Are you battling an addiction to drugs, or do you know someone who is? Either way, there will be plenty of options for rehab centers that can help you or your loved one fight back against addiction.
There are more than 14,000 rehab centers throughout the U.S. today. But as this recent report indicates, not all of them are going to have your best interests at heart.
With this in mind, you’ll want to avoid making any of the common errors in choosing rehab centers that people sometimes make. It’ll ensure that you or your loved one is able to get the best care possible from a fantastic rehab center staff.
Here are ten of the most common errors in choosing rehab centers and tips on how you can steer clear of them. Remember them when you set out to search for a rehab center for yourself or a loved one.
1. Choosing the First Rehab You Can Find
When you’re in a rush to get checked into a rehab center, you might be tempted to simply Google “rehab center near me” and pick the first one you can find. But guess what? This could backfire on you in the big way.
This is one of the biggest errors in choosing rehab centers you can make. You might get lucky and land on a wonderful rehab center. But you might also end up with one of the worst rehab centers around.
You’ll be so much better off doing some digging around to see what you can find out about a bunch of nearby rehab centers. It’ll put you in a stronger position when it’s time to pick one over all the rest.
2. Selecting a Rehab Without Looking at Its Services
When you’re trying to track down a great rehab center in your area, you can Google “rehab centers near me.” You’ll just need to avoid selecting the first one you can find like we just mentioned.
Instead, you should write down the names of as many rehab centers as you can find and visit each of their websites. You won’t want to make the mistake of choosing a rehab center that doesn’t have the services you need. You can avoid doing this by doing your homework on each of your available options.
While you’re on a rehab center’s website, you’ll also get the chance to learn about how long it’s been around, who it specializes in catering to, and more.
3. Picking a Rehab in the Wrong Location
You don’t necessarily have to check yourself into a rehab center that’s right around the corner from your house. In fact, it would be a bad idea to do that since it could surround you with temptations around every corner.
At the same time, you also don’t want to have to move all the way to the other side of the country in most cases. That could make it very expensive for you to get the help you need.
Ideally, you should decide which location you’d like to go to rehab in and try to limit how far away it is from your current home. It should be far enough away that you won’t think about coming back home all the time, but not too far away since that could cause the costs associated with going to rehab to spike.
4. Going With a Rehab Without Reading Online Reviews
All the different rehab centers in your area that you research will give you the impression that they’re the best ones around. But that, of course, isn’t going to be the case with every rehab.
One easy way to find out which local rehab centers have great reputations and which don’t will be by reading online reviews for them. These reviews will be very revealing when it comes to letting you know which rehabs have earned the trust of those in your community.
You’ll want to stay far away from any rehab centers that have one negative review after another. You might be the next one to write a review like this if you end up making this mistake, which is yet another one of the most common errors in choosing rehab centers.
5. Failing to Consider the Staff at a Rehab
If you aren’t able to develop a great rapport with the staff at a rehab center, it might impact the experience you have at it. The staff at a rehab will, in many ways, make or break it.
For this reason, you should poke around on the websites of rehab centers and read through their reviews to see what you can learn about their staff members. You want to have a great feeling about them going in.
If you know you might have to go through the detox process during your first few days in the rehab, you should make sure to the center you choose has medical professionals on its staff. They’ll be able to take great care of you from a medical standpoint as you detox. Go read about detoxing to see what you can expect from it.
6. Neglecting to See If a Rehab Accepts Your Health Insurance
Spending any length of time in a rehab center can cost you quite a bit of money. It’s why you should do your best to find a rehab that accepts your health insurance, if possible.
Not all insurance companies will pay for people to go to rehab. So you should consider yourself lucky if your insurance company does it.
But you should also be careful not to choose a rehab that isn’t in your insurance company’s network. If you do, it could result in you spending a small fortune on a rehab center when you weren’t expecting it.
7. Forgetting to Compare the Prices for Rehabs
In the event that you don’t have health insurance or have a health insurance policy that doesn’t cover rehab stints, you’ll be on the hook for the costs associated with rehab. In this case, you’ll want to try not to get stuck going to a rehab that’s well outside your price range.
You shouldn’t be afraid to shop around to see which local rehab centers have the most affordable prices. You shouldn’t necessarily just select the cheapest rehab around. But you also shouldn’t choose one that isn’t going to work with your price range.
8. Forgoing the Opportunity to Take Tours of Rehabs
When you look at photos of a rehab center online, they might all look great. But how many of them will look the same way in person?
With this question in mind, you may want to try to take tours of as many rehab centers as you can. It’ll give you the opportunity to see what they’re like for yourself in person.
You should also be able to speak with some of the staff at a rehab center. It’ll help you inch your way closer to deciding which rehab center will be the best fit.
9. Considering Only the Most Beautiful Rehabs
You want the rehab center you choose to stay at to look nice. But you shouldn’t only consider the most beautiful rehabs and end up at one that isn’t actually your best option.
The appearance of a rehab center should be just one of the many factors that’ll enable you to decide which one to choose. If you make it the only thing you think about, you might come to regret it later.
10. Checking Into a Rehab When You Aren’t Ready
At the end of the day, you could do everything else right when you’re trying to locate the best rehab center around. You could cast a wide net at the start, do the right research, and even tour every option you’re considering.
But if you’re not 100% ready to go to rehab, it’ll end up being one of the worst errors in choosing rehab centers. You’ll spend all that time looking around for one only to set yourself up to fail once you start going through drug addiction treatments.
Because of this, you should kickstart your search for a rehab center by doing something other than Googling “rehab centers near me.” You should actually get it moving in the right direction by asking yourself if you’re ready to get help. Everything else should fall into the place after that.
Don’t Make These Errors in Choosing Rehab Centers
Whether you are picking out a rehab center for the yourself or the loved one, it can be an overwhelming process. It’s why the errors in choosing rehab centers listed here are so common.
But now that you’re aware of them, you should be able to sidestep them and stay on the right path while selecting a rehab center. It won’t be long before you’re well on your way to recovery.