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.
If you're considering expensive rehab treatment - read our need-to-knows before taking the plunge.
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, choosing the wrong provider early on, might mean drawing the wrong conclusions about recovery, and what's possible for your future.
Detox & Rehab: Short Term .v. Long Term
A stay for alcohol or drug rehab normally follows the sequence Detox > Rehab > Aftercare, but do you need all three?
- Have you been detoxed before? (Be honest).
Opting for the full package will provide more support, but think about if it's necessary.
When Is Close To Home, Too Close To Home?
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 the provider on your doorstep doesn't necessarily provide the best overall value, in the context of your entire recovery journey.
Detox can be found in many places, but a strong rehabilitation programme with excellent therapy can mean much greater progress in the long term. Researching the most appropriate option for you personally, can yield big long term results in your sobriety, later.
See all the locations Abbeycare serve, here.
If You Have Complex Needs
Like many things in life, the quality of your experience in a rehab clinic can come down to the breadth and depth of experience of the staff you're working with.
Multiple previous detoxes, or challenging liver issues, should mean you're extra careful that the clinic can accommodate your needs, both safely, and comfortably.
The medical team at a given clinic have the final say of course, but the admissions team for a provider should be well-versed enough to give you an idea of how your detox will proceed.
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 experience do you have in administering detox for individuals with my specific intake and frequency?
- Are there suitable staff in the clinic who are equipped to handle detox complications?
Step 2 - What Happens In Rehab?
How does admitting to rehab work?
You'll stay full time in a clinic, normally with a dedicated room and your own space, complete detox, and attend therapeutic sessions several times a week. Towards the end of your stay, the clinic should set up supports for the future. More about that later.
Expect to complete a pre-admissions screening process over the phone - this is quite normal.
Keeping Track Of Getting Better
Whilst all clinics operate a group environment generally, most should look to help you keep track of your progress, and monitor treatment goals reached.
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. It's worth making the effort here.
KEY QUESTIONS
- Do you provide a written plan for me to follow, during treatment?
- How do clinic staff know they're doing a good job at helping clients achieve recovery?
- Do you take account of my history of addiction when making treatment care plans?
- How is care planning done?
A Day In The Life
Tell me about the daily routine in treatment?
The structure of each day will vary of course, from one provider to the next.
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.
Factors such as previous detoxes, history of relapse, amount and duration of intake, and others, will determine how long the detox stage of treatment takes. 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. Sometimes, detox will last much longer. This variation is natural.
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
- Can I see a virtual tour of the clinic, before committing?
- Give me an idea of how each day is structured, whilst in treatment?
- Do you offer the opportunity to look around the clinic before admitting?
- When do I get to start taking part in the therapeutic help inside the clinic?
Does Covid-19 Affect My Rehab Treatment?
Recovering from addiction is a group-oriented exercise.
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 - Managing The Budget For Treatment
Decide firstly, are you going down the public or private route?
There are few half way house providers that exist generally, between public providers, and private treatment, so get clear from the start on which you need.
As you can imagine, the cheapest provider is not always the best.
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.
Get a rough indication of costs at this stage by calling a few clinics direct and make it clear your call is just an initial enquiry, to avoid over-committing to one provider too early.
Other Avenues For Help
Community-Led Support Channels
Even since covid-19, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups are still available, although most have now adopted online platforms to hold meetings, these can still be a rich source of support.
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.
Mutual aid meetings have earned their place in everyone's recovery. But at the early stages, it's important to get safe and comfortable professional help to detox.
NHS Addiction Options
Requesting a referral to your local CAT (Community Addictions Team) from your GP normally means being assigned to a local keyworker who will help you keep track of intake, effects it has, etc, but obtaining short-term rehab help via public healthcare, is unlikely.
Usually, only the more complex cases with a long history of addiction are considered for placement into specialist detox units.
Where no public healthcare short term options are viable, or where the individual doesn't have enough funding in place for treatment, we often see families and friends pooling together to finance detox for a loved one.
Step 4 - Get Independent Reviews
Reviews on websites are easy to pass off as genuine, but how do you really know they are?
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 two regulatory bodies inspect rehab clinics on a regular basis (usually annually) and produce written reports on their findings.
Clinics are graded across multiple areas of care, including support standards, management, and clinical environment.
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 - Finalise The Details
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.
A telephone assessment might last up to 30 minutes, after which the provider will likely request you to pay a deposit towards treatment, so that they can progress further with your admission.
Take the opportunity at this point to arrange payment via insurance policy, if applicable.
Step 6 - Financing Treatment
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.
Not many clinics remain, who offer finance payment plans, directly.
Be sure to get a written confirmation of receipt for your deposit, and confirm with the provider any admin fees due, in the event of admission delays, or even cancellation, due to unforeseen circumstances.
Balance To Pay
The balance to pay for treatment, if not paying via insurance or a third party, is usually due when you arrive to admit to the clinic.
Interest on late payment for a significant sum like this can be significant, so it's worth getting this done on time.
Step 7 - Admitting To A Clinic
Did you get a booking confirmation, containing the practical details, like date and time you're due to arrive for treatment? If not, request one now.
Bring along a few supplies with you, like those below. You should be able to arrange for anything else, after arrival.
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.
It's also worth ensuring travel arrangement ahead of schedule - as some providers with have surcharges for late arrival.
And of course, enjoy your recovery!
Easy Rehab Q&A Cheatsheet
Thanks so much for reading the ultimate guide on finding rehab treatment in Prestatyn.
You've completed our guide on finding the right rehab near Prestatyn!
Abbeycare's UK clinics have been helping those in Prestatyn.
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.
Our team can even get transport organised too, if needed, from your location (with an extra charge).
Our inspection reports from the regulators, are available on our clinic pages, here: Abbeycare Scotland, Abbeycare Gloucester.
Our admissions team are ready to help.
Detox is available, with comfort and safety, with the help of our medical team.
Our therapeutic team can help you identify the issues behind addiction, and stop the pattern in your life.
Our clinic team are ready to help you make the progress you need.
Are you ready for recovery?
To ask a question, or to arrange admission, ring our team now on 01603 513 091.
