A unique rehabilitation program in Madison, Conn., that allows patients to work on their recovery from their own homes has yielded positive results, albeit on a limited scale.
Aware Recovery Care’s recovery program is similar to that of a visiting nurse in that the patient is allowed to derive support from his home and community while counselors, or “recovery advisers,” make regular visits for face-to-face interaction two or more times a week for the first four months. Clients are also assigned a psychiatrist, nurse, and therapist, and may be required to attend 12-step meetings. Aware Recovery also asks its clients to voluntarily download a GPS app for their phone as part of the enrollment in the program.
Of the program’s first five patients, four have maintained continuous abstinence for over a year. Dr. Ellen Edens, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine who authored a feasibility study of Aware Recovery’s approach in its initial phase, noted “when you think about addiction as a relapsing remedying disease, to see that patients could put together up to 12 months of sobriety is really promising.”
The one-year program costs $37,500, of which a portion—usually the psychotherapy elements—may be covered by the client’s insurance provider. But the yearlong price is equivalent to 28 days in most other in-patient treatment centers, which along with the home-based aspect, may prove attractive for prospective patients with fixed incomes. Dr. Edens is currently seeking funding to conduct a controlled study that will provide more detailed data on the impact of Aware Recovery’s treatment.