Alcoholic treatment centers are often referred to simply as rehabs, and they will offer a wide range of services designed to help an individual who is an alcoholic or has an addiction to alcohol. It is likely that such a rehab may also offer help to anyone who is a drug addict or has problems with substance abuse addiction of a wider nature.
There are a wide variety of rehabs or alcoholic treatment centers that offer a range of addiction treatment programs and treatment facilities. The majority of these rehabs will base their approach on what is effectively a therapeutic basis, although a lot of the terminology will be clinical, therapeutic and spiritual.
Rehabs differ quite widely as to how much emphasis they put on the spiritual aspect of the recovery program, but it will effectively underlie the approach of rehab to an individuals journey in recovery.
The rehab or alcoholic treatment center should have a clear understanding of what they consider alcoholism as an illness to be and to mean. Ideally a number of the rehab clinical staff should be recovering alcoholics themselves, either having been through a rehab or similar. In addition such clinical staff are likely to be ongoing members of Alcoholics Anonymous, and have an understanding of the process of recovery.
Having clinical staff who are recovering alcoholics themselves is often a source of great strength and inspiration to clients and in patients at an alcoholic treatment center.
Alcoholic Treatment Centers – Facilities
A rehab or alcoholic treatment center should have a wide range of clinical staff and other types of staffing arrangements to enable rehab to function efficiently. The clinical staff should include medical doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, therapists, dieticians, nutritionists as well as access to priests and other religious leaders as appropriate.
In addition the rehab they will employ a number of so-called alternative practitioners who can offer exercise and mobility programs such as Tai Chi, reflexology, acupuncture, therapy and meditation. A rehab will often promote these activities as being generally beneficial to an individual’s health.
This can certainly be true, but should not be a substitute for an evidence base addiction treatment program that is clearly focused on helping an individual who is an alcoholic get sober and stay sober.