ARCA outpatient centers serve patients that are in various stages of their addiction; do not require inpatient treatment or are transitioning from a residential treatment program; have employment, family, or school commitments; and/or have stabilized in their substance addiction recovery practices and are seeking ongoing continuing care. 

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During their treatment program, patients receive weekly counseling and as they successfully progress in the treatment protocol, they continue to receive counseling each month. Following the initial administration of medication, patients go through an induction phase where medication dosage is systematically modified until an appropriate dosage is reached.

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The highly confidential Outpatient Treatment Programs are an excellent option for working professionals. There is no time away from work, no interruption to your daily routine, and flexible hours for individual and group therapy sessions. You have a choice in meeting times, and a full staff of professionals ready to support your every need in recovery. 

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We work around your schedule – not ours. The exceptional team of physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, and therapists at ARCA will work with you to build your skills to regain and restore control over the destructive behaviors associated with alcohol or drug use. The continued therapy and counseling reaffirms the new behaviors that will keep you on the right track for a lifetime of recovery.

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The Use of Anti-Craving Medications in ARCA’s Outpatient Treatment Programs

Cravings for alcohol or drugs are where the problem starts. ARCA knows that not all anti-craving medications are created equal. To prevent cravings, our medical professionals will prescribe medications such as SUBOXONE® or Naltrexone during alcohol and drug detox treatment and especially upon your return home if there is chronic pain involved.

The introduction of the monthly injection of Naltrexone -VIVITROL® – is the strongest protection from relapsing. Effectively controlling these cravings allows the patient to move to the next critical step of behavioral changes, VIVITROL ®  is quickly becoming a more utilized tool to help during rehab during ARCA’s Outpatient Treatment Programs.

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Confidential Individualized Addiction Treatment Programs

Chemical dependency and addictions are best treated in a patient’s natural home environment, with as little disruption to daily life as possible. In the past, it seemed logical that the only way to get help for chemical dependency and addiction was for patients to leave their jobs, families, and home to enter an expensive, standardized residential treatment program for 30 days. This massive disruption of daily life has proven to be both unnecessary and ineffective.

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The fundamental changes of recovery must take place in the context of your daily life. We individualize each patient’s treatment program to minimize the disruption to daily life. Therapists and counselors are available to meet with you around your work schedule. Group counseling sessions are scheduled during the evening, at lunchtime, and on Saturdays to accommodate your schedule.

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Addiction recovery requires dedicated effort, but can normally be treated like other chronic conditions—with careful, evidence-based treatments delivered in the context of daily life. When you are addicted, your life is spinning out of control. You’re scared, and you’re tired. But you are not alone.

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Imagine the experience of regaining control of your life. We can assist you in your quest for a normal and productive life. We have helped thousands of people just like you get on the road to recovery and stay there by going beyond the Twelve-Step approach. The ARCA Outpatient Treatment Program is based on the internationally recognized Pennsylvania Model of Recovery, developed by Dr. Joseph Volpicelli at the University of Pennsylvania.

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We offer the latest FDA-approved medications to minimize withdrawal symptoms and control cravings as you enter recovery. Combining medications or medical intervention and cognitive behavioral therapy is the most effective treatment approach available today. Our staff emphasizes outpatient programs because you are more likely to overcome your addiction if you can continue your normal daily activities.

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Counseling and Medications

We will help you address the social and psychological aspects of substance use disorders. Anti-craving medications provide you relief from withdrawal symptoms and freedom from cravings so that you can address the psychological, behavioral, and emotional components of addiction. You will learn healthy ways to cope with emotions such as anger, guilt, anxiety, and self-esteem issues.

With cognitive behavioral therapy, you will learn to overcome dangerous urges when they arise. Our therapy and counseling sessions promote openness and candor, with no fear of condemnation, judgment, or retribution from our clinical staff. Patients do best if they attend individual therapy and group counseling sessions two or three times per week for at least six months.

Once the program is complete, patients may continue with group sessions for as long as they choose. Sessions are conveniently scheduled during the day, in the evenings, and on weekends to maximize flexibility for the patients.

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Role of Medications in Your Recovery

The safe and proven medications we prescribe greatly reduce or eliminate withdrawal symptoms and cravings to greatly improve your treatment success. Alcohol, prescription pain medication, narcotics, and other abused drugs overwhelm the brain’s motivational system, producing a strong craving that drives addiction. This neurological imbalance can be corrected through medication therapy and counseling.

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FDA-approved drugs such as Suboxone® (buprenorphine) relieve withdrawal symptoms, while Vivitrol®, ReVia® (naltrexone), and Campral® (acamprosate) control cravings.

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Other promising medications include Zofran® (ondansetron), Topamax® (topiramate), and Antabuse® (disulfiram). These treatments are non-mood-altering, non-addictive, and have few side effects.

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When you are relieved from physical discomforts, you can focus on relapse-prevention therapy, counseling, and long-term recovery. Best of all, you can undertake this treatment in our outpatient treatment program and continue your daily life with few interruptions. Anti-craving medications can generally be taken along with treatments for mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, high stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder, which often occur along with addictive disorders.

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Cost-Effective Treatment Options

ARCA specializes in providing outpatient program services for two simple reasons: It works and it is cost-effective. Out-of-town 28-day residential programs may provide an expensive break from addiction, but they cannot match our cost-effective, individualized outpatient program services. The key difference is that our outpatient programs services will help you achieve sobriety and recovery where it matters most—in your daily life.

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Patients returning home from out-of-town inpatient residential programs to the familiar sights, sounds, smells, and people associated with past alcohol or drug use are vulnerable to relapse. Our outpatient program services emphasize “treatment in the real world”, where you will continue to be in your daily surroundings while safe, effective medications control your cravings. The initial medical detoxification can be completed in as little as three days.

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The ARCA approach emphasizes non-addictive medications that control cravings so you can focus on recovery. We offer individual, group, and family counseling sessions during the day, in the evenings, and on weekends to help you develop skills and strategies for achieving and maintaining sobriety and recovery. Drug dependence is a chronic illness with genetic, psychological, and social contributors. Like other long-term conditions such as diabetes or asthma, addiction can be controlled with a combination of medication and lifestyle changes.

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Modern anti-craving pharmaceuticals are non-mood-altering, and non-addicting medications that are essential tools for your recovery. In most cases, these FDA-approved medications may only be needed for a few months. When you arrive at ARCA, a physician will conduct an evaluation and complete blood tests, a urinalysis, and liver functioning tests to establish your baseline health. Then, you will be scheduled for a psychiatric evaluation to assess any co-occurring mental health issues.

The next step will be medical detoxification that will relieve alcohol or drug withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety, body aches, cramps, nausea, restlessness, and irritability.  Patients in the ARCA Program achieve outstanding results because our individualized treatment approach combines the use of anti-craving medications and counseling, which surpasses the efficacy of traditional “counseling-only” rehab programs.

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During the first week of treatment, you will spend a half-day at our treatment center, returning home in the evening with a family member or friend. The next phase of treatment includes six months of anti-craving medications such as ReVia® (Naltrexone) or Campral® (acamprosate), coupled with relapse-prevention counseling.

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Medications for Drug Dependence

To get off of prescription pain medications or heroin, your first step is a safe, comfortable, medical detoxification with the help of medications such as Suboxone® (buprenorphine) to relieve withdrawal symptoms. After this first step, you will be ready to begin taking the latest anti-craving medications, such as Vivitrol®, or ReVia® (Naltrexone) in our outpatient program and continue your daily life with few interruptions.

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Our evidence-based treatments combine the expertise and compassion of our clinical staff with the science of FDA-approved medications. If you’re hooked on prescription pain pills, cocaine, or heroin, we are here to help you. Naltrexone is not a cure-all for addiction, but most patients report a drastic reduction in cravings within hours of taking their first dose. Naltrexone is not mood-altering and is also non-addictive.

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You will probably find it helpful to continue on this medication for at least six months. Individuals addicted to cocaine or other non-opioid drugs are treated with individualized medication protocols to reduce withdrawal symptoms and manage cravings. Many patients keep a supply of Naltrexone on hand indefinitely in case they experience sudden cravings or a temptation to use drugs. Individual therapy generally continues for six months to one year.

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Once you complete our six-month program, group relapse prevention therapy is available to you free of charge for as long as it helps you maintain your sobriety and recovery.

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Treatment for Alcohol Dependence

Alcoholism is a chronic illness with genetic, psychological, and social contributors. Like other conditions, such as diabetes or asthma, alcoholism can be controlled with a combination of anti-craving medication and lifestyle changes. The latest medications have few unpleasant side effects, and significantly reduce your cravings for alcohol.

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When you arrive at ARCA, a physician will conduct an evaluation and complete blood tests, a urinalysis, and liver functioning tests to establish your baseline health. Then, you will be scheduled for a psychiatric evaluation to assess any co-occurring mental health issues. If you were on opiates or heroin, you will immediately begin medications such as Suboxone® (buprenorphine) that relieve withdrawal symptoms, which may include anxiety, body aches, cramps, nausea, restlessness, and irritability.

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The next phase of treatment consists of six months of anti-craving medications coupled with relapse-prevention counseling. Your individualized counseling schedule will be tailored to cause as little disruption to your daily life as possible. Patients in the ARCA program achieve outstanding results because our individualized treatment approach combines the use of anti-craving medications and counseling, which surpasses the efficacy of traditional “counseling-only” rehab programs.

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What Happens When You Finish the ARCA Program?

Addiction is a chronic condition. When it is kept in remission, persons with addictive disorders can live healthy and happy lives. Maintaining sobriety does not typically require large amounts of time or effort once you have achieved several months of sobriety. It does require consistent maintenance.

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Imagine if you never changed the oil in your car—a simple but essential task. The car might run for several months or even a couple of years, but it will inevitably break down. The same is true with recovery. When a person stops performing the small tasks necessary for maintaining an active recovery, relapse becomes almost inevitable. Many strategies can help prevent relapse once you finish the ARCA outpatient program.

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You may choose to continue anti-craving medications for several months or years following the end of your formal program. If so, we will work with your primary care physician to provide coordinated medical care, or you can continue to schedule regular check-ups with our psychiatrists. Once you complete our six-month program, we provide you relapse prevention group therapy free of charge as long as you maintain your sobriety, and do not require a more acute level of care.

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In one national study, individuals who attended at least two group sessions per week during the year following a three or six-month treatment program were 87% less likely to relapse. We provide continued relapse-prevention group sessions free of charge to assure that you have access to the support you need to maintain long-term sobriety and recovery.

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Many treatment centers provide short-term treatment episodes that lead to short-term success. At ARCA, we know that you desire long-term sobriety, and we have structured our program to help you achieve success. With a simple, non-invasive maintenance plan, the success you achieve in our program can be a lifelong recovery and provide you the foundation for a life free from the shame, sadness, and frustration caused by addiction.

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An Alternative to Twelve-Step Programs

Until recently, most people turned to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other Twelve-Step programs for help with substance abuse. Twelve-Step programs have helped many people achieve recovery, and continue to provide helpful avenues for mutual support. However, Twelve-Step programs are often insufficient to control cravings or address co-occurring psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety, depression, high stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Whether or not patients participate in a Twelve-Step program for mutual support, the best chance of achieving sobriety and recovery is to develop a treatment plan that includes evidence-based medication and therapeutic approaches to reduce cravings and prevent relapse. The ARCA approach offers safe and proven anti-craving medications combined with relapse-prevention therapy to address the neurochemical, biological, social, and psychological aspects of addiction.

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With this new approach, people who have struggled for years with addiction are finally achieving their goal of sobriety and recovery.

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Ready for Help?

Don’t think you can relate to words like alcoholic or addict? Do you think that if you only drink on certain days of the week it’s not a problem? Do you tell yourself you are “psychologically” dependent but not physically addicted? 

Here’s the bottom line: If alcohol or drugs are causing problems with your health, family, finances, work, school, or the law, then it’s time to change your life and come up with a better solution. Alcohol and drugs impair your ability to think rationally, which may cause you to blame other people and external situations for your problems. You may feel like your problems are caused by your spouse, your boss, an overzealous police officer, or just plain bad luck.

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If a loved one, a friend, or a colleague says that you need help, you probably do. They may see your situation more clearly than you can right now. With the help of the ARCA approach, you will get through your first alcohol and drug-free days comfortably and safely.

Once you begin anti-craving medications and relapse-prevention therapy, you will have a solid foundation to rebuild your life. Are you ready to live your life without the disruption of chemical dependency and addiction? We are ready to work with you. Our programs offer the most scientific treatment that integrates proven medications with relapse prevention counseling. This approach to treatment enables patients to experience long-term recovery in their own natural home environment.

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We specialize in same-day outpatient medical detoxification to greatly reduce or eliminate withdrawal symptoms. After the medical detoxification, patients are transitioned to non-addicting, anti-craving medications coupled with psychiatric services, individual therapy, group counseling, and family counseling sessions. Most patients who develop chemical dependency and addictive disorders to alcohol or drugs often have underlying co-occurring psychiatric disorders like anxiety, depression, high stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The ARCA clinical staff treats both symptoms simultaneously.

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Patients receiving treatment at our clinic are encouraged to return to work or school at the earliest possible time, and continue their therapy and counseling sessions during the day, in the evening, and on Saturdays. The benefit of the ARCA approach is that there is no loss of income, and no loss of confidentiality as the patients do not have to go away for any length of time and they are getting well in their home environment. The counseling is continued for an extended period of time and arrangements are made for the patients to receive VIVITROL regularly.

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“The ultimate test of any inpatient residential program is how well a patient does when the patient returns home,” says Percy Menzies, the president of ARCA. Our treatment center is the leading program in the Midwest using VIVITROL, the monthly injection of Naltrexone. VIVITROL is the only medication approved by the FDA for the treatment of alcoholism and opioid addiction. The only treatment program in the nation that uses more VIVITROL than our program is a state-funded treatment center in the Los Angeles, California metropolitan area.

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Patients can return home to the environment of past alcohol or drug use knowing that if they impulsively or accidentally use alcohol or drugs, they are much less likely to experience a full-blown relapse. Percy Menzies is a trained pharmacist and the former brand manager of Naltrexone with DuPont Pharmaceuticals. He founded the Assisted Recovery Centers of America over twelve years ago. His long experience in the field of addiction medicine afforded him the expertise and opportunity to establish treatment centers that incorporate the proven advances in the field of neurobiology and behavioral therapies.

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The ARCA approach is rapidly gaining national recognition, and patients come to St. Louis from all over the United States and abroad for treatment. 

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