If you are seeking help from an drug rehab center, you are to be congratulated. It takes courage and a lot of help to arrest the disease of addiction. If you're here seeking information from drug rehab centers for a loved one, we applaud you also. Many lives have been spared because a friend or relative had the courage to pick up the phone and call an rehab center when his or her loved one wouldn't or couldn't.

Addiction knows no geographic, age, gender or ethnic boundaries. It can strike anyone and everywhere! So one might argue that an addiction is an addiction and they all need to be treated the same. If it were only that simple! The disease of addiction is the only disease you can have that tells you "You don't have it." Also, when an addict finally realizes that he does have a serious problem, this disease assures him it's going to be okay, just do some more drugs and everything will be okay. Addiction is a cunning and baffling foe and your chances of beating it without support from a drug rehab center are slim to none.

Types of Alcohol and Drug Rehab Centers

There are many types of alcohol and drug rehab centers available, some good and some not so good. We hope to provide you with some information that will make your search a little easier and help you avoid disaster. First, decide what is within your budget. That doesn't mean you should shop around for the least expensive center in the area and admit yourself, remember we're talking about possibly saving a life. Find a residential alcohol and drug rehab center that you can afford to pay for. If you are like many addicts and the drugs have completely depleted your resources and there is simply no one left in your life that is willing to help, then "God Bless You" you've arrived in the nick of time.

It may be more difficult for a person with a very limited budget to access ethical and reputable addiction treatment, but help is available for everyone. In fact, there are many organizations and rehab centers that recognize and address the financial barriers to treatment and recovery. In an attempt to screen out the insincere these facilities may require the indigent to display a little extra willingness that a paying client might not be required to display, but they have limited space for such cases and don't appreciate it when these beds are occupied by the reluctant to recover.

Many state and federally funded drug and alcohol rehab centers operate on a sliding fee scale (people pay what they can afford to, based on their income), are open to arranging payment plans, and/or participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. To find one, check out SAMHSA's Alcohol and Drug Treatment Center Locator or call 1-800-662-4357. Contact these rehabs directly, because if somebody else makes the call for you, it may appear that the person making the call wants help for you more than you want it yourself. Be persistent, place your name on any waiting list and follow any direction the rehab center offers.

There's President Bush's substance abuse treatment initiative, Access To Recovery, which provides drug addicts with vouchers to pay for addiction treatment. Keep in mind that not all states participate in this addiction treatment initiative and most of the rehabs that do are faith-based.

You can also check with your County Substance Abuse Division within it's Mental Health Department and ask for a list of county funded addiction treatment facilities. What ever you do, don't give up. There is always someone that is willing to help if you really want it, but you have to ask for it.

Narrow Your Drug Rehab Center Search

If you can afford to pay for addiction treatment your options aren't nearly as limited as those without resources. I can't suggest strongly enough that you limit your search to gender specific rehab centers. Many centers offer both men's and women's rehab programs. This is fine as long as they have separate, gender specific housing and treatment schedules. Next, you'll need to decide if entering a local center is really in your best interest. Sometimes, for obvious reasons the farther away the better. We suggest that you find several drug and alcohol rehabs that offer individualized treatment planning. We might all have the same disease, but we all have a unique set of issues to address and a "one size fits all" rehab may not address some of your more unique issues. Call these centers that you've narrowed your search to and ask them a lot of questions like: Are they licensed by the State? (If not, report them.) Do they provide detoxification services? Non-medical, medically-supervised or medical? For some substances such as opiates, without medication the withdrawal symptoms can be so severe that the pain is practically impossible to bear. What certifications or credentials do their counselors possess? What type of addiction treatment do they offer? Traditional 12-Step based or non 12-Step? (This is a personal choice you'll have to make for yourself.) How many residents are there in their group sessions? (Normally, 10 or 12 is about the maximum if the group is to remain focussed and managable.) Is there a refund policy if one doesn't complete the program? (Most don't offer refunds, but the State requires rehab centers to put whatever their policy is in writing.) If you're a parent calling on behalf of your son or daughter, ask them why you should trust your most precious commodity to their care rather than to the rehab around the corner from them. (By the way, your child is still your most precious commodity, even if it doesn't seem like it at the moment.)

Drug and Alcohol Rehab Center Success Rates

Please, shy away from addiction rehab centers that boast what seems to be an unusually high success rate. They are probably beginning your relationship by being less dishonest with you. These inflated success rates are impossible for a rehab to accurately calculate. What are they basing it on? The number of clients that complete the program? If the success of rehab center is to be related to the clients in any way, it should be based on what happens to the client after he or she leaves the program and when they are scattered all around the globe it is nearly impossible to collect any statistics with any real certainty.

A more honest response from an alcohol and drug rehab center when ask about their success rate might be "It is very difficult collect accurate statistics after a client leaves a rehab center, so we don't want to mislead anyone." or "I can tell you that if one puts 100% of his or her available effort into his or her recovery each day, it's about 100% each day.

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