The Process of Addiction Treatment

Most people who consider entering addiction treatment are uncertain and, perhaps, fearful because they don’t know what to expect. At NewDay, we do an orientation upfront, so clients know the process of addiction treatment. But, if someone is too fearful or apprehensive, they might not make it that far — they might not pick the phone to make the call for admission to begin with. To make it easier, we offer a free consultation. There’s no pressure, we just talk about the possibility — we never pressure anyone.

Admission into addiction treatment is nothing to fear. We don’t judge anyone, so if a person has shame, we put them at ease from the beginning. I can’t imagine any treatment facility that would negatively judge anyone seeking help. Access to addiction treatment should be easy, understanding and supportive. When our accreditation company, CARF, does their survey of our facility once every few years, they stress access. We have to come up with an access plan that’s always looking for ways to make access open, helpful and supportive. The hardest part of admission to addiction treatment is the paperwork, but we have to get a lot of information because information is so important in treatment. We assure clients that federal laws protect their privacy and confidentiality, although we’d respect privacy and confidentiality without the laws — confidentiality is a big part of what makes treatment work. If we’re asking clients to be open and honest, then we have to do our part and respect this part of the process.

Along with a clinical evaluation, there’s also a medical clearance upfront to make sure each client admitted to outpatient has been medically cleared and is appropriate for this level of care. The doctor might give a client medication in the beginning, if they’re experiencing withdrawal symptoms that can be medically managed outside an inpatient detox. Once the client has cleared the medical and clinical evaluations, they are given an orientation and a client handbook that states what’s to be expected. We also give clients their list of rights. Again, confidentiality is one of these rights. We encourage clients to read their rights and talk with the administrator if they think any right is being violated, or even if they are having some other problem with treatment unrelated to rights. We want clients to have a healing, positive experience.

When the client starts treatment, they go to their first group, and this can produce a little anxiety if the person hasn’t been in group therapy before. Groups are educational and therapeutic. Most clients say, after attending a few groups, that it was nothing like they imagined or feared. They find people just like themselves who are at a point in life where they discovered they need a change, or they are attending group because others (a supervisor, a husband, a friend, a judge) think there’s a problem and they’re willing to find out if they have a problem or not. We don’t allow anything in group that resembles bullying or any other angry, mean or negative responses meant only to deflect and hurt someone. Group is usually honest and supportive. These are all adults who’re simply using one another, with the guidance of a counselor, to gain strength and to establish that no one is alone in this struggle.

The client will also have individual sessions with their counselor. The counselor will establish a treatment plan that the client helps to formulate and the client agrees with. The treatment plan establishes treatment goals, and objectives to accomplish the goals– the counselor establishes in the treatment plan what will happen to accomplish the objectives and what will be referred to a long term plan after discharge. Treatment is just the beginning of recovery. 

During treatment, the client learns coping skills to prevent relapse. After discharge, the client has to continue practicing these coping skills in order to enhance and strengthen recovery. Addiction causes the brain to think in a very destructive way, and, in recovery, a person must practice thinking in ways that enhance recovery until recovery seems as natural as the drinking or other drug use seemed before.

All through the process of addiction treatment, the client is encouraged to ask questions if something is unclear. We also encourage the client to talk with their spouse or significant other who’ll be important to their recovery to gain knowledge of addiction and the process of recovery. We try to give family members as much guidance and education as we can, but we’re limited in what we can accomplish in 8 weeks. We recommend, if there are serious relationship problems, long term counseling be explored. It’s a mistake for the client or their significant other to think that treatment is a panacea for addiction. Treatment is the beginning — it’s designed to stabilize, educate, motivate and plan for long term recovery. Real recovery’s outside treatment in the support systems the client builds with the skills they gain in treatment. Make no mistake, building these support systems, like family, friends, AA or church, is the responsibility of the client when they leave treatment. No one is coming to make them build the support system, they have to do it themselves. although others will most likely help them if they ask, but they have to ask. This is long way of saying there’s nothing to fear about the process of addiction treatment. It works if the person continues to work on their recovery. The road might be bumpy, but recovery is worth the effort.