Many people view a rehab/treatment center as somewhat of a glorified hotel or five-star resort. This is in part because a rehab/treatment center will most likely be situated in beautiful surroundings, quite often in Florida, with extensive grounds and impressive buildings.
A rehab is first and foremost a business, and at some level needs to have pleasant and functional surroundings. A rehab/treatment center should also have a huge range of facilities, both in terms of different levels of staffing but also in terms of different therapies and activities that are available to people.
It is important to qualify that by saying that a rehab will have a number of very strict rules about people’s admission and behaviour whilst in the rehab.
These can sometimes seem quite oppressive and are designed to create an environment where people’s sole focus is their alcoholism/drug addiction and what they can do to recover from it.
A rehab/treatment center will have or should have a significant number of fully qualified staff. This should include medically trained staff such as doctors, psychiatrists, nurses, councillors, nutritionists, possibly a chiropractor or physiotherapist.
In addition a rehab/treatment center is likely to offer a number of different types of therapies such as yoga/art therapy/mindfulness techniques/Chi Kung etc. The rehab should ensure that the people offering these therapies are fully qualified and have adequate insurance if they are not employed directly by the rehab itself.
Accommodation is likely to be in dual rooms. Most rehabs like people to share a room, although some will offer single rooms as well.
A rehab/treatment center will offer a number of specific programs aimed at the recovery process for people with alcoholism/drug addiction. These programs will include a very detailed timetable, on a daily basis, designed to keep the person both occupied and aware of their illness and treatment.
There’s likely to be a large input of group therapy, either literally as group therapy or simply as group talk.
In addition a rehab/treatment center is most likely to be very proactive in encouraging membership and attendance at 12 step meetings, such as AA/NA/GA/OA etc.
A rehab/treatment center has no formal link whatever with any of these fellowships, but will quite often make use of their literature, and will quite often make it a condition of being in rehab that people attend a certain number of these meetings every week.
AA meetings may be in the local area, or they may even be held on site as well.
There are some rehabs/treatment centers that are not keen on the 12 step model and focus on other aspects of recovery instead.
These are normally referred to as life skills, and may include things such as CBT and other types of problem/solution-based orientation therapy. The website of any treatment center or rehab should make it clear which of these approaches it favours.
It is fair to say that the vast majority of rehabs are pro fellowships such as AA and encourage active membership both during and after time in rehab.
Is a Rehab Expensive?
In short yes, very.
Most rehabs are geared towards being paid by people’s health insurance, rather than private pay and can be comparable in cost to hospital admissions.
A rehab/treatment center is primarily a business, and that should always be remembered in dealing with them, something that is easy to forget because of the therapeutic nature of the work that goes on there. A rehab/treatment center will expect you to stay for a fixed number of weeks, possibly months.
The length of your stay will be decided at the time of admission, and you will be expected to fulfil that. If you choose to leave early, the rehab will probably still book you or your insurance company for the full length of your stay. The cost of your stay in a rehab/treatment center will be made up of different components.
This can include a residential charge, a detox charge, charges for various therapeutic activities etc etc. When applying for admission to a rehab/treatment center check that you are covered by your own insurance or that of your partner if appropriate.
Make sure your insurance company talks to the rehab and that all charges the rehab is likely to levy upon you are covered by your insurance company. If you are expected to co-pay part of it, make sure that is specified and the amount agreed upon.
If you do not have medical insurance, or for any other reason not covered by a type of insurance it is still worth contacting the rehab directly prior to admission. They will have a negotiable scale of charges and may be able to agree a cost with you that is satisfactory.
In addition they might be able to offer some type of financial help by way of referral to a non-profit.