The exact activities of a Professionals Health Program (PHP) vary state by state. The heart of PHP activities is helping professionals who suffer from addiction and other psychiatric illnesses obtain help and maintain a healthy state after the completion of initial treatment. PHPs provide hope, direct its participants to effective treatment, and monitor and manage the illness once they return from the first stage of their care.

Recent research has shown that the combination of aggressive treatment combined with long term monitoring and “contingency management” provides an excellent outcome in addiction care.  It appears that the marriage of primary treatment and this long term monitoring is crucial in helping addicts and alcoholics reclaim their lives. Contingency Management is a research term for the activities of an organization such as a PHP, and refers to intervening early on relapse behaviors, promoting health lifestyle and tracking and encouraging behavioral change to prevent the disease from returning.

When you contact the Georgia PHP, we determine what type of help the individual needs. Sometimes, this involves sending the identified patient to evaluation. Other times they enter treatment. Treatment with the PHP is confidential in most cases. To learn more about the limits confidentiality click here. You may also want to call or email us to discuss the situation at hand. Once the individual is engaged in meaningful care, the PHP completes a monitoring contract. The monitoring contract helps the patient maintain their health over a sustained period of time.