If you do not heal the brain first, “talk therapy” is virtually worthless. And it is possible to obtain 80% success rate. There are only a handful of treatment facilities in the country that have a complete program to truly heal.

Your list is a great start, but after 15 years on both sides of treatment I think even more is needed. As corporations continue to buy up (or simply put out of business) the single owner/operator facilities that were based on helping a fellow addict first and then making a few bucks, what is needed badly is transparency.

I’ve been inpatient several times, and I’ve also done everything from intake to creating (at the time) the biggest recovery site on the net. Trust me when I say that the directors of these corporations currently on a buying spree are not in recovery themselves, and they view rehabs as a very lucrative, consistent cash flow business.

As it is usually a spouse or parents who make the initial contact with a TX center, they have no idea that an “intake specialist” is in actuality a “closer”- a salesperson whose job it is to close the deal. And as far as methodology, years ago when a Judge first sentenced someone to AA, it began a cycle in which AA became the governments defacto (and free) treatment provider. As a person who originally got sober in AA, it pains me to see parents putting out 10, 20, 30,000 for what is often a 12 step program with a few counselors. No aftercare, here’s your Big Book, go to meetings…that’s the discharge plan.

There are still a few great programs out there, but it has come down to buyer beware-if a client leaves a facility early, many programs (it’s in the fine print) have a no refund policy. Should a client not agree with the treatment provided and leave, even after just a few days, the financial effects and the relationship issues could be devastating.

Like an earlier post, I believe there should be some form of guarantee-not that a person would stay sober, as that’s just not possible to guarantee. But programs advertising 80%+ success rates is also impossible. When we’re talking the price of a new car, there should at least be some care after discharge.

More transparency, more options, and an acceptance that science has in fact finally caught up with addiction treatment. There are many. many more options today for someone seeking help-from medications to therapy to brain scans and behavior modification, as well as non-12 step support groups.

In closing, the number one way that the majority of people stop using or drinking? Most never enter the rooms of AA or a Treatment Center. They experience some type of event that causes a serious change in lifestyle-and they simply stop. A former junkie like me used to have a hard time with that one-but the vast majority of studies done on the subject backs it up.

My apologizes for the ramble Brian-and keep up the good work.

Respectfully,

JJH

Privacy is also important. Odds are that a patient may not run into someone they know at the center but in the event that happens, you want to know that nothing will be mentioned about your visit.