Do No Cost Rehab Centers Really Work?

A primary reason for individuals who perceive a need for substance abuse treatment and do not receive it is the concern for cost. While they may be aware that no cost rehab centers are available, there is the additional concern for whether or not these programs will really work.

Various Types of No Cost Rehab Centers

Most no-cost rehab centers are publicly funded.

When you think of no cost rehab centers of the past, you may think of those centers located through churches and charitable organizations with limited access to other resources. You may even equate them with dreary, uncomfortable, clinical settings, where the staff provides the minimum amount of support throughout the detox and formal treatment programs.

In truth, many no cost rehab centers are private, non-profit, and for-profit centers that offset costs for those who need it via public funding assistance. According to the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-SSATS): 2013, “Treatment at no charge for persons who cannot afford to pay was offered by 48 percent of all facilities, ranging from 20 percent of private for-profit facilities to 81 percent of facilities oper­ated by tribal governments.”

These facilities enable the relatively indigent person to pay little or no cost for treatment through government subsidies and funding grants contingent on income levels and wealth. They offer outpatient, inpatient, and residential services and have adapted to providing the best of care in line with other medical and mental health care initiatives through various treatment approaches.

Increased Access

Alcohol or other substance abuse damages many aspects of an individual’s life including the ability to provide for basic needs, housing, employment, and relationships. They often suffer from related health disorders, poly-substance abuse, and a variety of associated problems that increase the probabilities of indigence, lack of insurance, or inabilities to pay.

Although, every person is different and has their own unique complications from drug abuse, there are many commonalities that a no cost rehab centers can help them work through. It isn’t the luxurious amenities or the higher costs of treatment that proves treatment efficacy, but, rather the quality of understanding the patient’s needs and administering the appropriate treatment services with updated skills, compassion, and knowledgeable guidance.

In an effort to improve the access, quality, retention, and outcomes of substance abuse treatment, the majority of no cost rehab centers are committed to providing treatment that works for those individuals who, typically, need it the most.

Public Funding

Public funding for substance abuse treatment comes from different sources and agencies with each having its own eligibility rules, reporting requirement, service conditions, and support for a program’s operations. In order for the no cost rehab center to remain eligible for the various funding from these sources, they need to have sound practices that prove their treatment outcomes work.

The needs for no cost rehab center substance abuse treatments are exceedingly great and more of the public is taking notice of the increasing burdens to society, mortality rates, and family dysfunctions. According to a study by the Institute of Medicine (US), “the committee recommends that the principle of public coverage be to provide adequate support for appropriate and timely admission, completion, or maintenance of good-quality treatment for individuals who cannot pay for it, either fully or partly.”

Funding sources that contribute to free substance abuse treatments include:

• Federal block grants
• Medicaid
• Medicare and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for disabled clients
• Private foundations and funds, such as United Way
• Migrant health funds
• Federal military insurance
• Charitable organizations such as churches, colleges, or community-based program sponsorships and local volunteer sources
• Federal, State and/or local tax dollars
• Private insurance
• Courts and criminal justice funding
• Social service providers (e.g., child welfare)

Improved Treatment

Treatment approaches vary by facility with the most successful ones providing comprehensive services to address the physical, psychological, interpersonal, and social aspects of drug abuse while helping the person progress toward long term recovery and abstinence.

Substance abuse clients often arrive with numerous social problems. They may be unemployed, under-employed, lacking job skills, a high school diploma, or work experience. There may be environment issues such as being homeless or lack safe housing, victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse, recently incarcerated or released from prison, alienated from their families and friends, or have the majority of their peer affiliations with other substance abusers.

Achieving and maintaining abstinence and recovery requires improved treatment methods at no cost rehab centers to enhance the effectiveness of treatments by:

• Reducing waiting lists.
• Assessing client needs and making provisions, where indicated, through programs, resources, or referrals for domestic issues, vocational, educational, and specialized psychiatric and medical services. No cost rehab centers are often linked with community-based resources that assist with housing, economic, transportation, and child care issues and lessening consequential burdens of substance abuse.
• Prioritizing the importance of treatment retentions and motivating treatment engagements by upgrading techniques, tools, and staffing capabilities.
• Combining counseling, pharmacological, and behavioral therapies to promote measurable differences in patient outcomes.