Private rehab treatment for alcohol or drug addiction can be expensive, and low-cost or free alternatives are seldom available. It's easy to sign up too quickly for treatment, without a proper understanding what to look for.
If you're considering expensive rehab treatment - read our need-to-knows before taking the plunge.
Step 1 - Detox .v. Rehab
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 .v. Rehab
Addiction treatment for alcohol or drugs usually starts with a detox, then therapy (rehab), followed by aftercare. But which of these is right for you?
- Unsure if you need detox, rehab, aftercare, or all 3? It's important to be clear on this.
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
Thinking of treatment nearby? It's a natural response when feeling low.
But there's more to consider, in your long term sobriety journey, than the clinic next door.
Detox beds can be found in hospitals, and virtually any clinic. But does their long term support match your needs in the longer term? It pays to shop around here.
See all the locations Abbeycare serve, here.
Multi-Substance Detox, Or Previous Attempts At Rehab
Getting the right help means being picky about the support you'll receive while in treatment.
If you've had detoxes in the past, or complications like liver or other issues, you'll want to be extra careful here.
While an admissions team or sales team can give an indication of likely detox methods, this is of course finalised and decided upon by the supervising medical professionals present.
Getting reassurance that the provider is not only ready to detox you based on your needs, but has done so many times for others in the past, is important.
KEY QUESTIONS
- Are you a rehab clinic, or a hospital?
- What addiction experience do your prescribing professionals have?
- Are there suitable staff in the clinic who are equipped to handle detox complications?
Step 2 - Understand How Rehab Works
What is the typical admission process?
Rehabilitation clinics operate a residential service - you stay residentially, in the clinic, 24hrs a day, usually with your own room and personal space.
The provider you're working with should ask you some questions over the phone to make sure you're a good match - it's important to give honest answers, to avoid complications later.
How Do I Monitor Progress?
If your clinic provides strong personal attention in the programme, they should help you map out what you want from treatment, exactly.
This means a 'care plan' is drawn up, and agreed by you and your assigned care manager.
Together you'll map out key milestones, while accounting for past addictive patterns and behaviours. It's worth making the effort here.
KEY QUESTIONS
- What sort of care planning takes place when I enter the clinic?
- How do clinic staff know they're doing a good job at helping clients achieve recovery?
- Does care planning account for my detox needs, therapy needs, or both?
- Am I passed from one staff member to another, as shifts change?
A Day In The Life
What Is Day To Day Life Like, In Treatment?
Without actually being in the clinic, the closest you can get is to ask questions about the daily experience of life in the 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. This lays out the timetable of events, and what's expected.
Detox from alcohol or substance misuse in a clinic can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks, depending on multiple factors. Getting clear of the physical effects of alcohol or substance misuse in detox could take 3-6 days, for lighter use cases. Others may take 7 days or longer. This is normal.
Visiting the clinic before committing to treatment will also help you gauge just what the everyday is like, inside a centre, before committing financially.
KEY QUESTIONS
- Is it possible to see internal photos of the centre, before admitting?
- Can you send me an example of what the daily schedule is like, in the clinic?
- How do I get reassurance about the look and feel of the clinic, prior to arranging admission?
- When would I be expected to move from detox into therapy in the clinic?
A Word About Covid-19
They say, that rehab and recovery are team sports.
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.
Achieving recovery in a covid-19 world, however, means making some accommodations along the way.
Step 3 - Rehab On A Budget
Whilst private clinics offer fast access to specialist help, financing the stay in treatment needs planning.
Third sector organisations providing full stack care (detox, therapy, aftercare) under one roof are few and far between, but worth investigating in your area.
Automatically choosing the lowest price provider can lead to poor care levels inside the clinic, detrimental to your recovery progress.
Working with minimalist care, in a clinic with spartan conditions is not conducive to personal breakthroughs. Instead, look for alternative providers with smaller programmes, headcount, and overheads, to strike the right balance.
By calling and comparing a few treatment providers against each other, this step should give you a sense of what rehab will cost.
Looking Beyond Clinic Treatment
Support In The Community
12 step support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are usually available in most locations, although meetings have largely shifted towards online now, in the wake of covid issues.
For most at the start of the recovery journey though, detox options are a very real need, and not something that can be obtained without more specialist help.
Community support is invaluable, at the right stage in the process. But the first stage of help - physically detoxing - will need more specialist care.
Public Healthcare For Addiction
Whilst the NHS do have addiction keyworkers in different regions, they’re normally overrun with enquiries and demand on resources, meaning obtaining funding for a rehab stay is unlikely.
Usually, only the more complex cases with a long history of addiction are considered for placement into specialist detox units.
Families and friends often agree to jointly finance private treatment, in cases where no publicly funded options are available.
Step 4 - Read The Only Impartial Reports
Assessing a provider's standard of care is important - but can be tricky for the layman.
In these situations we need an independent and impartial regulator's opinion - in this case, The Care Quality Commission (CQC) for England and Wales, and The Care Inspectorate, for Scotland.
These regulatory bodies complete inspections to ensure a minimum level of service is met.
Service providers receive a full report on the watchdog's findings.
Important - Regulator Inspections
When looking for CQC or Care Inspectorate reports, always look for those stating the visit was "Unannounced" instead of "Announced" - this means the provider was not aware the inspection was occurring, and hence is most likely to provide most insight into genuine standards of care.
Step 5 - Arrange Admission
Now that you've read up, and compared a few clinics, it's time to arrange admission.
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.
An assessment shouldn’t normally take more than 20 minutes, after which you can pay any required financial deposit over the phone and expect some form of booking confirmation and receipt of payment.
Now is also the time to finalise any other arrangements re payment, like paying via insurance policy.
Step 6 - Arranging Payment
As mentioned above, paying a deposit means the clinic can prepare for your arrival, and allocate your room booking.
Expect to pay anywhere from £1,800 to £4,000 to book a place in a treatment provider's clinic.
A few offer payment plans to help spread the cost of rehab, although nowadays this is less common.
You should expect some kind of booking confirmation from the provider, usually by email, after any deposit or balance payment is made.
Paying For The Rest Of Treatment
Clinics will normally expect payment of the remaining balance of treatment, upon arrival and admission to the clinic, so be prepared to make a payment at this time.
It's a good idea to pay this promptly, to avoid excess charges.
Step 7 - Admit to treatment
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.
You'll usually be asked to bring certain essentials with you:
Rules re mobile phone and device usage varies from clinic to clinic - it's worth checking before you set off - how many devices are allowed, and what the internet usage policy is. Many clinics have a restricted use policy, to keep clients on track.
Most clinics have a busy schedule and making sure you arrive on time is important. Getting your means of transport to the clinic organised ahead of time, will ensure things are effortless, on the day.
Take a well-deserved rest, as the road to recovery opens up before you.
Easy Rehab Q&A Cheatsheet
Thanks so much for reading the ultimate guide on finding rehab treatment in Abertillery.
Abbeycare have provided this guide free of charge, to help you make the right decision when considering addiction rehab treatment options.
Help for addiction is available at Abbeycare's UK clinics.
We've helped hundreds (thousands probably) move beyond addiction, and start a new life.
In these last 15 years, our experience has gone from strength to strength.
Not nearby? No problem, we can arrange transport too, in many cases.
You can read our inspection reports from regulatory bodies, on our clinic pages, for: Abbeycare Scotland, and Abbeycare Gloucester.
Abbeycare admissions team can advise on options that suit your needs.
Detox is possible, safely and comfortably, with the help of our medical team.
The Abbeycare therapy team are specialists in helping you identify and work through the underlying triggers behind addiction.
The Abbeycare clinic team are ready to help you co-ordinate everything.
Now....are you ready?
To ask a question, or to arrange admission, ring our team now on 01603 513 091.
