How to Choose the Right Treatment Program

The decision to seek help for a drug or alcohol addiction is already a difficult enough process. Follow it up with the need to choose the best treatment program for your individual health condition and you can be faced with the challenge of a lifetime. Fortunately, there are some precautions and steps that you can take to ensure that you make the right decision and seek out the best possible treatment and care for yourself or for someone you love who is suffering from addiction.

Follow these steps to choose the right treatment program:

Step 1: Determine Severity of Addiction

The first step to choosing the right type of treatment is to determine how severe your addiction really is. If you are heavily addicted to a drug that has a high risk of physical complications when detox takes place, then inpatient treatment is likely going to be the best option. However, for less severe addictions, or for those which do not include many physical symptoms, outpatient treatment is often a suitable and effective choice.

Step 2: Religious Factors

If you are a highly religious person, chances are you would do well in an addiction treatment center that takes your religion into account during your treatment. Many Christian treatment programs exist and provide faith based care with a heavy focus on the Bible, Christianity and of course, rehabilitation. If religion is not a key factor in your life, you may be more suited to a standardized treatment center that does not heavily incorporate Christianity into the treatment program.

Step 3: Budget & Consider Insurance Options

Many treatment programs accept insurance so if you have insurance, it’s important to find out what types of coverage you may have for your addiction treatment. If you do not have insurance, you’ll have to determine which treatment programs fall within a reasonable budget for you. Some programs offer luxury services but you’ll pay the price, others offer affordable, low cost or even free methods of treatment which can all be very effective at helping you to recover while remaining within your budget.

Step 4: Location Considerations

When choosing the best treatment program for yourself or for someone you love, it’s always important to consider the role that location plays in the overall treatment process. Some things to consider regarding location include whether you will feel comfortable being far away from friends and family or whether staying close to home will be a distraction on your recovery. Another consideration, if you plan on attending an outpatient treatment program, you’ll want to make sure that the treatment is readily accessible and easy for you to get to—this means that you should choose a facility that is close to home or close to your place of work.

Step 5: Discover Your Options

Once you have considered location, budget, religion and treatment style factors, you’ll be ready to discover the options for treatment that are available within your means. You may want to make a list of the different types of treatment and centers that fall within your budget and which provide the level of care that you need so that you can begin making appointments to view the facilities and to speak with the treatment program directors. Having a list of questions ready before you actually visit the facility or speak with the director on the phone will ensure that you don’t forget anything, and keeping notes will provide you with a basis for comparison when you go to make your final decision on the best possible treatment program for yourself or for someone you love.