How to Select a Residential Treatment Facility

If you or a loved one needs freedom from addiction, you’re probably wondering how to select a residential treatment facility. In this blog, we’ll discuss some key elements to consider when selecting the right residential treatment facility.

Expensive Residential Treatment Facilities Don’t Provide Better Outcomes

When looking for treatment for most medical conditions, cost is a factor. Going to a world-renowned surgeon for more expensive treatment can impact patient survival and the success of a difficult procedure. Addiction does not work that way. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the relapse rate for addicts is somewhere between 40 and 60%. That is a national statistic and applies equally to luxurious and costly residential treatment centers and affordable programs.

The question then becomes, if expensive treatment doesn’t improve outcomes, what does? The answer to this question is complex, but there are five key elements that should be considered when selecting a residential treatment facility.

1. How Structured is the Residential Treatment Facility’s Program?Addicts and alcoholics that have been running on self-will for years or decades often need a structured environment. When selecting a residential treatment facility, look at the schedule it provides for its patients. The days should be filled with recovery-related activities and common routines that reinforce healthy habits. Activities should have a healthy balance – like life. Look for a residential treatment facility that makes it a priority to help patients take medication as needed, transports them to 12-step meetings, and encourages personal and family therapy.
2. Choose a Residential Treatment Facility that Treats the Whole Person.Addicts and alcoholics often lack coping skills. In fact, using may be their only coping mechanism. Residential treatment facilities that focus on wholistic treatment help addicts learn healthier coping skills that can help them feel and heal from long-suppressed feelings of anger, anxiety, trauma, and loss. Find a residential treatment facility that offers yoga, tai-chi, or other activities that support the mind-body connection.

   Treating the whole person also includes teaching patients about nutrition. Nutrition impacts mood, energy, and wellness (read our previous blog on this topic). Choose a treatment facility, that teaches patients about the power of nutrition.

3. Find a Residential Treatment Facility that Fosters a Sense of Community.Many addicts need to relearn social skills. Their self-esteem may be lacking, they may mistrust others, or may never have been part of a healthy community. Residential treatment facilities offer addicts the chance to interact in a community environment that serves as a microcosm for what they will eventually face in the real world.

   The community should flow from leadership down so that counselors, directors, and patients interact together and forge powerful connections. Breakthrough Recovery Outreach is committed to teaching addicts and alcoholics how to interact within society through back-to-school drives and other socially-responsible activities. It also stresses the importance of internal community by hosting social activities that promote fun in sobriety. Plus, patients who live in off-site apartments learn to work together, support one another, and live together in harmony. There is no substitute for community and choosing a residential treatment facility that emphasizes the power of WE, provides invaluable lessons that patients can carry with them as they return to their families, society, and work.

4. Remember, a stay at a Residential Treatment Facility is Not a Vacation.Alcoholism and addiction cross every socio-economic barrier. Celebrities who have access to millions of dollars die just as often as homeless people do. Addiction is a life-threatening disease and choosing a residential treatment facility because it is looks like paradise is not the key to long-term sobriety – willingness and a dedicated staff are infinitely more important.

   A personal note: My first stint in rehab was at a very expensive facility located in Florida. I remember packing my suitcase with my favorite swimwear, bathing suit cover-ups, and cute outfits to wear to dinner. I packed my bags as though I were going on a fancy vacation. I got up every morning and couldn’t wait to get to the pool. I got a phenomenal tan. I also left before the 28 days were up and was high before the end of the day.

   A decade later, I went to Breakthrough Recovery Outreach. I had hardly any clothes because addiction had stolen everything from me. Breakthrough wasn’t fancy, I didn’t get a tan, and it was hardly what I’d call a vacation. I’ll tell you what it was, though. It was life-changing, hopeful, caring, hard-working, sobriety-focused, and personal. Instead of leaving after 26 days, I stayed for 18 months. My view included a sponsor, the inside of the rooms of NA and AA, and the look on Chris Jacobs’ face when I reached a milestone. I worked through my inner demons with a community of women that I came to love. I got and held a real job. I dared to dream for a future and began making reparations with my family. I came to know God. That was almost 14 years ago.

   Breakthrough Recovery Outreach did not promise me a vacation and I didn’t expect one. They promised to do everything they could to help me save my life and they did just that. Let me tell you – My everyday view now is 14 million times more glorious than the view of the sun shining off the beautifully-cleaned, very expensive pool that my broken soul stared at during my stay at a luxury rehab facility.

5. Pick a Residential Treatment Facility with a Staff that Passionately Cares.Before you or your loved one enters a residential treatment facility, call the office. Ask questions about the program, their vision, and the services they offer. When you hear a voice on the other end of the phone that passionately describes a commitment to save as many lives as possible, in an affordable way that provides access to nearly everyone, and that celebrates every life as worthy of having a new beginning, you’ll FEEL it. And, once you do, you’ll know which residential treatment facility is right for you or your family member.