Drug and Alcohol Treatment

Options

Making the decision about whether to seek mental health or drug and alcohol treatment, much less where or even what kind of treatment (e.g., psychiatric, drug, alcohol rehab), can be as overwhelming as the addiction or emotional struggles themselves.

As with any treatment, it is important for you to make an informed choice. This involves learning as much as you can about what is happening with you, while also educating yourself about available mental health and drug and alcohol treatment centers and the services they offer.

Drug and alcohol rehabilitation and mental health treatments have become far more advanced over recent years. We now know that a range of mental health, drug, and alcohol rehab services should be available so treatment can be carefully matched to your needs. If you have any questions about finding the appropriate treatment center near you, please call 1-800-411-0373 and our counselors will help you.

Treatment Can Occur in Different Types of Settings

Residential treatment delivers full-time services in a home-like sober environment aimed at learning to apply recovery skills. Clients learn about the many faces of addiction and mental illness and how best to move through the process of forging a new and more satisfying life. Residential treatment may include a detoxification period, and includes group and individual therapy options, as well as life-skills classes, including anger management, budgeting, and recovery management.

Other less intensive residential treatment options include community housing where a safe living environment is provided, but independence and outside employment can be maintained by the resident. Therapeutic communities are highly structured residential environments where each person is engaged in activities such as group education, group counseling, and individual therapy sessions. Therapeutic communities use community-imposed consequences and earned privileges as a part of the growth process for each individual.

Outpatient treatment addresses a variety of treatment needs, depending on the level of care required. Outpatient treatment allows the client to return home and maintain a familiar and comfortable lifestyle. These programs address situational stressors, family and spousal relationships, interpersonal relationships, mental health and addiction, life span issues, domestic violence, and trauma. Other services include one-on-one sessions with a counselor, group therapy, group education, relapse prevention, coping strategies, and motivational interviewing.

Each of these treatment options includes a range of 12-Step self-help support groups. We also know that drug and alcohol treatment should not be provided independent of mental health treatments. In the past, drug and alcohol treatment programs were funded and managed separately from mental health programs. Over recent years, it has become clear that just as people cannot separate their addictions and mental health conditions, drug and alcohol treatment centers and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs should not be programmatically separated from mental health treatment programs.