Conditions We Treat
Opioid and fentanyl treatment in Colorado that meets you where you are.
Outpatient care for opioid use disorder at all six of our offices, built around your life rather than paused from it. We treat the whole picture: the cravings, the fear of withdrawal, and whatever came before the first pill.
Understanding Opioid Use Disorder
Opioid addiction is a medical condition, not a moral failing.
Opioids are a class of drugs that relieve pain by acting on receptors in the brain and body. Some are prescribed after surgery or for serious pain, like OxyContin, Vicodin, and morphine. Others are illicit, like heroin. They come as pills, powders, patches, or an injection, and whether an opioid is natural, semi-synthetic, or made entirely in a lab, its hold on the brain works the same way.
What makes opioids so difficult is that dependence can build even when the medication was taken exactly as prescribed. The brain adapts, tolerance climbs, and stopping brings on withdrawal. None of that is a question of willpower. It is how these drugs act on the body, and it is why so many people who never intended to misuse anything end up needing help.
Colorado has felt this directly. The state tracks every fatal overdose through its state drug overdose reporting system, and opioids, fentanyl most of all, drive the numbers. Opioid use crosses every age, income, and background. However you or someone you love arrived here, help is available, and recovery is genuinely possible.
Signs and Symptoms
What opioid use can look like.
Opioids affect each person differently, and someone struggling may show only a few of these. Recognizing them, in yourself or someone you love, is often what makes the first call possible.
Drowsiness and nodding off
Struggling to stay awake at times or in places where that is unusual or unsafe.
Constricted pupils
Small, pinpoint pupils are one of the more reliable physical signs.
Sharp mood swings
Irritability and sudden emotional shifts, especially between doses.
Slowed coordination
Compromised motor skills and reaction time.
Disrupted sleep
An erratic sleep schedule, insomnia, or vivid nightmares.
Weight and appetite loss
A compromised diet and noticeable weight loss.
Skin changes
Dry, itchy skin, or track marks at injection sites.
Out-of-character risk-taking
Increasingly risky choices that are not like the person.
Money trouble
Diverting money from bills, or borrowing and taking from loved ones to keep using.
Pulling away
Withdrawing from friends and family, and self-isolating.
Slipping at work or school
Falling attendance and performance.
Preoccupation with the next dose
Planning the day around using, and anxiety when supply runs low.
Why Fentanyl Changed Everything
Fentanyl is in almost everything now, and it does not announce itself.
The single biggest shift in opioid risk over the past decade is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is cheap to make, extraordinarily potent, and increasingly present in drugs sold as something else.
Fentanyl is roughly 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, which means the difference between a dose and a fatal dose can be almost invisible. It is frequently mixed into heroin, cocaine, and counterfeit pills pressed to look like prescription medication, often without the person using it having any idea it is there. Powdered fentanyl looks like a great many other things, and it is nearly impossible to detect by sight.
That is what makes today's landscape so dangerous. Someone can take what they believe is a familiar amount of a familiar drug and encounter fentanyl instead. This is not a reason for shame. It is a reason to treat opioid use seriously and early, and to know that an overdose is survivable when someone nearby is prepared for it.
If Overdose Is the Risk
Opioid overdose is survivable, and preparation is what saves lives.
Opioid withdrawal is rarely dangerous on its own, but overdose is, and the risk climbs after any break in use. The Redpoint Center provides outpatient treatment and does not run a detox unit, so if you need medically supervised withdrawal we help you get to it first, then pick up your care from there.
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Keep naloxone within reach.
Available over the counterNaloxone, often sold as Narcan, is a nasal spray that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose. It is available over the counter and safe to use even if you are not certain. Signs of overdose include pinpoint pupils, a limp body, and slow or stopped breathing.
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Know that tolerance falls fast.
After even a short period without opioids, your tolerance drops. A dose that once felt normal can become an overdose. This is one of the most common and most preventable causes of overdose after a break.
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Let us help you arrange supervised withdrawal.
We help you arrange itIf you are physically dependent, stopping is safer and far more comfortable with medical support. We do not provide detox ourselves, and we will help you find and arrange it.
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Step into outpatient care once you are stable.
Where we come inThis is where Redpoint picks up: PHP or IOP, therapy, medication when it fits, and a plan for staying well.
How We Treat It
There is more than one road out, and medication can be part of it.
Opioid use rarely stands alone. Many people are also managing anxiety, depression, PTSD, or chronic pain, and treating those alongside the substance use is what makes recovery hold. At The Redpoint Center we build each plan around the whole person rather than a single diagnosis, and we adjust it as your needs change.
For opioid use disorder, medication is a first-line, evidence-based part of care. The medications used in office-based treatment include buprenorphine, which eases cravings and withdrawal by partially activating the same receptors without the same high, and naltrexone, available as a monthly injection, which blocks opioids from having an effect at all. Both work best alongside therapy, and whether either fits your recovery is a decision you make with our medical team, not a requirement to begin.
Around that medication sits the daily work of recovery: understanding what opioids were doing for you and building something sturdier in their place, through individual and group therapy, relapse prevention, and the skills that make a sober life livable rather than merely abstinent.
- Individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Medication support when it fits
- Dual diagnosis care
- Relapse prevention planning
Treatment Options
Three levels of care, one clinical team.
Therapies We Use
The clinical approaches behind opioid treatment.
Motivational interviewing
A non-confrontational approach for ambivalence, which is honestly where most people begin.
What Else We Treat
Opioid use is often part of a bigger picture.
Common Questions
Opioid treatment questions, answered.
How is opioid addiction treated at The Redpoint Center?
Do you use medication to treat opioid use disorder?
Do I need detox before starting an outpatient program?
What makes fentanyl so dangerous, and what is naloxone?
Is opioid withdrawal dangerous?
Can you treat opioid addiction and a mental health condition at the same time?
Where in Colorado can I get opioid treatment?
Not sure where opioid treatment should start?
View All ProgramsOpioid care at Redpoint runs across our levels of care, matched to your history, your health, and what support looks like at home. Call (303) 219-0973 and we will help you find the right one.
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.
Learn MoreSober Living
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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