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A Guide to Choosing the Right Rehab

Over the last eight years, the Government’s austerity measures have all but whipped out funding for publicly funded addiction services in many parts of the country. Arguably, addiction is now the most neglected form of illness. Those affected by addiction are now facing up to the situation where they must fund addiction treatment out of their own pocket. If this is the case for yourself, then you will certainly wish to ensure your money is used to pay for treatment that’s absolutely suited to your needs.

In this short informative guide, we offer up guidance that will help ensure you choose a drug or alcohol rehab clinic that’s well matched to your situation. Despite the reduction in funding, the UK is still relatively well-served by addiction treatment providers. These providers consist of private clinics, charities and council-funded projects.

Many of these treatment providers may purport to be right for your needs, yet each one offers either a slightly or radically different approach to treating addiction. There is thus a risk that you could quickly become overwhelmed when making a choice between competing rehab clinics in your local area. This quick guide helps to better inform you of your rehab options so you are less likely to fall victim to overwhelm.

Step 1: Understand the various option available to you

There are many different forms of addiction treatment available in the United Kingdom. The private sector has particularly grown over the last decade meaning you are never too far away from a rehab clinic no matter where you may live in the UK. However, each clinic offers a slightly different approach to treatment. Some treatment clinics will only offer a detox.

A detox is necessary if you are addicted to a physically addictive drug such as alcohol or heroin. You will remain in the rehab clinic for around 7-10 days. Medical staff will monitor withdrawal symptoms and you will also be given medications to reduce these symptoms.

A detox merely treats the body and not the mind. That’s one reason why we recommend you undertake a full rehabilitation. Doing so will mean the body, mind and spirit are healed. However, you must be willing to commit between 28-90 days in rehab in order for the necessary healing to take place.

Another option you will face is whether to attend an inpatient or outpatient treatment programme. An inpatient programme requires you to live in the rehab clinic for the entire duration of your programme. You will not return home until you are fully recovered. The advantage of inpatient rehab is that you are entirely removed from temptations and bad influences. However, you will need to take time off work to undergo an inpatient programme.

Outpatient treatment is where you undergo treatment during the day but return home each afternoon. Typically, you will attend outpatient sessions once or twice a week. This form of treatment does not shield you away from temptations. Outpatient treatment is not advisable where you require a medically assisted detox. The main advantage of outpatient treatment is that it will allow you to continue working and spending time with your family whilst you receive treatment.

What components makeup addiction rehab treatment?

Below, we list each of the major components that make up a well-founded rehab programme:

• Initial Assessment: The initial assessment is carried out by a doctor. The assessment allows the doctor to determine the nature and severity of your addiction
• Detoxification: During your detox, withdrawal symptoms will be treated and closely monitored. A range of medications will be given to you to take the edge off withdrawal symptoms
• Therapy: Specialist therapies aim to treat the underlying mental causes of addiction. These causes typically include mental health problems caused by traumatic experiences in your past
• Aftercare: Aftercare takes places once your inpatient rehab programme has concluded. Aftercare sessions allow you to return to the rehab clinic for 2-3 hour sessions at least once a week. These sessions are designed to assist you in preventing relapse

The rehab treatment environments

As stated above, the two most common forms of addiction treatment are either inpatient or outpatient rehab. Inpatient rehab means you remain inside the rehab clinic full-time whilst you undergo your treatment. You will not return home either during the day or at night. In other words, you will be entirely transplanted from your drug and alcohol using lifestyle whilst you undertake your treatment.

Outpatient addiction treatment means you may return home once sessions are completed. You will not benefit from the type of 24/7 care that’s available through an inpatient rehab programme. Outpatient treatment may be necessary when the cost of going to an inpatient rehab is outside of your available budget.

Outpatient treatment may also be necessary when your responsibilities prevent you from entering an inpatient facility. These commitments typically include family and work commitments.

Whilst outpatient treatment is cheaper and demands a smaller time commitment when compared to inpatient rehab, outpatient treatment does not offer the same level of treatment intensity over a shorter period of time. For this reason, outpatient treatment is typically held over a long period of time. It’s not uncommon for outpatient treatment programmes to run over a 6-12-month period. We typically recommend outpatient treatment for those of you who are suffering from an addiction that’s of a moderate severity.

How long does rehab last for?

The length of your rehab programme will ultimately be determined by your specific needs. However, some ‘rules of thumb’ do exist. For instance, you may elect to undergo a detox without an extended rehabilitation. In this case, you could complete your treatment in around 7-10 days. Undergoing a detox without a full rehabilitation is never advisable because it is impossible to address the mental causes of addiction in such a short period of time. Instead, we advise you to undertake a full rehab programme lasting between 30, 60 or 90 days.

What outpatient treatment lacks in intensity generally makes up in duration. It’s not uncommon for outpatient treatment to be extended over a 12-18-month period. However, each session will only last for around 1-3 hours, and you will not be shielded away from bad influences and temptations during your treatment programme because you will return home once each treatment session concludes.

Guidance for selecting inpatient or outpatient treatment

When selecting the type of addiction treatment, your choice will largely be determined by three important factors:

1. The severity of your addiction

If your addiction is sufficiently severe, attending an outpatient programme may be highly inadvisable. Instead, you will be advised to attend a residential/inpatient rehab facility so that you may undergo a medically assisted detox.

When you contact ADT Health Care on 0800 138 0722, we carry out an initial telephone assessment. The information you provide during this call allows us to determine the severity of your addiction so that we may tailor our recommended rehab options around your specific needs.

During this assessment, we utilise the ASAM Criteria. This expert criterion allows us to correctly determine the severity of your addiction because this examines many diverse aspects relating to your addiction. Generally, the most questions you answer ‘yes’ to, the more severe your addiction is deemed to be.

You can find the ASAM Criteria for both alcohol and drugs below:

• ASAM Criteria for alcohol addiction
• ASAM Criteria for drug addiction

 

2. Your budget

It’s true that cost should never be the sole consideration when selecting competing treatment options. However, since many of you will be funding your rehab costs out of pocket, the cost will nevertheless be an important factor when selecting rehab treatment. Some rehab clinics charge as much as £15,000 for a 28-day programme, whilst others will charge £6,000 for the same length of time.

It’s important to note that there are diminishing returns when it comes to the cost of going to rehab clinics. Cheaper clinics generally offer a fantastic treatment programme. However, you will generally be required to sleep in a dorm room with other clients.

More expensive rehab clinics offer a superior overall experience but may offer a comparable experience to cheaper rehab clinics when it comes to the underlying treatments on offer. For some, sharing a room with other guests will be unacceptable.

If this is the case, you will probably be better attending a more expensive rehab clinic. However, if sharing sleeping quarters with others isn’t something that bothers you, then it could be worth saving money by selecting a rehab clinic that’s on the lower end of the price spectrum.

When assessing the cost of going to rehab, it’s important to compare this cost to the cost of remaining addicted to drugs and alcohol. By not taking action by signing up for rehab, the cost of remaining addicted is likely to be significantly higher than the cost of attending rehab. Addiction has many costs, not least of which is the costs placed upon your health, your relationships, and your career. All of these areas will continue to suffer if you do not begin treatment.

3. Your availability

Your choice of rehab will also be dictated by your availability. It’s important to consider scheduling your rehab programme so that you are able to minimise the impact this has on other areas of your life. It’s equally important to not allow other responsibilities to limit or even prevent you from attending rehab in the first place. Addiction should be considered a medically emergency, and so the responsibility to get better must outweigh other important responsibilities you are subject to.

Rehab for specialist needs

For many, addiction is a symptoms of an underlying mental health problem. If this is the case, it’s likely you will need to attend a rehab that specialises in treating mental health problems. The type of rehab you attend will also be influenced by the drug you are addicted to. For instance, if you are addicted to opiates, then you will need to attend a rehab that specialises in opiate detoxification. Some rehabs may not be able to offer an opiate detox because their in-house prescribing doctor is not qualified to prescribe the medications that are required for an opiate detox.

You may also wish to attend a rehab that only accepts male or female clients. This is particularly the case for women who have been abused by a male partner. You may feel your addiction has arisen as a direct result of this trauma and so you may feel uncomfortable discussing these issues when men are present. If this is the case, then it’s likely your needs will be better met at an all-female rehab clinic.

How to find a suitable rehab in my local area?

By far the quickest way to locate suitable rehab is to contact our team today on 0800 138 0722. Researching your rehab options alone is time-consuming and there is a possibility that you could select poorly suited treatment. We help you narrow down your search to 2-3 local rehabs. We are also able to help you select rehab treatment that may be far away from your home.

Many rehab clinics we recommend offer evidence-based treatments. We appreciate that going to rehab will require a substantial financial outlay for many of you, so it’s absolutely vital that you avoid selecting a poorly suited rehab clinic. By attending a modern facility offering evidence-based treatments, you gain the best possible opportunity for reaching your long-term recovery goals. Examples of evidence-based treatments include Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Motivational Enhancement Therapy.

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