Free Drug Rehab

Free drug rehab has always been available for addicts and alcoholics who do not have the means to pay for drug rehab privately either through medical insurance or money out of pocket. With the cost of drug rehab programs averaging over $20,000 for a 30 day stay and more and more treatment centers refusing to deal with medical insurance headaches, the availability of private drug rehab is becoming more scarce.

Free Drug Rehab vs. Private Drug Rehab

Free drug rehab is always in the form of state or county funded drug and alcohol treatment. This kind of drug rehab program is designed often like most state and county funded programs with workers who are often under-qualified and overworked in environments that are frequently overpopulated and lacking individual and specialized attention. Free drug rehab is often a last resort for people looking into drug rehab programs because of the lack of quality of care. Along with the inferior care provided by free drug rehab programs is the population. Many criminal justice defendants who have been convicted of drug offenses, including possession with intent to distribute are sent to free drug rehab programs in lieu of jail or prison terms. For these kinds of offenders, the desire for a lifestyle change is very infrequent and many addicts in treatment with these individuals do no more than find another source of drugs when they leave the program.

Although free drug rehab seems to be undesirable for anyone in any position, the truth of the matter is that success in finding sobriety from addiction has little to do with the drug rehab center itself and everything to do with the individual and his/her real desire and commitment to sobriety. If an individual is truly committed to changing his/her life, a free drug rehab program may make the road a little longer and/or rougher, but very manageable nonetheless.

As opposed to free drug rehab, private rehab centers offer almost the exact opposite level of care and quality with highly trained and skilled professionals and a much smaller number of people in attendance to make way for more specialized and individual attention to each problem. Whereas free drug rehab programs are often the main resource for criminal justice clients - many of whom often cause a problem for addicts really trying to focus on their recovery, private pay drug rehab centers will often not accept people from within a certain radius of the location of the center specifically to avoid this kind of element.

What to Expect From Free Drug Rehab

Free drug rehab is not going to offer many choices for methodologies and therapy options for recovery such as alternative or holistic drug rehab, or massage, yoga therapy the latest medical breakthrough therapy treatments. It is important with any drug rehab to know what to expect before entering into the environment so realistic expectations will lead to a more realistic effort and better the chances for success.
  • Free drug rehab is only for residents of the county or city where the rehab is located, so in order to attend, you must be a registered resident of the area where the rehab is.
  • Free drug rehab centers will almost always be overcrowded and have waiting lists for acceptance. The time of the waiting list for a free drug rehab can vary from a few weeks to several months, so it is always best to have some kind of back up plan for the wait, which can be very long depending on the rehab center.
  • Free drug rehab programs will most always be 12-step based, with many that are Christian based, however finding free drug rehab programs that offer alternative or holistic treatment is a virtual impossibility. It is most realistic to expect that there will not be many (if any) treatment options in a free drug rehab.
  • Free drug rehab centers typically employ the most basic of addiction treatment, which excludes specialty treatment methods like dual diagnosis drug rehab programs. If a dual diagnosis drug rehab program is what is needed to treat an addiction and a co-occurring mental health disorder, it will most likely not be found in a free drug rehab center. The best course of action is to seek mental health care elsewhere in addition to the treatment at the drug rehab center.
  • Free drug rehab centers are very different from detox centers. If medical detox in needed, it will almost always need to be handled separately from the free drug rehab center itself.

How to Find Free Drug Rehab

Finding free drug rehab centers can be done in the same place and manner since they are all state or county funded, so they are all registered and listed with the governments, both local and federal. One way to find every possibility for a free drug rehab in your area is to look search for them in the free treatment locator, a database of every drug rehab and treatment center in the country.

Alternatively, by calling SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) at 1-800-729-6686, you can easily find the closest free drug rehab centers to your zip code.

As always, we are here to help however we can, so if you need help with the free treatment locator, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to help in whatever way we can.

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