| Drug
and Alcohol Treatment Centers
Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centers
Information
If you are seeking help from a drug or alcohol
treatment center, we applaud you. It takes courage
and a lot of help to arrest an addiction problem. If you're
here seeking information from treatment centers for a loved
one, we applaud you also. Many lives have been spared because
a family member or friend had the courage to pick up the phone
and call a drug and alcohol treatment center when his or her
loved one couldn't or wouldn't.
Types of Drug and Alcohol Centers
There are many types
of drug and alcohol treatment centers available. However,
the recovery business is just like any other business, let's
use the auto mechanic business for an example. There are good
mechanics, there are a few honest mechanics, there are some
bad mechanics and there are a lot of crooks in the auto mechanics
business. Well, the drug and alcohol treatment center business
isn't much different. Here you'll find good treatment centers,
bad treatment centers, honest and ethical centers and some
not so honest.
We hope to provide you with some information that will make
your search a little easier and help you avoid some of the
pitfalls. First, decide what is within your budget. That doesn't
mean one should shop around for the least expensive treatment
center in the area and promptly admit yourself, remember we're
talking about possibly saving a life here. Find the one that
appears to be the best one that you can afford to pay for.
However, if you are like many addicts and the drugs have completely
depleted your resources to the point where there is simply
nothing left and there is no one left in your life that is
willing to help, then "God Bless You" you've arrived
just in the nick of time.
It may be more difficult for a person with very limited resources
to access a treatment center, but believe it or not, help
is available for everyone. In fact, there are many organizations
and treatment centers that recognize and address the financial
barriers to treatment.
Many State and Federally Funded Treatment Centers operate
on a sliding fee scale (people pay what they can afford to,
based on their income), are open to arranging payment plans,
and/or participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. To find
one, check out SAMHSA's
Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center Locator or call 1-800-662-4357.
There's also President Bush's substance abuse treatment initiative,
Access
To Recovery, which provides drug addicts with vouchers
to pay for treatment. Keep in mind that not all states participate
in this drug treatment initiative and most of the treatment
centers that do are faith-based. You can also check with your
county's Substance Abuse Programs, which is usually a division
within it's Mental Health Department and ask for a list of
County Funded Treatment Centers. Be persistent and don't give
up. There is always someone that is willing to help if you
really want help.
Narrow Your Drug and Alcohol Treatment
Center Search
If you are one of the fortunate and you can afford to
pay for drug treatment or you've still got family or friends
that are willing to help, your options aren't nearly as limited.
I can't suggest strongly enough that you limit your search to
gender specific treatment centers. Many centers offer both men's
and women's programs. This is fine as long as they have separate,
gender specific housing and the treatment schedules separate
the genders most of the time so the girls can discuss female
issues and the boys can discuss, well, the girls. Next, you'll
need to decide if entering a local center is really a good idea.
Sometimes, for obvious reasons the farther away the better.
We suggest that you find several drug and alcohol treatment centers that offer
individualized treatment planning. We might all have the same
problem, but we all have a unique set of issues to address
and a "one size fits all" type program may not address
some of your more unique issues. Call these centers that you've
narrowed your search to and ask them a lot of questions like
the ones found on our "Ask Questions" page. Please
do not take this step lightly, ask the centers as many questions
as you can, it's the only way you can make an informed choice
and this could end up being one of the most important desicions
of your life. We may even be talking about saving a human
life here. Yours, or that of a loved one.
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