Tips for Choosing an Alcohol Rehab Center
If you’re ready to begin the journey of alcohol recovery, you might feel a mixed cocktail of emotions: trepidation, excitement about your new life, shame, anxiety, and perhaps even a nagging sense that you won’t be able to kick the alcohol habit for good.
Millions of addicts just like you successfully recover each year, and so too can you. But the recovery journey is much easier with the right alcohol rehab center on your side. Here’s everything you need to know to choose the right recovery center for you.
Why You Need Alcohol Rehab
Most addicts don’t relish the idea of moving somewhere else to seek treatment. After all, it’s a potentially expensive inconvenience—one that requires lots of planning, and probably some help from loved ones. But going it alone makes relapse almost inevitable.
Fully half of alcoholics eventually relapse, but rehab gives you the best chance at getting sober. While in rehab, you’ll not only get the constant support you need to get and stay sober; you’ll also get lots of assistance mastering the skills you need to defend your sobriety when you check out.
Why It’s Important to Be a Savvy Rehab Consumer
You might think that once you make the decision to get sober, it’s just a matter of finding the money and time to check into the first rehab facility that becomes available. But not all rehab facilities are created equally. Many rehab facilities are accredited by the joint commission, and this accreditation offers minimal reassurance that you’ll get a decent program. But any facility can call itself a rehab facility, and even those accredited by the joint commission may not offer everything you need.
You wouldn’t choose the first doctor you stumbled across, and rehab costs much more than a doctor’s visit. You deserve a place that works well with your family and needs, that respect your values and that, most importantly of all, offers programs backed by science. As alcohol rehab has become increasingly popular, so too have programs that are based not on scientific research, but on the whim of the program’s creator. If you want to get better, you need and deserve better than that.
Evidence-Based Programs
The first question you should ask the program you’ve selected is what specific treatment modalities it uses. The program should be supported by scientific evidence, so feel free to Google the treatment modalities it uses. And don’t shy away from asking about success rates or requesting documentation.
Openness to Critical Thinking
You’re going to rehab, not joining a cult. But some rehab facilities operate as little more than cultish facilities, with strange practices and a devoted throng of followers. Cults frown upon critical thinking, but good addiction care is built upon such thinking. After all, if you can’t question what your counselor says, then how are you going to stand up to the pressure to use alcohol or buy drugs.
If the rehab facility you’ve chosen seems reluctant to answer your questions—however pointed—or if your counselor is unwilling to accept any criticism, however constructive, you’re not getting treatment; you’re getting initiated into a religion! Choose only facilities that encourage you to think for yourself, since giving up your values and intellect has no role in the journey toward lasting sobriety.
Support for Your Values
A good alcohol rehab center makes you feel like who you are is good enough—not that you need to fundamentally alter your personality or values to get sober or to be worthy of treatment. When a rehab facility tells you you have to change who you are or what you believe, find some place else.
You don’t have to abandon your religion, sexual orientation, or political values to get sober. Indeed, the only thought that will interfere with your sobriety is the belief that you’re not an addict, or that you can continue drinking alcohol free of consequence. Beyond this, your alcohol rehab center has no place trying to sway you to a specific ideology.
Help for Your Loved Ones
Addiction is something only you can address, and it is most certainly not the fault of your family or friends. But your addiction does affect your loved ones, and by ensuring they have the assistance they need, you can increase your odds of getting and staying sober.
The best alcohol rehab centers offer your family education about the disease of addiction, regular visitation with your family, and family therapy to help you make amends and discuss the role your family played or is playing in your addiction.
Long-Term Sobriety Planning
Anyone can quit drinking alcohol for a few days or weeks. But it takes incredible strength to maintain sobriety for a lifetime. Good rehab centers don’t just get you sober and then send you on your way; they help you plan for a lifetime of sobriety by teaching you healthy habits, life skills, and communication skills that will help you stand up to peer pressure.
Holistic Approach
You’re more than just an addict. You’re a body, a mind, a soul. The best alcohol addiction centers treat you holistically, addressing your emotional, physical, and even spiritual needs. Addiction touches every area of your life, and treatment should similarly address every facet of your existence. Contact Addiction Rehab Centres Canada today!
Further Reading:
Alcohol Rehab Program
Am I an Alcoholic
Alcohol Detox Explained
Do I Need Alcohol Rehab
Treatments for Alcohol Addiction
Addiction to Alcohol Explained
SAMHSA Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator
SAMHSA: Treatments for Substance Abuse Disorders
