You are battered and broken, exhausted by addiction, can’t take anymore, and you sit down with Google to find some answers. You type in some keywords attached to your city, and voila! A custom-made list of addiction treatment centers appears at your fingertips!
But buyer beware! Those top-listed names may not be in the area you were searching at all.
There is nothing wrong with using a treatment center that isn’t in your town or state. Sometimes getting some distance is a great part of the solution. But I get several phone calls a week with frustrated parents or spouses who are trying to find treatment in a specific location and continue to come up with phone numbers to call centers or treatment facilities everywhere but their own backyard.
Here’s what I suggest, and I know this is easier said than done, find a trustworthy professional that can help you navigate the treatment system. There are so many options in so many places, and having someone to bounce ideas off of and hear an objective opinion is priceless.
Earlier this year, I had a new client come to me who had gone out of the country for a ‘cutting-edge’ treatment modality that he paid many thousands of dollars for, and it isn’t even a common method of treatment for his drug of choice! Of course, no one told him that and he was baffled as to why this miracle cure didn’t work for him!
Find a professional you can trust. Go on reputable directory sites like Psychology Today where most of us, as professionals, list ourselves, our work, and our websites. Check out our websites and see who we are and what we do, look at our experience and what we specialize in. Then call and ask for help.
The good professionals with good reputations will typically be happy to answer some questions. Most of us spend tens of thousands of dollars on our education and to master our own personal skill sets, and we are happy to make an appointment to help you figure out what your next steps are.
When someone hires me to help them find a treatment center or a sober living facility, I always make it a point to let them know that I do not get paid from any facility. I do not get a referral fee, or gifts, or anything else for recommending one facility over another. I only work with places I trust and people I trust to do good work.
I’m not mad at any facility that spends advertising dollars to get in front of people, we all advertise and we have to. And I also want our consumers to know what they are doing and how to figure out an option is not the right fit so you can move on to the next. It takes time to find the right situation for each person, but it is well worth the work and patience to ensure a better outcome.
Angela Pugh
913.289.0893
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