For most, finding the right help for alcohol or drug issues in Aberaman, is confusing and difficult. Many simply don't know how to compare treatment providers and end up settling for less.
Our comprehensive guide will walk you through finding the right help, at the right price. In a hurry? Download our printable Q&A guide to have handy when you speak with providers.
Step 1 - What Do You Need?
Having gone through months (years?) of denial, when we're ready for treatment, it's easy to rush ahead into the first detox provider you call. But considering first, what your treatment needs truly are, can help you pay for rehab just once, and not twice.
Detox, Rehab, Or Both?
A stay for alcohol or drug rehab normally follows the sequence Detox > Rehab > Aftercare, but do you need all three?
- Do you need all three stages of treatment, detox > rehab > aftercare? (Be truthful).
You could go for a detox-only programme, but run greater risk of future relapse if other supports are not in place.
Rehab In The Right Place
Amongst the concerns we hear each day, the location of the clinic is one of the most common. But sometimes, you can be too close to home.
Unless you're extremely unwell, consider anything up to 100 mile radius and focus instead on quality of care.
Most clinics provide standard detox protocols and some form of therapy. But will they still be supporting you after you leave the clinic? We're getting to the real questions here about standard of care delivered, instead of just the bare minimum.
See all the locations Abbeycare serve, here.
A Past History Of Addiction
You should know: your progress in treatment can depend heavily on the strength of the clinic staff around you, and the support of your peers.
This can be especially important where you have complex drug or alcohol detox needs.
The clinic team over the phone should be able to give a rough indication of how they'll approach your treatment.
Does the medical team at a given clinic specialise in addiction? Or do they practice in more general matters, with addiction as a second interest?
KEY QUESTIONS
- How long should detox take, for me?
- What addiction experience do your prescribing professionals have?
- If there are unexpected issues during my detox, what happens?
Step 2 - How Does Rehab Work?
What is the typical admission process?
For in-patient treatment stays, you'll have your own room in the clinic, where you stay, live and sleep, for anywhere from 7-84 days or more (28 days is the average stay).
Before admission, you should expect to complete an initial assessment over the phone with admissions staff, whose job it is to co-ordinate the information you provide with specialists inside the clinic, and ensure their facility can meet your needs.
What Is A Care Plan?
After admission to a clinic, staff will usually look to plan out your care in the clinic, and how that will work, for you personally.
This means a 'care plan' is drawn up, and agreed by you and your assigned care manager.
This is your opportunity to make sure your key sticking points, triggers, and recurring issues, are factored in, and will get appropriate attention during your stay. Don't miss this bit out.
KEY QUESTIONS
- Is the care planning the same for every client, or is it personalised to me?
- Do you have a one size fits all approach to treatment, or do you work with each individual's needs?
- Is care planning done for me, or is it collaborative?
- How is care planning done?
Life Inside The Clinic
What Is Day To Day Life Like, In Treatment?
Short of actually admitting to treatment, we need to ask questions here that let us know what we should expect to see, hear, and feel, once admitted to a clinic.
Clinic operators must keep an entire group of clients on track every day. This can only be achieved when everyone works from the same daily schedule. The agenda lets you know what's happening when, and what activities you should participate in.
The time it takes to feel better at the initial stages of treatment is personal to each individual. Depending on usage levels, many will be able to progress to the next stage of treatment after just a few days. Sometimes, detox will last much longer. This variation is natural.
Arranging a visit to the clinic, before committing any funding, can help reassure you of standards of care, and avoid a costly mistake. Ask about this.
KEY QUESTIONS
- Do you have a virtual online tour I can take?
- Do I take part in daily activities even during detox?
- How do I arrange to see inside the clinic, before admitting?
- How quickly after detoxing can I get started on the remainder of the programme elements?
A Word About Covid-19
Since rehab treatment is usually a communal environment, you should expect to have to accommodate others on the journey.
In fact, a big part of recovering in the longer term, is re-learning to interact with others, and break the old patterns of isolation.
But doing so safely, in the age of Covid-19, means ensuring the clinic you choose has provisions in place to guard against risk of infection.
Step 3 - Managing The Budget For Treatment
Public health services are usually free, but rarely provide detox, or speedy access to treatment. Private providers are more specialist, with a joined up approach, but come at a cost.
Public services are accountable to the tax payer, and seldom offer more specialist interventions.
Your mental health matters, and because of the costs involved, it's easy to opt for a very low end provider, with minimal support. Not always a great idea.
Instead, to keep costs reasonable but standards high, consider providers further afield, or smaller clinics with a lower headcount and rural location.
By calling and comparing a few treatment providers against each other, this step should give you a sense of what rehab will cost.
Other Ways To Get Help
Community-Led Support Channels
Big Book, or 12 step meetings, are available via groups such as AA and NA, across most towns and cities.
If you're just starting out in recovery though, detoxing comfortably first, will undoubtedly be the priority.
Local mutual aid meetings *can* be a huge help, and can be a source of potential sponsors and sober mentors for the future. But initially, it's important to get professional help to detox safely, and comfortably.
Public Healthcare For Addiction
Obtaining short-term detox from NHS services is unlikely, due to demand on resources.
Hospital or clinic based detox places strain on resources and funding, and is usually only available for extreme cases.
Aggregating funds together, between friends and family, can be a good approach to securing private treatment instead, where the individual can't finance it themselves.
Step 4 - Read The Reviews
While many providers will claim to show many positive reviews, their legitimacy is not always clear.
Arm yourself from the outset, with the *only* truly impartial consumer report available for private clinics - the Care Quality Commission (England & Wales) and/or Care Inspectorate (Scotland) inspection reports.
These regulatory bodies complete inspections to ensure a minimum level of service is met.
Clinics are graded across multiple areas of care, including support standards, management, and clinical environment.
Clinic Inspections - What You Need to Know
Inspections can be "announced" (the clinic is aware in advance) or "unannounced" (inspection teams arrive without warning) - so for the best insight into everyday care levels, check for unannounced reports.
Step 5 - Arrange Admission
Now is the time to come to a decision about where you're completing treatment.
Normally, the provider will take you through a few initial questions, when you call, to make sure you're a good fit, and will work well together.
After the assessment is complete, the clinic will start making preparations for your stay - to do this, they'll need some commitment from you, in the form of a deposit payment - this holds the room in your name, and allows the team to start making arrangements.
If you’re paying via an insurance policy, this is the time that will get sorted out also.
Step 6 - Deposits & Paying For Treatment
As above, expect to pay a deposit prior to admission.
Depending on total costs, your deposit could be anywhere from £500 - £3,000 or more.
You won't find many clinics offering payment options directly, unfortunately.
You should expect some kind of booking confirmation from the provider, usually by email, after any deposit or balance payment is made.
Remaining Balance
Treatment providers will expect payment for the remainder of the balance of treatment, upon arrival the clinic.
It’s worth making the effort to settle this on time, as some providers can levy surcharges for late payment, and this quickly adds up, on larger balances.
Step 7 - Get Started
Now it's time for the practical stuff of admitting. Double check you have a note of your confirmed date and time your due to admit to the clinic.
Pack enough essentials for your treatment duration, like:
Check your booking confirmation for advice about mobile phone usage, internet access, visits, leisure facilities, and any special arrangements for covid-19.
Make sure to finalise transport arrangements a few days in advance, to ensure you attend the clinic on time, and avoid any surcharges on delays on treatment.
And of course, enjoy your recovery!
Print Our Cheatsheet To Easily Compare Providers
Thank you for reading the ultimate guide to finding the right rehab treatment for Aberaman.
Thanks for reading our free guide.
Abbeycare's UK clinics have been helping those in Aberaman.
We've worked with thousands from all over the world, and we can probably help you too.
All these years we've stuck to the basics that work - structured detox, therapy, and aftercare solutions that help get folks back on track.
Even if you need transport arranged to get here, we can probably help with that too.
Check our independent inspection reports, available on our clinic pages for Scotland, and Abbeycare Gloucester.
Our admissions team are ready to help.
Our medical team are ready to help you detox, comfortably.
Our addiction specialist therapists can help you overcome the underlying issues of addiction.
Our clinic team are ready to help you get started.
Are you ready?
We'll help get things moving. Ring us direct, on 01603 513 091.
