How to Choose a Residential Drug Rehab

There are five key elements to evaluate when choosing a residential drug treatment program.  These include: preparation, reputation, location, effectiveness, and staffing.

What is the purpose of going to residential treatment?  Certainly it is a development of a sober life but as important is the development of life skills and coping mechanisms.   Too often, people with addiction get sober and are left at the mercy of “Life on Life’s Terms.”    A comprehensive residential drug rehab should be able to teach a person how to maintain sobriety but to also become a productive member of society.

Preparation:  A comprehensive residential treatment program will offer instructions and opportunities for the resident to engage in real life growth in the areas of academics, employment and socializing while still in their first year of treatment.  Having engaged in these aspects of life while still in treatment for addiction will prepare the person to meet the challenges of real life outside of treatment because they have already experienced it while in treatment.

Location:  For people in early recovery, having a realistic environment helps them be safely exposed to things that could act as a trigger otherwise.  Being in or close to a city offers exposure to virtually all day-to-day aspects of life that the person in recovery will have to navigate through at some point.  Additional education and vocational opportunities are possible when the rehab center is not located in a remote area.  For example, at Turnbridge, our residents can recover in New Haven, Connecticut’s unique combination of urban and suburban environments.  This puts our residents in close proximity to education, culture and nature, making it a highly desirable place to achieve recovery.

Effectiveness:  Surely the rehab center of choice should be effective.  Do they track success rates?  Is the program designed to prepare a person in early recovery to be productive in society to increase the likelihood of them maintaining sobriety?  To be effective, a program must be comprehensive.

Staffing: This is perhaps the most difficult thing to look for when choosing a residential drug treatment program.  Many programs have dedicated professionals.  However, a superior drug rehab will have a strong contingent of people in recovery who residents can identify with and who send the clear message that the client can do it if they can do it!  Also, having a young and active staff will bring a vibrancy to the program that is crucial for the resident to become excited about their recovery.  There should also be a very low resident to staff ratio.  Having multiple interactions with a wide variety of people allows the client to find individuals with whom they “click.”  This is a very special occurrence and can’t be artificially created.

Facilities:  Naturally a person will be more willing to undertake the difficult work (and it IS WORK) of recovery.  Therefore, having comfortable and welcoming facilities will remove boundaries to recovery.  Additionally, when a person in early recovery lives in a beautiful environment with upscale amenities, they begin to believe in their own value and that they deserve a productive and sober lifestyle.

We understand that choosing a residential drug treatment program for your son can be a difficult challenge.  Our admissions staff is here to help and we encourage you to call us at 877-581-1793 so that we can answer your questions and give you more information about getting your child the care they so desperately need and deserve.