Drug Rehab Blog

Thirty-eight years ago, the National Association of Alcoholism Counselors and Trainers was founded.  Ten years later, the association changed its name to the National Association for Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselor, adjusting to the changing times, bringing together professionals working in the addiction field.  To reflect this, the organization became known as NAADAC, the Association for Addiction Professionals.  The name change reflects a wider range of services offered, embracing various professionals, such as counselors, social workers, and administrators.  The NAADAC offers national certification for those professionals who meet their criteria, beginning with Level I, and moving on to Level II and MAC (Master Addiction Counselor), and they’ve credentialed over fifteen thousand counselors.

Each of these three certifications are designed for those professionals who have worked for years within the various addiction fields and want to show others that they’ve acquired abilities honed from these years of supervised experience.  In order to be certified at the MAC level, you’ll need a Master’s degree in any of a number of health-related disciplines, such as social work, nursing, counseling, psychology or family therapy, as well as five hundred hours of training and education.  You’ll need also to be certified as either a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) or a Licensed Social Worker (LSW).  You’ll need a year of supervised experience before a master’s degree, and an additional two years after you’ve received the degree.  If you’re a new applicant you also must prove that you’ve taken HIV/AIDS and Ethics training and education within the last half decade.

The standards for the Level II certification requires a bachelor’s degree from a university or college that’s accredited, and you’ll also need a state license in your profession that’s current.  In the area of training and education, the Level II certificate requires that you have four hundred and fifty contact hours in substance abuse, and twelve of those hours must be in HIV/AIDS training and ethics training, divided equally.  There must also be five years of experience (full-time) or ten thousand hours of supervised experience in substance abuse counseling.  As with the MAC, new applicants must have proof of training and education in ethics and HIV/AIDS received recently, in the last five years.

Level I certification, though, is the starting point, and requires less strenuous criteria.  However, it’s still fairly vigorous.  In order to qualify, you’ll need to have a current certificate or license from the state as a counselor specializing in substance abuse.  You’ll need to take training in substance abuse counseling for two hundred and seventy hours, also with twelve hours of training — six hours in ethics and six hours in HIV/AIDS.  While new applicants still need to provide proof that they’ve had ethics and HIV/AIDS training within the last five years, there’s a lesser requirement for the work experience.  You’ll need two years and four thousand hours less: Three years of work experience (full time) or six thousand hours of supervised experience with counseling for substance abuse.

Arizona is a great place to go for drug treatment if you have no means to pay. There are approximately 86 drug treatment facilities throughout the state that offers a substance abuse program of free. There are 25 places in the city of Tucson, 25 in the city of Phoenix, 5 in city of Yuma, 11 in Mesa, 2 in Bisbee, 7 in Prescott, 8 in Scottsdale, and 3 in Wickenburg. Some facilities are brand new, others may have closed due to mismanagement, while others are well established and successful. A majority of these drug treatment facilities are what is called in the industry as ‘Halfway’ homes, or ‘Out Patient’ facilities. There are a few of these drug treatment facilities are located in hospitals or in a facility that specializes in ‘In-Patient’ recovery programs for substance abusers and will stay for 30-days. For these facilities, the fees can be on a sliding scale or for free.

Halfway homes, otherwise known as outpatient programs in Arizona are great for low-income or homeless families with no income. They offer programs for adolescents, women and men, for residential long-term treatment that offer beds for the client and their children. Half-way homes also offer short-term treatment, which is basically good for court ordered substance abusers who are dealing with DUI/DWI offences and helps them remain clean and sober and out of the jail system.

Full fledged drug treatment facilities that offer ‘In-Patient’ programs, which usually average 28 to 30 days, or sometimes 6 months to a year for free if the substance abuser qualifies, which will vary on each individual basis and if the drug treatment facility is privately, state or federally run.

All drug treatment facilities, whether it’s an ‘Out-Patient’, halfway home or an ‘In-Patient’ facility, offer their services for free, but they don’t advertise this to the general public. These facilities can offer drug treatment for free, because they apply for federal and state grants. These grants allow for these facilities to offer a certain amount of substance abusers to get drug treatment for free.

It is hard to find actual data on the cases of drug users who went to prison that have been clean due to treatment in 2009, in the research one finds that maybe anything is possible. There has been many people who have been able to stop the addiction to whatever, and enjoy a much better life. It always takes support and a plan. Some of the best ways to change your life is to make a plan and stick to it. It seems the more you focus on the plan of what you can do and have the more you forget it about what you aren’t doing or getting.

Substance abuse and drug addiction is an ongoing problem in the United States as well as other countries. And despite efforts to eliminate addiction with the famous war on drugs, abuse of alcohol and illegal street drugs remains strong and in fact there has been a new type of drug abuse to enter the scene. This, unsurprisingly, is pharmaceutical medications. And while pain killers have been abused for decades, recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of abuse that occurs and also in the variety of pharmaceutical drugs that are abused. Today’s abuse market includes various psychotropic medications, whose actual purpose is to counter emotional and mental health care issues.

With all of the potential for drug abuse it is no wonder that adolescents continually to experiment with these substances, frequently creating a dependency. And adolescents are not the only ones at risks for addiction. Adults are the primary market for many of these prescription drugs, which is why we have seen such an increase in new addiction among older adults. Now more than ever it can be confusing as to what drugs produce what biological effect and what drugs are most likely to be abused as well as create a dependency.

For this reason, drug reference charts have continued to change and adapt to the continually changing face of addiction. These charts generally categorize the drugs into particular classifications according to their make up substance, such as narcotics and stimulants, and also according to their effects and potential for abuse and addiction. It is possible to get one of these charts through your local mental health care facility, and if they don’t happen to have any they can refer to a different source. Sometimes educational and outreach organizations also have them.

Methamphetamine is one of the most dangerous drugs on the streets today.  Addiction is almost inevitable after only a few usages and the physical and psychological consequences are extreme. The initial pleasure that some people feel after the first or second time of use is quickly diminished and eventually ceases to occur at all. However, by this point the addiction has already kicked in and the addict now needs the drug simply to function. The physical damages done by this drug and addiction to it are easy to identify and one of the common symptoms is horrible skin as well as rotted and sometimes missing teeth. The addict’s appearance is unnaturally aged and scabbed over scratch marks are frequent. This doesn’t paint a pretty picture and the imagery is disturbing. It’s supposed to be because this is a drug that should never be experimented with and information on it cannot be overly presented.

Once an addiction is recognized, deciding how to treat it becomes the next important step. Addicts to this drug are extremely unlikely to seek treatment and are some of the most likely to relapse once treatment has been received. In addition, the drug is so damaging that many people find themselves to be a shell of their former self and this contributes to a sense of hopelessness that leads back to use. Treatment for this addiction has two basic approach perspectives. One of the programs incorporates a multi-level matrix approach and uses positive reinforcement. It generally combines individual and group therapy sessions at a rate of approximately three times a week for thirty six weeks. Continued support by twelve step programs is also recommended. The use of medication in dealing with meth treatment and withdrawal is complicated because an effective drug to reduce the life threatening symptoms of overdose doesn’t exist. Nor does a drug to deal with all of the psychological damages and paranoia as well as violent behaviors that are associated with early cessation. Treatment for methamphetamine is a complicated process and research into improving methodology is ongoing.

The major modalities for substance abuse, like methadone maintenance, outpatient programs, therapeutic communities and civil commitment treatments ordered by the criminal justice systems, have all been reported to be successful by most criteria. All the respective treatment programs are considered drug intervention treatments and have proven to be cost effective.

Goal oriented, flexible policies and philosophy programs produce better results than inflexible programs, especially when the adopted combinations of treatment components, which are suited to individual substance abusers, deal with their specific needs and problems. The drug clients lengths of time in a rehab facility is highly correlated with positive outcomes, but the dropout rate is high for most modalities. Clients entering treatment under either a family intervention or the intervention of legal coercion do as well by most outcome criteria as clients who voluntarily check themselves into a treatment facility.

The evidence on treatment effectiveness suggests that local and state social policy to expand treatment capacities and increased attention to above adequate implementation of treatment programs. The adverse social consequences of substance abuse have led to allocation of substantial public resources for drug treatments. Governmental policies are seeking to contain the spread of drug use to adolescent and to break the link between criminal behavior and illicit drug use in order to reduce the overall crime rate.

The traditional approach by the criminal justice system have not achieved much success with curbing or stopping drug use. But, it’s been proven that by drug intervention with treatments as mentioned above, has been effective and will reduce the amount of crime cause by individuals who are addicts, which in turn reduces the cost incurred by these crimes such as tax-payers money to pay for the defendants lawyers, cost incurred while in jail, cost incurred while in prison after a conviction.

As the substance abuse treatment field continues to evolve and the methodologies of treatment improve, it is important to continue examining the cost-effectiveness of these treatments.

There are many reasons for starting a drug treatment facility, and different scenarios where it might sound like a great idea. Someone who’s recently gotten sober might decide that this would be the best way to carry the message and help others, or a family member of an addict or alcoholic who didn’t get better might decide to open something in their name, or at least in their memory. There are also those who might see it as an opportunity to help pay the mortgage, by turning their home into a halfway house. Whether it’s a money-making enterprise or the desire is purely beneficent, both issues of money and charity will come into play, so it’s best to be reasonable about both of these.

To begin, it’s a good strategy to decide whether you want to make money from the center, or whether you want to open it as a non-profit. A non-profit does not mean you can’t pay yourself or employees, but only suggests that you’re not in business to generate income for the benefit of you or shareholders, and that all the profits will go back into the treatment center. This might be the better option if you don’t have a lot of start-up funds, and it may be easier in the long run to maintain. There are grants and loans available for non-profits as well as profitable businesses, but this does seem to be an area where people are more likely to contribute if their donations are deductible.

Next, it’s time to think about location, particularly if you haven’t already. Chances are, however, that you have an idea of the area in the city, or at least the city. Here, you’ll want to begin to do more research on what else is available for rehab programs here. Look carefully at what’s offered, and try to determine what it is that you can provide that no one else can. Also, what resources are at your disposal? On the human scale, what experiences do you and your potential staff have to bring to all of this? If there are diplomas involved, along with other qualifications and certifications, then you have a lot more to offer at the get-go. Be very aware of all the local laws regarding the administration of treatment, and make sure you meet all the requirements. It’s not a simple task by any means, and more than just a business or a specialty hotel, a treatment center is a commitment to a way of living, that combines solid business practice with a spirit of philanthropy, as well as a compassionate interest in helping people to find their way.

Substance abuse and addiction habits are actually a lot more common than what many people realize. And while almost everyone knows someone who has been affected by substance abuse there is still an element of silence on the subject. This is actually more harmful to both those that have an addiction and those that it affects than it is to be out in the open with these issues and talk about them. In addition, the more open we are as a society about the nature of addiction and substance abuse, the more likely those that suffer from it will seek treatment. Meanwhile, it is frequently those who are most closely associated to abusers that are the first to try and find treatment opportunities for them.

This is why husbands and wives are frequently the ones to do the calling, the research and the initial contact with various treatment facilities. And while this is extremely well intended, it should be remembered and understood that the addict is the only one who can actually make the change and they have to want to get treatment and deal with the problem before that change can take place. However, with that being said, it is also the threat, or actuality, of loosing one’s spouse and or family that can finally provoke an addict to admit they have landed at rock bottom and become willing to seek treatment.

Once a substance abuser is willing to enter a treatment facility or participate in a program it becomes necessary for the spouse to seek his or her own therapy. Depending on the nature of the addiction and the amount of damages to the relationship and lifestyle that have occurred, different treatment options are available for the partner. Sometimes, in the case of alcohol addictions, there are programs such as Al Anon that are particularly focused on helping the family members of alcoholics learn to deal with their own issues as well as cope with the effects of living with and loving an alcoholic. It is important to remember that whatever the addiction, it does not only affect the life of the addict, but also those that love him or her. And it is equally important to receive support services and not to ignore your own needs when you have a partner who is addicted to drugs and or alcohol.

Studies over the years have shown that three out of four people incarnated today, would benefit from drug rehab and substance abuse programs that are offered in prison.  Unfortunately, some states are looking to cut these programs in order to save money.  And what is unfortunate too, is that many of the programs offered, are filled to capacity, and those wishing to enter them while they are in prison are forced to wait months and even years in order to get involved in them.

The penalties for offenses which involve drugs are harsh, and these programs are sometimes denied from the people who need them the most.  Prisoners who are suffering with an addiction, and who do not receive the benefits of the programs are not only left to suffer, but they usually end up spending more time in jail, costing the state more money in the covering of the costs of that incarceration.  These programs benefit everyone involved.  For women, a rehab that is designed just for them, speaks directly to the issues that they, as women, are dealing with and trying to get a grasp on.

In his book, “The Gift of Fear”, Gavin de Becker states the result of his own study.  He went to every prison that had a death row.  One hundred percent of the men on death row in the United States, were victims of severe child abuse.  For women, many of those in the prison systems today, have been victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.  They need a safe place when they are recovering from addiction.

So in this case, they need a place without male presence.  The women can build up their trust in an environment that can focus directly on their issues at hand.  Studies have shown that when people have been charge with and imprisoned due to drug offenses, and they do receive treatment in jail, the number of those committing those same crimes again significantly drops.  And again, this is good for everyone involved, the individual themselves and society as a whole.

For many people whom have never experienced it, addiction may seem to be a dent in a shiny character.  A blip, on the computer screen of a person’s personality.  But it is complex and heartbreaking.  It is a double edged sword.  The addiction itself, causes pain.  And when one realizes that they are addicted, to anything, that becomes a secondary pain.  A pain of the mind, and a pain of the heart.  When addicted to anything, be it cigarettes, coffee, heroin or day time soap operas, what one realizes when they suffer an addiction, is that they no longer have control over certain aspects of their own lives.

Horrible, devastating consequences can result, but when people are in the midst of it all, none of that matters.  Nothing matters.  People lose the ability to make choices that would benefit them.  And most people, who have never found themselves in this kind of situation, do not understand the double edged sword, the “double whammy”.  When behavior becomes compulsive, it messes with the functions of the brain.  Just as whatever chemicals one may be dumping into their system messes with the brain, the knowledge that this is happening, and the inability in a given moment, to stop it can lead people into despair.

Motivation gets lost.  The ability to control one’s own behavior, gets lost.  But what does not get lost, is the sense that if they could, they would do something about it.  If they just had one bit of help, they might make it through.  Rehab programs offer this help and support.  In a non-judgemental setting, people can begin to be motivated.  They will gain knowledge and support from those who have been there before, those who will not criticize, but will offer understanding and caring in their time of desperate need.  People do survive addictions, everyday.  And because they do, they just quite simply…survive…and find that this is a beautiful life, a wonderful world.