Yes, there is addiction care inside Highlands Ranch. Denver Mental Health & Counseling by The Recovery Village runs from Plaza Drive, in Douglas County, and it offers outpatient therapy, intensive outpatient care (IOP) and dual diagnosis work.
Detox and residential care are provided at our Palmer Lake campus, south of here. Knowing which of those two things you need is most of the decision.
This page maps that out. What stands in town. Where detox happens and when supervision stops being optional. How Colorado licenses each rung of care. What Health First Colorado pays for. What an admission day looks like, and what follows discharge. If you want the statewide view first, our Colorado drug and rehab centers hub covers every option we run here.
Drug and alcohol rehab in Highlands Ranch: what is actually here
One clinic, in town, doing outpatient work. That is the honest inventory.
Colorado organizes treatment by a national framework called the ASAM criteria, and its licensing rules follow those level descriptions [1]. Plain outpatient therapy is Level 1. IOP is 2.1, and a partial hospitalization program (PHP) is 2.5 [1]. Residential care sits at Level 3, split by intensity, with medically monitored inpatient care at 3.7 and medically managed inpatient care at Level 4 [1].
The Highlands Ranch clinic covers Level 1 and Level 2 care. Level 3 care is provided at our Palmer Lake campus. Where an assessment points to hospital-level care first, that is a question for the admissions team on the opening call.
Why this matters on a Tuesday afternoon: the rung you need is a clinical question, not a preference. Someone drinking heavily every day is in a different position from someone whose cannabis use has started costing them a job. The first may need medical supervision before therapy is even possible. The second may do well with weekly sessions and never leave Douglas County.
Denver Mental Health & Counseling: the outpatient, IOP, dual diagnosis we run in Highlands Ranch
Denver Mental Health & Counseling by The Recovery Village sits on Plaza Drive in Highlands Ranch, despite the Denver name.
Here is what it runs. Standard outpatient therapy, scheduled around work or school. IOP, which packs more clinical hours into a week without asking anybody to move out. And dual diagnosis treatment, meaning a mental health condition gets treated alongside substance use rather than after it.
Admissions will confirm who the clinic can take.
Nothing about the building makes it the right answer, though. It is the right answer when someone is medically stable, has somewhere safe to sleep, and can hold a schedule. Where any of those three is shaky, a higher rung usually comes first. Our overview of outpatient rehab explains what these programs ask of a week.
Medical detox in Highlands Ranch and when supervision is not optional
Our detox in Colorado is at the Palmer Lake campus, and admissions arranges the hand-off.
Our nearest campus offering detox is The Recovery Village at Palmer Lake, south down Interstate 25 between Denver and Colorado Springs. It provides detox, inpatient treatment, PHP, IOP, outpatient care and aftercare planning on one site.
Supervision stops being optional with certain substances. Mild alcohol withdrawal generally consists of anxiety, irritability, difficulty sleeping and decreased appetite [2]. Severe withdrawal usually brings visible trembling of the hands and arms, sweating, a raised pulse and blood pressure, and nausea [2]. Seizures and true delirium tremens are the most extreme forms, and those outcomes can lead to fatal consequences [2]. Sedative withdrawal carries comparable risk: the same guidance groups alcohol and sedative withdrawal together as the ones that are life-threatening, in contrast to uncomplicated opioid withdrawal [2]. Only a clinician who knows the history can judge which category someone falls into, which is why an assessment comes before any plan.
Colorado’s benefit design treats detox as its own rung, distinct from residential care [1]. That distinction is worth carrying into a coverage call. More on what the setting involves is in our explainer on medical detox.
If someone is having a seizure, is unresponsive or has trouble breathing, call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988.
Outpatient and IOP care in Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Denver Mental Health & Counseling by The Recovery Village provides outpatient therapy, IOP and dual diagnosis treatment in Highlands Ranch itself. Where detox or a residential bed is the right starting point, our admissions team arranges the hand-off to our Palmer Lake campus rather than sending you to look for one.
Check your coverage and admissions
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Denver Mental Health & Counseling by The Recovery Village is part of our family of treatment centers. See the Denver Mental Health & Counseling clinic.
Choosing between residential, PHP and outpatient care in Highlands Ranch
Three questions usually settle it: how physically risky is stopping, how stable is home, and how much structure can a week absorb?
Residential care means living on site. It suits someone whose home cannot support sobriety, whose use is severe, or who has tried lighter rungs without them holding. Colorado’s framework splits residential care by intensity, from clinically managed low-intensity services up to medically monitored inpatient care [1].
PHP is near-daily clinical structure with nights spent at home. IOP is fewer hours again, usually several sessions a week, built so employment survives. Standard outpatient care is the maintenance rung.
Movement between rungs is normal, and downward movement is the goal rather than a setback. A stay that starts with detox often ends with weekly sessions in Highlands Ranch. Our guide to inpatient rehab sets out what residential care actually asks of someone.
Paying for treatment in Highlands Ranch: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Colorado, Health First Colorado and self-pay
Three routes, and the Medicaid one is more generous than most Douglas County families expect.
Health First Colorado, the state’s Medicaid program, covers behavioral health including substance use treatment, and those services need no referral and carry no copay [1]. The covered continuum runs from screening and outpatient care through IOP and medication-assisted treatment to detox, residential care and hospital inpatient services [1]. Colorado maintains a searchable map of residential providers licensed and enrolled at each ASAM level [1].
Commercial coverage through Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Colorado, or any other carrier, works differently. Benefits vary by policy and by employer, prior approval is common above outpatient care, and network status can differ between rungs inside one organization. Nothing here says we are in network with any carrier. Confirm it for your own member ID before anyone commits. Our page on how insurance covers rehab explains the mechanics.
Self-pay is the third route, and it is not automatically the most expensive one once a deductible is factored in. Our own cost page puts basic residential treatment at $2,000 to $20,000 and detox at $250 to $800 a day; treat those as the band a real quote lands inside, because a number that ignores the rung of care and the length of stay is a guess. Our page on what rehab costs explains which variables actually move the figure.
Colorado data on overdose and treatment admissions
Colorado publishes its own numbers, and they are better than anything a treatment site could assemble.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment maintains overdose dashboards covering fatal overdoses at state and county level, alongside separate dashboards for non-fatal emergency department visits and hospital use [3]. The Behavioral Health Administration publishes substance use disorder data through its own performance hub [4].
We are not going to quote a Douglas County figure here. County-level counts move, definitions differ between dashboards, and a stale number on a treatment page is worse than none. Go to the source and read the year it covers.
For national scale: over 105,000 people in the United States died from drug-involved overdose in 2023, a decline from the 107,941 reported in 2022 [5]. Deaths involving any opioid fell from 81,806 in 2022 to 79,358 in 2023, while cocaine-involved deaths rose to 29,449 [5]. Those are national counts, not Colorado ones.
Admission day at the Highlands Ranch clinic, step by step
It starts with a conversation, not paperwork.
A first call covers what is being used, how long it has been going on, what has been tried, whether a mental health condition is in play, and what coverage exists. That call decides the rung. If outpatient or IOP fits, scheduling happens directly with the Highlands Ranch clinic. If detox comes first, the admissions team arranges the Palmer Lake hand-off and the return to Highlands Ranch afterwards.
Ask the admissions team what to bring, and have an insurance card and a current medication list to hand for the call itself. Someone who has been in treatment before should say so, including what did not work. That history shapes the plan more than anything else on the form.
Expect an intake assessment on the first visit rather than a therapy session. It is longer and more administrative than what follows. Our walkthrough of how to get into rehab covers the sequence in more detail.
Life after discharge: outpatient, alumni and sober housing in Highlands Ranch
Discharge from one rung is normally admission to a lighter one.
Someone leaving residential care in Colorado typically steps down to PHP or IOP, and the Highlands Ranch clinic exists partly to catch that step. Standard outpatient therapy follows. Medication for alcohol or opioid use disorder, where a clinician has prescribed it, continues across all of that.
Alumni programming keeps people connected to the group they went through treatment with, which matters more than most people anticipate in month three. Recovery housing is the other common piece: shared, substance-free accommodation with house rules, used while someone rebuilds work and routine. Recovery housing is run by separate organizations, and we point people to the state directory rather than naming specific houses.
Colorado’s Behavioral Health Administration points residents to treatment and navigation services regardless of ability to pay, including its OwnPath care directory and a statewide navigation line [6]. For urgent emotional or substance use crises, the 988 line answers in Colorado around the clock [6]. Our nationwide directory of treatment facilities is the wider map.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a drug rehab in Highlands Ranch? Yes. Denver Mental Health & Counseling by The Recovery Village operates on Plaza Drive in Highlands Ranch, offering outpatient therapy, IOP and dual diagnosis treatment. Detox and residential care sit at higher rungs of Colorado’s licensed continuum, and we provide those at our Palmer Lake campus. Where they are needed first, admissions arranges the hand-off.
How far is the nearest Denver Mental Health & Counseling campus from Highlands Ranch? There is no drive. The clinic is in Highlands Ranch itself, on Plaza Drive in Douglas County, despite carrying the Denver name. That makes outpatient and IOP a local option for residents rather than a commute. Detox and residential care are the parts that involve travel, to our Palmer Lake campus south along Interstate 25.
Does Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Colorado cover rehab for Highlands Ranch residents? Commercial policies that include behavioral health benefits generally cover addiction treatment in some form, but the terms depend on the policy, the employer and the rung of care. Prior approval is common above standard outpatient care. Nothing here claims network status with any carrier. Verify benefits against your own member ID before anyone commits to an admission.
Can I detox in Highlands Ranch or do I have to travel? Travel, if detox is what you need. Colorado treats detox as a distinct licensed rung of care, and our nearest campus providing it is Palmer Lake. Alcohol and sedative withdrawal in particular can become medically serious, so this is a decision for a clinician rather than a preference.
How soon can a Highlands Ranch resident be admitted? That depends on the rung, the coverage check and the assessment, so nobody honest quotes a fixed answer. Outpatient and IOP scheduling is usually quicker than a residential admission, which involves a bed and a prior approval. Calling with an insurance card and a medication list to hand is the fastest way to get a real date.
Sources
- Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. Ensuring Full Continuum SUD Benefits. State of Colorado. https://hcpf.colorado.gov/ensuring-full-continuum-sud-benefits
- Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (2006). Detoxification and Substance Abuse Treatment, TIP 45, Chapter 4: Physical Detoxification Services for Withdrawal From Specific Substances. SAMHSA, NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64116/
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Colorado drug overdose statistics. State of Colorado. https://cdphe.colorado.gov/registries-and-vital-statistics/state-unintentional-drug-overdose-reporting-system-sudors/colorado
- Colorado Behavioral Health Administration. Substance use disorder data. State of Colorado. https://bha.colorado.gov/data-and-reports/performance-hub/substance-use-disorder-data
- National Institute on Drug Abuse. Drug Overdose Deaths: Facts and Figures. National Institutes of Health. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
- Colorado Behavioral Health Administration. Get help: Mental health, drugs, or alcohol. State of Colorado. https://bha.colorado.gov/help/get-help-mental-health-drugs-or-alcohol
This page is for general information and is not medical advice. Only a licensed clinician who knows your history can tell you what is right for you. If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, call 911. For free, confidential support 24/7, call or text 988.
Author
Chief Medical Officer,
The Recovery Village
