Medically supervised detoxification stabilizes the body during withdrawal from alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines, or other substances with significant physical dependence. Required for alcohol, opioid, and benzodiazepine dependence where withdrawal can be dangerous (alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal carry seizure and delirium-tremens risk; opioid withdrawal is rarely life-threatening but is medically managed for comfort and dignity). The detox clinician is a board-certified addiction medicine physician on site daily, supported by RN-level nursing for vital-sign monitoring and protocol-driven medication management.
A note on language
The treatment field uses a vocabulary that can obscure what is actually clinically distinct from what is marketing. ASAM Criteria — the framework published by the American Society of Addiction Medicine — defines five formal levels of care, from Level 1 (outpatient, less than nine hours per week) through Level 4 (medically managed intensive inpatient). Most published guidance uses a more granular vocabulary built around these levels: medically supervised detoxification, residential or inpatient treatment, partial hospitalization (PHP), intensive outpatient program (IOP), standard outpatient, and medication-assisted treatment. We use the latter vocabulary on this page because it is what guests and families actually encounter when researching options.
More important than the label is the clinical match. The two-day Peninsula intake uses the full ASAM Criteria across six dimensions to determine which level is appropriate — and to identify the modality combinations within that level that fit the specific guest's profile.
Six levels of care
From medically supervised detox to continuing support.
Residential treatment is the structural core of recovery for adults with moderate-to-severe substance use disorder, significant co-occurring conditions, or environments where outpatient continuity is not feasible. At Peninsula, the residence operates at a six-bed maximum with master's-and-above clinicians at 1:1 or 1:2 ratios. The clinical week integrates the evidence-based spine (CBT, DBT, MI, EMDR, MAT) with integrative supplements (somatic experiencing, equine-assisted psychotherapy, mindfulness-based relapse prevention, nutrition psychiatry) selected to the guest's profile from the two-day intake.
IOP delivers structured clinical work at nine to twenty hours per week, allowing the guest to maintain professional and family commitments while receiving substantial therapeutic engagement. Particularly appropriate as a step-down from residential treatment, as a primary level for guests whose clinical severity does not require residential, and as the structure for executives whose role does not pause. Peninsula offers IOP with the same clinical depth as residential — master's-level clinicians, evidence-based protocols, integrative modalities.
Standard outpatient at less than nine hours per week is the continuing-care floor that follows higher-intensity treatment, and the appropriate primary level for guests with mild substance use disorder, stable home support, and the capacity to engage clinical work as part of ongoing life. Peninsula's outpatient track integrates with the residential and IOP work — the same clinician who knows you during residential continues during outpatient, providing meaningful continuity that fragmented in-network care typically cannot.
MAT integrates FDA-approved medications (buprenorphine, naltrexone, methadone for opioid use disorder; acamprosate, naltrexone, disulfiram for alcohol use disorder) with behavioral therapy. The evidence base for MAT in opioid use disorder is overwhelming; refusal to use MAT on ideological grounds is malpractice in 2026. Peninsula offers MAT integrated across residential, IOP, and outpatient levels — never as a sole intervention but never refused when clinically indicated.
Twelve-step facilitation (TSF) — Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and the broader twelve-step framework — has accumulated outcomes data showing comparable effectiveness to CBT and MI in randomized trials for alcohol use disorder when integrated with clinical work. Secular alternatives — SMART Recovery, LifeRing, Refuge Recovery — offer evidence-based options for guests for whom the spiritual framework is not the right fit. Peninsula integrates community recovery support as adjunctive to clinical work, not as a replacement.
Begin the conversation
The level of care is best determined clinically.
A self-assessment can be a useful first step — Peninsula offers anonymous, clinician-developed screenings — but the level-of-care decision is made through clinical assessment, not from a brochure. A twenty-five-minute call with our admissions clinician is enough to know whether Peninsula is the right fit, or to recommend somewhere we believe is better-matched.