Conditions We Treat
Alcohol treatment in Colorado that meets you where you are.
Outpatient care for alcohol use disorder at all six of our offices, built around your life rather than paused from it. We start by understanding how drinking is actually affecting you, not by counting your drinks.
Understanding Alcohol Use Disorder
Alcohol use disorder is a medical condition, not a failure of will.
Alcohol use disorder, or AUD, is the clinical name for a pattern of drinking a person cannot easily stop on their own. It is far more common than most people assume. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports that 27.9 million people ages 12 and older, about 9.7 percent, met the criteria for alcohol use disorder in the past year.
There are many factors involved in the development of AUD, with no one single path that begets the disease. Environmental factors and influences, as well as genetics, all contribute. Each client will have their own experiences, strengths, needs, and goals in their path to recovery.
The stakes are real. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributes roughly 178,000 deaths a year to excessive alcohol use, making it a leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Alcohol addiction is a devastating disease that affects entire families, and there is no easy way to address the intense effects of AUD. However, there is always help available, and The Redpoint Center is ready to help you take your first step toward a sober future.
Signs and Symptoms
What alcohol use disorder looks like from the outside.
Helping family members and those living with AUD identify the signs is often what makes the first step possible. Each person shows their own symptoms, or their own combination of them. These are the most common.
Memory gaps
Short-term memory loss, both under the influence and during periods of abstinence.
Sharp mood swings
Irritability and extreme shifts in mood.
Drinking to feel normal
Reaching for a drink to relax, or to feel like yourself again.
Drinking over obligations
Drinking in spite of, or instead of, responsibilities you would normally meet.
Hidden use
Concealing how much or how often you drink.
Physical changes
Noticeable changes in appearance.
Cravings
Persistent urges to drink.
Missed days
Inconsistent attendance at work or school.
Pulling away
Feeling isolated, or distancing yourself from friends and family.
Lost interests
Disinterest in hobbies that used to matter.
Money trouble
Financial strain, or budgeting that no longer holds.
Damaged relationships
The breakdown of relationships that matter to you.
Misconceptions
The question is not how much you drink.
There are many misconceptions about what constitutes AUD, and it is common to gauge your use of alcohol by the number of drinks you have. That method does not necessarily represent your relationship with alcohol.
Instead of asking "Am I drinking too much?" it can be more impactful to ask how your use of alcohol affects your daily life.
How long you have been drinking, the age you started, and how much you drink in one sitting all inform your relationship with alcohol. But they are not the whole picture. Binge drinking is generally defined as an excessive number of drinks in a single sitting, typically at least four for women and five for men. Excessive drinking, by contrast, is measured across a week rather than across an evening.
Others never drink to the point of being visibly inebriated at all. They drink daily, and alcohol becomes a necessary part of the day, either to get moving in the morning or to wind down at the end of it. Regularly engaging with alcohol demands just as much attention as any binge.
A Private Inventory
Eight questions worth answering honestly.
Nobody is scoring these. They are the questions our clinicians ask, and they get at what a drink count cannot. AUD affects each person differently, and measuring your relationship with alcohol only by drinks per sitting leaves a great deal of important information missing.
Have you ever drunk more than you intended?
Have you tried to cut down and found you could not?
Wanting to stop and not managing it is one of the clearest signals.
Have you chosen drinking over a responsibility?
Work, family, or an obligation you would normally meet without thinking.
Have hangovers cost you something?
Workplace performance, attendance, or time you owed someone.
Do thoughts of drinking show up through the day?
Not just in the evening, but as a running thread.
Have you felt guilty about your drinking?
Do you feel irritable, low, or anxious when you are not drinking?
Mood changes between drinks matter as much as the drinking itself.
Do you take risks while drinking?
Driving, or other choices you would not otherwise make.
Alcohol and Your Health
What sustained drinking does to the body.
The brain
The brain is highly susceptible to alcohol, and AUD can have prolonged effects on neurons and brain chemistry. Nausea, headaches, sustained anxiety, depression, anger, mood swings, insomnia, nightmares, and difficulty forming and recalling memories are all common. Many of these persist well after the immediate effects have worn off.
The heart
Excessive and prolonged drinking affects cardiovascular health. Heart disease, elevated blood pressure, arrhythmia, cardiomyopathy, and stroke are all possible consequences of sustained alcohol use.
The liver
The liver is taxed by processing the toxins alcohol introduces to the body. Cirrhosis, fibrosis, and other liver diseases are common results of excessive drinking, and they are among the reasons medical care belongs in the picture early.
Before You Stop Drinking
Alcohol is the one you should not quit alone.
Most substances are miserable to withdraw from. Alcohol can be dangerous. Stopping suddenly after heavy, sustained drinking can bring on seizures and delirium tremens, and severe withdrawal can become life-threatening without medical monitoring. The Redpoint Center provides outpatient treatment and does not run a detox unit, so if you need medically supervised withdrawal we will help you get to it first, then pick up your care from there.
- 1
Talk to a medical provider before you cut back.
Do this firstIf you drink heavily or daily, do not taper or stop on your own. A physician can tell you whether it is safe to do so.
- 2
Get your withdrawal risk assessed.
Withdrawal can range from mild anxiety and insomnia to seizures and delirium tremens, and the risk depends on how much you drink and for how long you have been drinking.
- 3
Complete supervised withdrawal if you need it.
We help you arrange itModerate to severe withdrawal is treated somewhere you can be monitored closely. We do not provide this ourselves, and we will help you find and arrange it.
- 4
Step into outpatient care once you are stable.
Where we come inThis is where Redpoint picks up: PHP or IOP, therapy, and a plan for staying well.
How We Treat It
There are as many paths to sobriety as there are people.
Alcohol rarely arrives alone. Dual diagnosis describes a mental health disorder alongside a substance use disorder, and with alcohol the sequence often runs in that direction: anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder comes first, and drinking becomes a way to manage it. That is a dangerous kind of self-medication, partly because withdrawal produces the very symptoms a person was drinking to escape. Treating both together is not an add-on to alcohol treatment. It is what makes it work.
Having a personalized approach is crucial for making the most of your time in a treatment program. At The Redpoint Center we champion the idea that each client can personalize their recovery, and we guide each client along their own best path.
When medication is part of that plan, alcohol use disorder has three medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: naltrexone, available as a daily tablet or a monthly injection, along with acamprosate and disulfiram. None carries potential for misuse, and all work best alongside counseling. Whether medication belongs in your recovery is a conversation with our medical team, not a prerequisite.
- Individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Medication support when it fits
- Life skills
- Relapse prevention planning
Therapies We Use
The clinical approaches behind alcohol treatment.
Motivational interviewing
A non-confrontational approach for ambivalence, which is where most people actually start.
What Else We Treat
Alcohol is often part of a larger picture.
Common Questions
Alcohol treatment questions, answered.
How do I know if I have alcohol use disorder?
Do I need detox before starting an outpatient program?
Can you treat alcohol addiction without inpatient rehab?
What medications help with alcohol use disorder?
Is drinking every day a problem if I never get drunk?
Do you treat alcohol addiction and depression or anxiety at the same time?
Where in Colorado can I get treatment for alcohol use disorder?
Find the level of care that fits.
View All ProgramsAlcohol treatment at Redpoint runs across three levels of care. The right one depends on your withdrawal risk, your schedule, and what support looks like at home. If you are not sure, call (303) 219-0973 and we will help you work it out.
Intensive Outpatient
IOPStructured therapy three days a week while keeping your daily rhythm.
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PHPFull-day clinical care, five days a week, for those who need immersive support.
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VirtualSame clinical rigor, accessible from anywhere in Colorado.
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HousingSupportive housing that reinforces recovery skills between sessions and beyond treatment.
Learn MoreMedical Model
MedicalMedical and psychiatric care built into treatment, led by our Medical Director.
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