Maryland Counseling Centers
	Intensive multiple offender treatment program — IMOT

Over the past 15 years, Maryland Counseling Centers has offered an intensive program for the serious alcohol abuser. This program has been redesigned to meet the needs of the multiple alcohol traffic offender.

Our new program, the Intensive Multiple Offender Treatment Program (IMOT), reflects certain features of the Montgomery County CART program but offers a broader and more intensive treatment component, thus serving clients who, because of various psychological or social factors, are not always best served by the CART format.

Maryland Counseling Centers' IMOT approach provides a minimum year-long program that begins with a modified 26-week treatment protocol. Instead of a single session per week, IMOT requires attendance for four nights per week during the first month. Until successfully reevaluated, all clients are electronically monitored during this phase. Upon completion of this phase, clients continue treatments twice weekly for the remaining 26 weeks.

Our staff evaluates entering clients to identify those who may have dual-diagnosis problems, thus requiring additional psychiatric or psychological treatment. IMOT will require the client to supplement his or her treatment with regular, documented attendance at Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, or SMART Recovery. Sponsorship will also be required, and all clients will be subject to random urine testing, results of which will be available for review by the court or its appropriate agent. Frequency of AA attendance will be based on the severity of the client's problem.

Prior to beginning the IMOT program, it is anticipated that the court impose a nominal period of incarceration. Although deferring to the courts in this regard, we believe a minimum three-day weekend is necessary to impress on the client the sentencing consequences that might follow should he or she choose not to address the substance abuse difficulties that led to arrest. Whether or not the client receives a period of incarceration or confinement, he or she will be placed in a period of electronic monitoring at the beginning of the IMOT program.

Upon successful completion of the 26-week program, the client begins aftercare. This aftercare will provide continuing treatment for chemical dependency and also provides legal and civic education to expand the client's understanding of his or her responsibilities to society and of the basis of law and its enforcement in Maryland. Personal responsibility within the community will be stressed, particularly for those who feel an alcoholic condition reduces one's obligations under the law and who fail to participate constructively in society.

The structured aftercare program also emphasizes familial involvement and obligations. Therapists encourage family contacts for all participants as feasible, particularly on weekends. Clients are reintroduced to the importance of obligations to others as a part of their self-maintenance of sobriety.

This overview provides a set of general guidelines that the court may utilize with this sentencing option. We recognize that the courts review each case on its individual merits; thus, to the extent that individual needs vary, IMOT can accommodate court-ordered variations using this protocol. Recommended terms of this program follow:

		Client serves any court-ordered incarceration and period of suspension.
		Electronic monitoring throughout initial phase of treatment.
		Client enters intensive treatment at Maryland Counseling Centers.
		Four times weekly for the first month.   Twice weekly thereafter for 26 weeks.   Once weekly for 26 weeks of aftercare.   Antabuse and other needed medical care.   Psychiatric consultation for dual-diagnosis clients.   On-site abstinence monitoring by random drug screening.   Intensive behavioral management of chemical dependency.   Abstinence required during treatment.
		Treatment supplemented with AA, NA, or SMART Recovery on days client is not at Maryland Counseling Centers.
		Each client must obtain a sponsor.
		All fines, court costs, and treatment costs are paid by the client.
		Private health insurance may defray part of the cost of treatment.
		Clients are trained in legal responsibility and enforcement of the law in Maryland Counseling Centers.
		Therapists emphasize and facilitate family contacts and responsibilities of clients.
		Program requires a signed contract that binds the client to full participation and completion of all components. A copy is provided to the court..

Maryland Counseling Centers' treatment programs have been recognized by attorneys, judges, probation officers, and clients as the premier resource for private outpatient treatment of the DWI client. Over the years, we have introduced a variety of specialized programs and expanded into new settings to meet the needs of the legal community.

This introduction of our IMOT program is a result of continuing efforts at developing and refining state-of-the-art interventions for clients with substance abuse problems. A full range of professional services — including psychiatric, medical, and psychological — is available to assure that each client receives the most appropriate and necessary treatment that his or her problem requires. Please contact us at one of our offices below for further information about the IMOT program or other treatment options. All Maryland Counseling Centers programs are available in Spanish.