Do you or a loved one need addiction treatment for alcohol or drugs? Thousands blindly walk into addiction treatment in expensive rehab centres and find that the reality doesn't meet expectations.
Here's everything you need to know when buying rehab - including how to ask the right questions and weed out weaker options.
Step 1 - Understand What 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. Get off to the right start by deciding first what you need - detox, rehab, or both?
Detox Only, Or A Complete Recovery Programme?
A stay for alcohol or drug rehab normally follows the sequence Detox > Rehab > Aftercare, but do you need all three?
- Have you tried treatment previously, without success? Or even, tried going it alone without professional help? (Be truthful).
Opting for the full package will provide more support, but think about if it's necessary.
Clinic Location
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.
But there's more to consider, in your long term sobriety journey, than the clinic next door.
Therapy levels vary wildly from clinic to clinic, and therapist to therapist. What feedback do you have on the clinic you plan to attend? Just a few minutes work here, can pay off down the line.
See all the locations Abbeycare serve, here.
Detox Requirements
Getting the right help means being picky about the support you'll receive while in treatment.
If you've been detoxed in the past, and are looking for recovery afresh, it's a good idea to check on exactly what detox you'll get.
The clinic team over the phone should be able to give a rough indication of how they'll approach your treatment.
Likewise for therapeutic help, what specialist qualifications in addiction do the team have? Ask here about issues that have been sticking points for you in the past, and their suitability to help.
KEY QUESTIONS
- Are you a rehab clinic, or a hospital?
- Do you have specialist addiction medics prescribing detox?
- Will I be able to speak with someone who decides about my detox regimen, once admitted to the clinic?
Step 2 - What Does A Stay In Rehab Actually Involve?
What is day to day addiction treatment inside the clinic actually like?
Rehab clinics are not hospitals with shared wards - you'd normally have your own room in the clinic for the length of your stay. Some clinics also offer shared rooms - although this has become less common since the advent of coronavirus.
The clinic you enquire with, have to make sure they can look after you and your needs for detox and rehab. They'll ask some standard questions about your usage, and history with addiction. This is normal, and it's important for them to rule out extreme cases where their environment may not be safe, or provide a comfortable detox experience.
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
- Do I get an individualised care plan that I have input into?
- How do I make sure I stay on track during treatment?
- Is care planning done for me, or is it collaborative?
- Am I passed from one staff member to another, as shifts change?
What Do I Do In The Clinic, Each Day?
What is it like being in a rehab clinic?
It can be tricky to discern exactly what happens each day in treatment, as the routine can vary.
Since residential rehab is a group environment, most clinics provide each client with a daily agenda, every night for the following day. The agenda lets you know what's happening when, and what activities you should participate in.
The duration of detox each individual needs, will vary, based on multiple factors, including frequency and recency of usage, history of addiction, previous detoxes, etc. The pace of your treatment can vary. For example, for those with lighter intake levels, progression beyond the detox phase of clinic work can happen in just a few days. Others may take 7 days or longer. Clinic staff understand this.
Call the clinic's admissions team to arrange to look around the inside of the centre before completing any paperwork. This can give you a real feel for how the day to day looks and feels.
KEY QUESTIONS
- Is it possible to see internal photos of the centre, before admitting?
- Do you have sample daily agendas for treatment I can look at?
- Do you offer the opportunity to look around the clinic before admitting?
- How quickly after detoxing can I get started on the remainder of the programme elements?
Addiction Treatment & Covid-19
Few people successfully make it into long term recovery without the help of the bigger group around them.
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 - Set A Budget
Getting funds together for rehab in Blackwood takes planning, for most families.
Third sector organisations providing full stack care (detox, therapy, aftercare) under one roof are few and far between, but worth investigating in your area.
If you're tempted to opt for the cheapest clinic straight away, think twice.
Double check standards of care and therapy provided for lower cost providers - you may be surprised. Opt instead for a middle-tier clinic, with a better balance of cost to care levels provided.
Use this step to get a clear idea of what rough budget you can commit to treatment, ringing round a few providers for initial pricing if needed.
Other Avenues For Help
Mutual Aid Support
Most locations hold local Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings which can assist in the mutual aid and social elements of recovery.
However, specialist medical help will be required to kick start the journey with detox, which cannot be obtained via such community groups.
AA, NA, and the big book groups have millions of followers and attendees, and have been very successful over the years. But initially, it's important to get professional help to detox safely, and comfortably.
NHS Addiction Options
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.
Eligibility for short term detox is slim, and is usually restricted to only a handful of cases.
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
Opinions on different clinics' standards of care are ten a penny on the internet, but how do you know who to trust?
Our heroes here are the industry watchdogs - The Care Commission, and The Care Inspectorate.
These regulatory bodies complete inspections to ensure a minimum level of service is met.
Clinics are reviewed on quality and expertise of their service, staff, and care levels provided.
How Clinic Inspections Work
On paper, a visit by regulators to a clinic can be "Announced", or "Unannounced" - the former means the clinic knew about the inspection in advance, the latter means they didn't. Hence, "Unannounced" inspection reports are more likely to provide a real-world picture of clinic conditions and service levels.
Step 5 - Arrange Admission
It's now time to decide on one of the clinics you've looked at.
When you call the admissions team for the clinic you’ve chosen, expect to go through an initial telephone assessment, and pay a deposit towards treatment, as explained above.
You can normally complete the necessary steps over the phone in 20 minutes or less, and then make an initial deposit towards treatment, that's used to hold the room in your name, until you arrive at the clinic.
It's a good time at this point to also sort out any payment by insurance policy, or other means.
Step 6 - Deposits & Paying For Treatment
As mentioned above, paying a deposit means the clinic can prepare for your arrival, and allocate your room booking.
Because the total booking value is high, even a small percentage deposit could work out anywhere from £2,000 - £4,000 for the higher end providers.
The days of clinics offering finance facilities directly, are mostly gone, although a few do still offer in-house plans to pay for treatment.
Ask for an email confirmation of booking, and get clarity on when the admission details will be finalised, and your date of admission confirmed.
The Remaining Funding
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 - Admission
By now, you should have an agreed time and date of arrival at a clinic.
You'll need to bring a few basic necessities with you:
It's worth checking usage policies re internet and wifi, and devices, as you may be disappointed if the clinic you've chosen asks you to hand them in, before your stay begins, without prior warning.
Treatment centres must co-ordinate their clinical and medical teams availability for your arrival - so being on time matters. Try to arrange your transport to the clinic, ahead of time, to make sure things run smoothly.
At this point, congratulations! Your recovery journey has already begun.
The Top Questions To Ask
Thank you for reading the ultimate guide to finding the right rehab treatment for Blackwood.
Abbeycare have provided this guide free of charge, to help you make the right decision when considering addiction rehab treatment options.
Abbeycare's UK clinics have been helping those in Blackwood.
We've worked with thousands from all over the world, and we can probably help you too.
There's no substitute for the years of experience we've had, assisting with even the most complex cases.
Even if you're not local, we can still help with transport into treatment (full transparency - some costs do apply).
How did we do with inspections from regulators? Check our reports, available on our clinic pages, here: Abbeycare Scotland, and Abbeycare Gloucester.
Our admissions team are ready to help.
The Abbeycare medical team can help you detox comfortably.
The Abbeycare therapy team are specialists in helping you identify and work through the underlying triggers behind addiction.
Our clinic team are ready to help you get started.
Are you ready?
To get your questions answered, or to get started in recovery, our team can help, on 01603 513 091.
