for lunch. This level of care is our highest level of care where clients receive up to five individual sessions a week and twice as much clinical support than our next lower level of care. PHP is intended for stabilization and much needed clinical assessment when a client first begins outpatient treatment. This is six hours a day, five days a week.

PHP typically lasts the length of a month, but can be shorter or longer depending upon the individuals specific needs.

Next, clients begin IOP. Intensive Outpatient programming is meant for individuals who are beginning to integrate what they’ve learned in PHP into the real world. They are working or attending school or are actively pursuing one of these avenues or another. They could also be contributing to their community through volunteership if they are retired or do not need to work for other reasons. This is three hours a day, five days a week.

IOP typically lasts six weeks to two months, but can be shorter or longer depending on the individual’s specific needs.

Overall, our program lasts about three months (90 days), but we have had individuals who have completed one month of treatment and others who have stayed for up to nine months and longer as their preference.

Yes, after you submit your information someone from Good Heart’s team will reach out to you via video chat or telephonic communication to assess your appropriateness for the levels of care Good Heart Recovery currently offers. Examples of being inappropriate for Good Heart’s levels of care include recent substance use needing a medically directed detox, severe psychotic or mood dysregulation needing 24-hour supervision, etc. If services are needed prior to the admission of Good Heart, our team will provide you with excellent referrals for any and all resources needed.

Good Heart Recovery’s staff has served and supported various types of individuals suffering from alcohol and drug addiction. Our approach encompasses a variety of methods and perspectives that have been shown to provide extended abstinence and humble happiness in many of our client cases. Good Heart Recovery will typically not be considered the ‘wrong’ program for you or your loved one, but it could be considered the ‘wrong time’ for the client to admit if a higher level of care is needed.

Partial hospitalization is considered a higher level of care than intensive outpatient. Partial hospitalization is not held in a hospital setting. The name is expressive of the need for a client at this level of care to be surrounded by clinical staff for a full part of each day. Partial hospitalization offers clients two times as much clinical daily interaction than intensive outpatient. Typically, Good Heart finds that completion of our partial hospitalization program prior to our intensive outpatient program is indicative of the most sustainable, positive client treatment outcomes.

Yes and no.

We currently do not offer an evening or weekend addiction or mental health program. It is very important for clients to be able to attend regularly, on time, and stay for the entire day’s programming. Based on the willingness and flexibility of a client seeking full recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, we at Good Heart Recovery would be able to provide a non-specific medical excuse slip seeking approval from your employer or education administration for a temporary schedule change. However, once you are on Good Heart Recovery’s IOP level of care, depending on how you are presenting clinically, we will do our best to accommodate work and school schedules as we find that integration into healthy, daily living is essential for long-term recovery.

All Good Heart Recovery clients will be seen by our medical director and licensed board-certified Psychiatrist with an M.D. from Columbia University as well as  Ph.D. in Psychology within 72 hours of admission into our program. Clients will have access to any and all medically recommended subsequent follow-up appointments for medication management, continued psychiatric evaluation, and symptom tracking. Our medical director is a doctor who seeks to have individuals on as little medications as possible and truly listens to our clients instead of just handing them a prescription. She is dedicated to helping the individual suffering and spends the needed time to get to know them.

Part of Good Heart Recovery’s admission process is for all clients to complete a state certified health questionnaire meant to evaluate and self-assess the client’s various medical concerns. Good Heart Recovery has relationships with local nurses, physicians, physical therapists, dentists, and specialty doctors to allow for full multi-disciplinary action in all impaired areas of a client’s health.

Good Heart Recovery assesses and creates an individualized treatment plan for each client dependent upon their specific situation. The general philosophy of Good Heart on narcotic, and most non-narcotic medications, is that the least amount of medications one can be on to live a happy and fulfilling life provides the best results. Good Heart Recovery’s addiction treatment clinical staff will work with clients who are on Suboxone or Methadone maintenance; however, clients on these medications should have an outside provider that is maintaining their current regimen. If it is indicated that a client should be placed on Suboxone while in our care, we have psychiatrists and medical doctors who can assist with a new taper. If it is indicated that a client should be placed on Methadone, we will refer the medication management of that specific substance to our local Methadone clinic in conjunction with our program.