How To Choose The Best Rehab
Ensuring You Or Your Loved One The Greatest Chance Of Success
Good Heart Recovery was created by the founders asking themselves what questions they would ask a treatment center when seeking help for themselves or someone they love and what answers would they be hoping the facility would provide. Below is a list of questions we think are essential to start a conversation towards finding the best fit for the present moment. Good Heart Recovery’s answers are infused within these questions, but we suggest using these questions when speaking to any type of treatment facility. It’s likely Good Heart Recovery is not the only facility that has these answers to the below questions, but we do feel that we are one of the only facilities that hold all of these services in one location.
Using the internet to search for a treatment center can be daunting. Most of the time, there is a lot of information on one facility’s website and navigating through the important aspects of a program can be difficult. Ideally, if time allows, anyone seeking quality treatment for themselves or their loved one should call and speak to an admissions representative. There are certain questions that should be asked of each facility you are considering. These questions serve to help you determine whether or not a facility will best suit the needs of your loved ones and/or your current situation. Level of care, program structure, oversight and ethical considerations, and other vital aspects of a treatment program are best answered over the phone speaking to a live representative.
Ensuring that a facility you choose is state licensed or certified, holds an accreditation, and has been certified by varying organizations shows that their policies, procedures, protocols, and staff have been vetted by important regulating bodies. Holding a state license means the Department of Health Care Services approves the services the facility provides. When a facility has an accreditation, this means that they have been audited and visited by hospital-level assessors who have looked through the facility’s client charts, all the staff’s licenses, and the entire standards book of the facility and has approved the entire facility’s operations. Certifications that a facility holds will show what is most important to the staff within the organization including behavioral health innovations, best practices, training their staff using the newest and most up to date mental health and addiction methods and more.
Facilities that hold contracts with insurance companies have been vetted by the clinical directors at major health insurance providers in all areas of their program. Being in-network with insurance providers show that the goal of the rehab is to provide the best care at the lowest cost to their clients.
Many facilities are owned by major umbrella corporations and at times, some facilities can be owned by financial giants who use the behavioral health field for monetary gain. Knowing who owns the facility you or your loved one is going to attend is vital to gain insight into the purpose, mission, and oversight of the facility and its operations. Good Heart Recovery is owned by a local Santa Barbara family who holds a sole purpose of treating the community and healing the people who will help to create the life they and their children live in. Our facility is 75% clinician owned and we receive no outside funding of any kind.
Knowing the type of accessible medical professionals at a facility can be the line between safe treatment and unsafe treatment. An appropriate addiction and mental health treatment center should have full-time medical staff who are on-site and accessible at all times should an emergency arise with one of their clients. Ask facilities if they have part-time or full-time medical staff and if their medical staff is on-site or is utilized through “telemedicine”, a format where the medical doctor is in a different location and not meeting with the individual in person at any time during their stay.
The change that occurs within someone while they are in treatment is, in part, reinforced by the structure of the program itself. Aftercare and an alumni program are a vital part of continued success for all who complete treatment. A quality program will have specific alumni and aftercare program for clients once they graduate from the program which should contain resources in the following areas: legal, financial, housing, peer support, family support, community support, medical resources, employment, educational support, and spiritual resources.
Facilities should be able to explain what types of symptoms they treat best and what types of symptoms they tend to refer out for treatment at another facility. One facility cannot and should not treat all types of presentations. Find a facility that states that it specifically treats what you or your loved one is seeking help for. Complete a pre-assessment with the facility’s admissions staff and once you receive the results, ask them why the assessment was approved or why it was denied.
Many times it feels best to go with a facility who states they use methods that are most commonly used at several mental health and drug and alcohol use treatment centers. Some of these include CBT, DBT, Motivational Interviewing, and Contingency Management. We believe it is best that you find a facility that not only uses some or all of these methods, but that also uses innovative and alternative methods of healing, especially if this is not the first time you or a loved one is entering treatment. Additionally, if you or a loved one is stepping down from an inpatient or residential setting, it’s important to make sure the facility provides all the clinical methods that have been working currently, as well as new methods that best serve symptoms that may arise at the outpatient level of care. Learn about Good Heart Recovery’s unprecedented methods we use mixed with the traditional evidence-based methods:
Involving the family is extremely important when it comes to helping someone develop a long-lasting support system throughout their recovery from addiction or mental health crises. At times, family work can be determined inappropriate for where an individual is in their recovery. However, when it appears to be helpful and the person may benefit from family involvement, facilities should have a specific protocol for involving family members and loved ones.
Success can mean several different things to many treatment centers. Some centers consider completion of their program a success. Others consider stabilization and/or abstinence for one year after their program a success. It’s important to consider what you would like to see from yourself or your loved one when reaching a successful point in your recovery. At Good Heart Recovery, we complete a multitude of psychological assessments over the course of treatment and consider the following areas a success when someone completes our program:
- Evidence-based progress in psychologically assessed areas of Automatic Thoughts, Self-Compassion, Clinical Anxiety, Authenticity, Loneliness, Mindfulness, Depression, and Hope
- Completion of all appropriate levels of care or solidified continuation of care at the appropriate level following graduation from our facility
- Continued abstinence and/or stabilization post-program completion
- Involvement in our Alumni and Aftercare program
- Other areas individually chosen based on each specific client