People who ask or talk about rehab facilities often do so with a understandable but misguided idea that rehab is are a mix between an upmarket hotel and a country club, a sort of retreat with varying degrees of comfort or opportunities.
The reality is that rehabs differ widely in terms of the facilities that they offer to people, and that approach as to how the environment and addiction treatment programs should be offered to any individual who enters an inpatient rehab.
Traditionally, a rehab would treat someone who was an alcoholic or had a problem with alcohol, and their time spent in a rehab would consist of a medical detox if needed, followed by a period of different types of therapeutic treatment, often a mix of 12-step program ideas and meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous.
There would be a need some type of clinical facility, along with a modicum of comfort and very basic facilities.
The rise of treatment centers and rehabs has meant the growth of this industry, and a white approach that can differ considerably.
The initiators of the treatment center industry tried to strike a balance between providing an environment where the alcoholic could feel safe and secure, along with facilities treated them as someone who was trying to get well, rather than as a bad person.
Rehab facilities
At the same time, there was a belief that treatment centers and rehabs needed to be a fairly structured environment, and should be designed to focus the individual fully on their recovery process.
Rehabs and treatment centers take a number of different approaches. Some believe that a rehab should be a fairly spartan place, with very basic facilities and an entirely structured timetable from morning till night.
Some rehabs believe in an incredibly tight grip on what the individual can bring into rehab, and what they can and cannot do whilst there.
This can seem incredibly regulated some people, inevitably attracting some and alienating others.
There has been a growth in recent years of what can be termed luxury rehabs, which take almost an extreme opposite view. They believe that a rehab should essentially be the most serious and pleasant environment that someone can spend their time in, and that this is conducive to aiding in their recovery.
Both these approaches are somewhat of the extreme, and inevitably there are a wide number of different approaches in between.
There is no right and wrong approach to recovery, and every individual should approach a rehab based on what they feel is most appropriate to them.
The rehab facilities that are available should be outlined on the rehabs website, and rehab should be open to discussing what these facilities are, and how they help a client in their 12 step recovery.