Drug & Alcohol addiction affects the lives of millions of people in Australia and across the world every day. With so many people struggling with substance use and addictive patterns, it can be hard to know where one should turn for help.
Many automatically think that drug & alcohol rehab is the best option but there are other options that are equally effective and in many cases are actually more affective along with being and more cost-effective than treatment centres. The following are four reasons why drug rehab isn’t actually the best option for recovery:
- Drug rehab is expensive
Drug rehab can be expensive. If you are accessing rehab outside the public system, the absolute minimum cost is about $2,000 a month which wouldn’t include any treatment only sober living accommodation.
The maximum cost can be around $100,000 + and the average cost of a private clinic in Australia is around $30,000 – $40,000.
If you have private health insurance, then you may find some treatment centres in which costs are covered. However it’s complicated to say the least! It depends on the clinic and the type of cover you hold.
Treatment is important however it’s also important to remember that when it comes to addiction, relapse happens. It’s incredibly important to take financial impacts into consideration because taking on debt can create stress which lots of research shows is actually a major causing factor of research.
2. Drug rehab doesn’t work for everyone
The saying “one size fits all” doesn’t apply when it comes to drug rehab. Recovery happens at different rates for everyone, and the one-size-fits-all approach offered at most rehabs hasn’t been shown to be affective.
While many people anecdotally speak of the success of getting off drugs with the help of inpatient rehabilitation, the research suggests that success rates are low and there are also many who need a different type of therapy and treatment.
The success rates for rehab vary depending on the type of drug use that is present, the social and socialite factors an individual is experiencing along with many other complexed factors.
This is why it is integral for individualised approaches to recovery, which is something that is really hard to get at a traditional rehab facility.
If you are looking for something different check out our programs page to understand how we might be able to help in your unique situation.
3. You might not like the people you meet in drug rehab
One of the hardest things about going to rehab is just that, you have to go away to rehab. You will be away from family, children and friends and on top of all that you will be staying with a bunch of strangers that you will be expected to share some of the most intimate details of your life with…
It’s great that everyone is there to change and it’s not a judgemental thing, however, you might not like the people you meet in rehab.
It’s hard to say who someone is going to get along with and who they won’t, in most other situations this would be normal, however in this therapeutic journey it’s essential that you like the people around you and critical that you feel safe.
The following is an experience from someone that we helped with our individual treatment program (they wanted to stay anonymous for confidentiality reasons)
“I sat in the car for about ten minutes, debating if I wanted to go inside. It had been three years since the last time I set foot in a drug rehab, which wasn’t a positive experience.
The memories of that time came flooding back and made me want to run away and never return again. Luckily my best friend was with me this time so I took her hand and walked into the lobby where we checked in at the desk. They gave us slips of paper with room numbers that were colour coordinated by gender and handed them over quickly. The receptionist sent us up to our rooms without saying anything more than “Go through those doors.” I found the staff nice, but really rushed and I didn’t really feel like I had any personalised support, this was really tough because I felt super shaky and venerable at that moment.
When I actually checked in and entered the program all the other people in the program were mostly men with tattoos. I’m sure they were all nice people, however, I instantly felt unsafe due to my past traumas and life experience.
At this point, I didn’t feel like staying in the treatment centre at all and the rest of the time that I was there was a battle and I just couldn’t settle into treatment and open up. I spent the whole time wishing I could be in a one on one service.”
To check out other peoples stories you can check out our Youtube channel “Real Drug Talk”
4. You may have to go to therapy for years after leaving drug rehab, which can be very expensive and time-consuming.
The rehab bubble is a real thing! Going to rehab is one thing but putting it into practice in a real-life setting once leaving is another.
“More than a few months after you leave rehab, the memories of your addiction can start to creep back in. You’ll find yourself having thoughts of drugs, dreams about drugs, cravings and triggers. These are factors that can be stressful to deal with on the outside with no practice and support.
many patients say leaving drug therapy and rehabilitation is harder on them mentally (and physically) than actually stopping their use themselves- even if they did so without any professional help whatsoever!”
This is again because you come from an environment separated from the community, which you have people around you all the time discussing recovery and what it means to live a healthy life.
This is positive however as mentioned above, often people describe it as being in a bubble that they don’t really get to practice what they have learned in a real-life setting.
We always recommend that if you have a safe environment to live in, are reasonably ok medically (seek professional medical advice) that you actually engage in an out-patient program like Connection Based Living as you will be able to receive the intensity of treatment needed and the ability to practice the learnings in a real-life setting.
Drug and alcohol addiction is a tough thing to deal with. Amongst trying to manage cravings, and putting up with uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms, navigating the right help can be challenging.
Despite these times being stressful and wanting to organise treatment as soon as possible, it’s really important that you explore your options to make sure you are enrolling in the correct program.
Feel free to reach out and get in contact with us, if we can’t help you directly we will point you in the right direction and link you up with our network.
