ASAM Level I treatment and recovery services are the point of entry for the initiation of treatment and recovery for alcohol, substance-related, or other addictive behavioral disorder and possible cooccurring disorders.

Services are provided by licensed and certified professionals who specialize in providing addiction treatment services.

These services target the modification of major lifestyle, attitudinal, and behavioral issues that have the potential to undermine the goal of wellness and recovery or inhibit the individual’s ability to cope with major life tasks without the non-medical use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs, a pathological involvement with gambling, or with other addictive behaviors.

The goal of treatment and recovery services is to help individuals achieve permanent changes in their alcohol-, tobacco-, and/ or other drug-using behavior, other behaviors that involve the pathological pursuit of reward or relief, and in their mental and physical health functioning.

In addition, ASAM Level I treatment and recovery services are where an individual receives ongoing care for addiction and related conditions. This ongoing care involves psychosocial counseling and therapy and possibly medication management after an individual has completed treatment at a higher ASAM level of care.

For those persons with addiction who have a chronic disease with a characteristic pattern of relapse and remission, Level 1 encompasses relapse prevention and ongoing coping skills services offered over time to individuals and affected family members.

According to the American Society for Addition Medicine, Level I addiction services are appropriate for any patient after an episode of intensive addiction care (Level II, III, or IV).