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You’ve taken that step; you’ve decided you’re ready to enter a rehab facility for your drug or alcohol abuse. Congratulations!

Choosing The Rehab Facility That's Right For You

You’ve taken that step; you’ve decided you’re ready to enter a rehab facility for your drug or alcohol abuse. Congratulations! That’s a huge choice!

Now that you’ve made that monumental, life-altering decision, you’ve got another decision to make – how to choose a rehab facility that's right for you.

Selecting the right rehab facility can be difficult at the beginning. There's plenty of options and choices depending on your reasons.

Below, I have developed actionable steps to help you get started on how to choose a rehab facility.

Check Your Insurance


Unfortunately, your insurance may dictate where you receive your treatment.

Your insurance card should have a number on the back of the card that you can call and receive benefits information.

Begin by calling this number to find out what your coverage is and if there are stipulations as to where you can receive treatment.

If there is a prior authorization required, and if there are any other obstacles that are necessary for you to jump through.

Make an Appointment with Your Physician – and Make it ASAP

Call and make an appointment urgently. If needed, ask to speak to a nurse or office manager so that the appointment can be scheduled quickly.

What is the reason you should see your doctor – and see them quickly? Certain facilities and individual insurance policies may require a referral from a physician to be accepted for treatment.

This process can be difficult, so getting in to see your doctor quickly gets the proverbial ball rolling – before you lose your motivation.

Do Your Homework

What are your goals when you enter treatment? Consider where you want to be when you leave the facility.

It's important to keep in mind that find a service that offers you the tools you need to be successful away from the facility is ideal.

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According to Narconon, "some programs consider success to be a person who continues to attend meetings or takes the prescribed medication. Others consider that a person completing their 28-day program is a success. While others measure success by the number of people who stay abstinent after they return home. And some include many factors of recovery, such as gainful employment, improved family relations and morality and so on."

If you are a drug addict and your goal is complete sobriety and the program you pick substitutes your drug of choice with another prescription medication, this may not be a good pick for you.

Choosing a treatment program that works towards complete sobriety may be a better treatment option.

When researching a program, regardless of your goals, ensure that the program that you select has a nutritional component.

Research indicates that when an addicted person arrives into a rehab facility, they are in bad health.  One way to improve health is to "fix" nutritional deficits.

Narconon also notes "a thorough addiction recovery program needs to include nutritional support for the person in recovery so that the person’s deficiencies are repaired. Otherwise, symptoms of deficiency can create sleeplessness, depression, lack of appetite, lack of energy, irritation or other problems that are barriers to recovery."


Be Wary of Quick Fixes

If a treatment facility advertises a "cure" to your addiction through the use of hypnosis or seemingly strange supplements, it's probably too good to be true.

These "quick fixes" are temporary and do not get to the root of the issue. Utilizing your insurance dollars and copays on a quick fix when you could use it on a reputable facility is silly.

The Bottom Line…

Selecting a rehabilitation facility is a big decision.

Use the resources available to you when choosing the facility and remember, you’ve made a great decision to go into rehab.