Detox is often the first step for someone to overcome their addiction. Detox, withdrawal management, and medical stabilization prepare the individual to be both physically and emotionally stable enough to move on to the next appropriate step in a continuum of care. Addiction as a complex, chronic illness often requires long-term treatment, care, monitoring, and support where a patient learns how to manage their disease and live life in recovery.
At Innovo Detox, one of our guiding principles is making sure we are able to get patients through the first days or weeks of detox and medical stabilization and then support them to what is more appropriate for them in terms of patient-centered clinical care and recovery support. For some patients that means moving on to a residential treatment or inpatient treatment facility. For other patients, they may move on to a long-term extended care, a partial hospitalization (PHP) program or an intensive outpatient (IOP) treatment program. Some patients need recovery housing or sober homes. Other patients need specialized outpatient groups or individual therapy or psychiatry. Most, if not all, patients alongside these clinical services and supportive housing need community-based recovery support or peer recovery support. Therefore, when a patient admits to Innovo, the staff immediately begins working with the patient, their family, and any referring professionals to figure out what their next steps are that will be most appropriate to support them in a process of finding sustainable recovery. Then the job of making sure the patient engages in those next steps and continues their journey falls to our Continuing Care Coordinator.
Michael Kessler is the Continuing Care Coordinator at Innovo Detox. Mike works closely with our admissions staff, medical staff, and clinical staff to identify what services and supports will best support a patient once they are medically stable and able to discharge from detox. Mike works with patients during their stay, alongside any support they may have, including family, friends, loved ones, employers or EAPs. Mike also works with addiction treatment professionals, mental health practitioners, case managers, and rehabs to facilitate an effective and smooth transition for the patient from Innovo Detox to the next facility, professional, or level of care.
Mike was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland by his two loving parents, who both happened to be in recovery. Part of his childhood that included normal activities like playing sports and family holidays on Maryland’s Eastern Shore also sometimes included attending recovery meetings at his local church. Addiction often having a genetic component, Mike quickly found he also struggled with drugs and alcohol during his time in high school. He found a life of active addiction that he had immersed himself in went against everything he had learned and been taught during his entire upbringing. When the pain of active addiction became too much to handle, Mike reached out for help and found recovery in 2014.
Once finding sobriety, Mike reports his whole life changed.
“Recovery truly gave me a life I didn’t think was possible,” he explains. “I have made lifelong friends. I found an exciting, fulfilling careers that gives me purpose. And, most importantly, I found love and a woman who was willing to marry me. Once I got sober, I knew I was drawn to helping others who had went down the same path I had walked, which is why the decision to join the team at Innovo Detox was an easy one for me. I can help people and families still struggling with addiction issues and guide and support them in finding recovery.”
Since the opening of Innovo Detox, Mike has helped facilitate patients to receive the highest quality of care during detox and help them move on to receive a high quality of patient care and support at their next stop in their personal addiction treatment and recovery continuum of care. Provided with all the necessary resources and guidance from Innovo Detox leadership, Mike’s ability as the Continuing Care Coordinator enables him to care for the patients as he would for his own family. Not every patient needs a cookie cutter approach to treatment, and Mike has been able to find each patient the necessary resources and services that fit their clinical and recovery needs that will aid them on a journey of long-term recovery.
“This has been a tough year for everybody,” Mike says. “However, being able to call Innovo Detox my second home and our ability to help those struggling with addiction find hope and healing has made it all worth it.”
If you or someone you know needs help for addiction or co-occurring disorders, please give us a call. Innovo Detox offers the latest in evidence-based medical, psychiatric, and clinical care for those in need of detox and medical stabilization in Pennsylvania and the surrounding Mid-Atlantic area. If we aren’t the best fit for you or a loved one, we will take the necessary time to work with you to find a detox, rehab, treatment center or provider that better fits your needs. Please give us a call at (717) 619-3260 or email our team at info@innovodetox.com. For more information on our company or services, please visit our website at www.innovodetox.com.