The Center supports both first responders and civilian injured workers who need medically supervised detox and trauma recovery in a safe, structured, and confidential environment.

To provide patients with a healing environment that feels safe from the start. The first steps into detox and recovery can be filled with uncertainty, especially for first responders accustomed to carrying the weight alone. The Integrated Detox and Trauma Recovery Center at IOH is designed as a sanctuary, not just a facility.

Patients are not placed into a generic or overwhelming environment. Every individual undergoes a careful evaluation, and if appropriate, is admitted into a comfortable, home-like setting on the scenic campus of IOH Riverside. This location is monitored and staffed with medical professionals 24/7, where respect, confidentiality, privacy, and psychological safety are prioritized. While the Center serves both civilians and first responders, all of whom are thoroughly vetted and assessed to ensure a safe and supportive space for healing, subsequent to the detoxification process, First Responders enter the first responder-only Institute for all their post-traumatic stress related treatments. 

Our multidisciplinary team includes clinical professionals who have worn the uniform themselves, including veteran firefighters, law enforcement–aligned clinicians, veterans, and medical staff with firsthand experience treating those on the front lines. They understand the world, the hesitations, and the strength of those they serve, not just clinically, but culturally.

Surrounded by individuals who understand without judgment, without explanation, this is the foundation of trust. This is the starting point for healing.

Science shows that mixed environments reduce trauma triggers, calm the nervous system, and accelerate immune recovery. This foundation helps first responders transition more successfully into peer-only treatment at the IOH First Responder Institute.

Once stabilized, first responders continue into the IOH First Responder Institute, where care is delivered in a peer-only setting. Civilians transition into other IOH programs tailored to their individual medical, psychological, and functional recovery needs.

Patients are supported by a transdisciplinary infrastructure that includes neurology, addiction medicine, psychiatry, clinical, health and forensic psychology, physical medicine & rehabilitation, neuro-optometry, social workers, physical and occupational therapy, clinical nutrition, movement and physical rehabilitation experts, and peer recovery mentors.

Yes. Patients are admitted into a home-like, carefully monitored setting on the IOH Riverside campus. The Center is staffed 24/7 by medical professionals, with admissions screened to ensure privacy, safety, and psychological security.

Because science, not sentiment, drives the design. Before that deeper phase of healing begins, detoxification and early trauma recovery occur within the Integrated Detox and Trauma Recovery Center, ensuring clinical stability, safety, and continuity of care from day one.

For First Responders:
At IOH, all rehabilitative treatment for first responders takes place exclusively within the First Responder Institute (FRI) — a peer-only environment intentionally designed to restore trust, function, and identity among those who serve.

If a first responders needs medically supervised detox or early trauma recovery before entering FRI, those services are provided in our Integrated Detox and Trauma Recovery Center to ensure clinical stability, safety, and a smooth, supportive transition into rehabilitative treatment.

PNI is the science of how stress impacts the brain and immune system. By reducing hypervigilance and stress hormones, stabilizing the nervous system, and restoring immune balance, IOH helps patients enter “healing mode” faster and with better outcomes.

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI): the science of how psychological stress influences immune and neurological function, demonstrates why early detox in a mixed setting leads to superior outcomes for first responders. Healing begins at the level of the nervous system and immune system.

Biological & Physiological Benefits

• Acute withdrawal elevates stress hormones (e.g., cortisol, norepinephrine). Being surrounded by other traumatized first responders can reinforce hypervigilance and prolong sympathetic overdrive.
• An abnormal, non-triggering social environment helps reset autonomic balance, enabling faster transition to parasympathetic dominance (the body’s “healing mode”).

Neurological Regulation

• Detox requires central nervous system stabilization. Mixed settings reduce exposure to trauma contagion, the mutual reactivation of traumatic neural circuits, which can worsen sleep, mood, and cravings.
• A neutral, non-reflexive environment calms the limbic system and improves early-stage neuroplastic recovery.

Immunological Recovery

• Chronic stress suppresses the activity of natural killer (NK) cells and increases the production of inflammatory cytokines. Mixed community environments foster lower allostatic load, accelerating immune system recalibration and reducing susceptibility to infection and relapse.

Psychological and Identity Healing

• The first step in recovery often requires temporarily shedding one’s role identity. In a mixed setting, first responders can begin healing as people first, not exclusively as symbols of service.
• This “decompression phase” allows for emotional grounding, social reintegration, and psychological detachment from hyper-functional survival roles that often block healing.

Here, healing is not achieved by chance. It is orchestrated by design. At the heart of the IOH Integrated Detox and Trauma Recovery Center is a highly coordinated, precision-calibrated ecosystem of specialists working in unison to recalibrate the brain, nervous system, immune function, and psychosocial identity from the moment of admission.

In contrast to traditional detox models that rely on unimodal care or multiple disciplines, the IOH model harnesses the full power of a unified, interdisciplinary approach. Each domain of transdisciplinary expertise targets a specific recovery system, neurological, psychological, immunological, and functional, allowing for a comprehensive biological reset during this early, sensitive window.

This includes:

• Neurology and Neuropsychology
• Addiction Medicine and Emergency-Trained Nursing
• Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology, and Forensic Psychology
• Sleep Medicine and Circadian Rhythm Experts
• Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
• Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy
• Speech & Language Pathology
• Pain Medicine
• Clinical Nutrition
• Tactical, Fitness, and Somatic Movement Specialists
• Peer Recovery Mentors

This team does more than treat symptoms. It treats systems. It reboots the internal hardware and rewrites the emotional code. For first responders, it lays the biological and psychological foundation for reintegration into the IOH First Responder Institute, where identity, mission, and meaning are restored among peers.

Admissions start with an evaluation to determine medical and psychological needs. You can connect with the IOH team by phone, email, or by filling out the contact form on this page.