If you need alcohol treatment in Missouri, it can be hard to know where to turn first. Many people recognize they need help, but they don’t know what kind of help, exactly. Residential alcohol treatment centers? Outpatient programs? Support groups? When you’re just starting out on your recovery, the choices can be intimidating.
Other people aren’t even ready to look at their options for alcohol treatment in Missouri. They’re unhappy with their alcohol use, but they’re unwilling to go further than that. Many people face all kinds of barriers to treatment: Stigma, finances, access to treatment, and attitudes against getting help.
There’s no one-size-fits all solution, so there’s no easy answer to what kind of treatment is best. All those choices are there for a reason. Each will cater to a different set of needs, and the hope is that you can find a program that will suit you well.
Here, we’ve put together some steps that might help you find the right alcohol treatment in Missouri for your specific needs.
Step One: Break down barriers.
You can’t find alcohol treatment in Missouri if you’re not willing to look. The first step on the way to recovery is figuring out how to work around or push through the things that are stopping you from seeking treatment.
One study found that one of the most common barriers to treatment was the idea that you should be strong enough to handle the issue on your own. If that statement rings true for you, know that it’s absolutely not accurate. Seeking treatment is far from a sign of weakness. Attitudinal barriers like this are a huge reason why many people don’t get the help they need.
Another huge roadblock in many people’s journeys is the stigma around substance use disorders. They’re afraid of what their loved ones will think of them if they get help, or they’re too embarrassed to admit what’s going on to anyone.
Other barriers, though, are more external. Lots of people are held back from alcohol treatment in Missouri because their insurance won’t cover the cost or they assume they won’t be able to pay for something as expensive as stays in residential alcohol treatment centers.
Identify your own hurdles to seeking alcohol treatment in Missouri.
Once you can pinpoint what factors are stopping you from seeking treatment, you can work to solve those issues. If it’s internal, break down why you’re embarrassed or why you feel you can do it on your own. Know that seeking treatment is nothing to be ashamed of. That’s obviously easier said than truly felt, but if you can convince yourself of it, that’s a great first step.
There are also plenty of people who simply don’t know where to turn for help. They know they can’t do it alone and that the problems aren’t going to go away on their own, but they don’t know what steps to take. If that sounds like you, this post is here to help. Read on for the steps you can take to get you started, whether you’re looking for outpatient plans or residential alcohol treatment centers.
Step Two: Talk to your doctor.
Nobody can help you if they don’t know what’s going on. If you’ve been hiding how much alcohol you’ve been consuming, it’s time to come clean. One place to start looking for alcohol treatment in Missouri is talking to your doctor.
You should be as honest as possible so your doctor can get a full picture. They will want all the details of how much you drink and what the circumstances are surrounding those habits.
This can be a hard conversation to have, but it’s one of the most important ones. Many people think admitting these kinds of problems is embarrassing or awkward. Try to push through those emotions, because your doctor really isn’t there to judge your behavior. They should be able to put any personal feelings aside and focus on getting you the help you need.
Some people think it’ll be easier to broach a difficult subject like potentially entering residential alcohol treatment centers by first speaking to their doctor about a lighter concern. They might schedule an appointment for something else entirely and try to bring up alcohol treatment in Missouri toward the end of the visit.
This typically isn’t the best way to go about things. Your doctor doesn’t have all that much time to spend with you, so if you leave your concerns about alcohol for the end, you might not have a chance to bring it up before they’re off to their next patient. It’s usually best to be completely forthright about why you’re there and what you’d like help with. Being honest and upfront is more efficient, and you’ll likely have more time for a better conversation.
None of this makes that hard conversation any easier, we know. It’s a difficult step to take, but it’s ultimately worth all that discomfort.
What if I don’t have a primary care physician?
Talking to your doctor won’t help much if you don’t have one. You actually don’t need a referral from a doctor to enter alcohol treatment in Missouri. So, if you don’t have a doctor to talk to about your alcohol use, then you can skip this step and move straight into the next one: Contacting alcohol treatment centers in Missouri.
Step Three: Make some calls.
Starting with those recommendations from your doctor, if you got any, this stage is all about reaching out to different places that offer alcohol treatment in Missouri. Your goal is to get all the information you need to make your decision about where to seek treatment. (If you need a place to start, you can reach out to us here).
Reputable residential alcohol treatment centers and other types of alcohol treatment in Missouri will want to make sure that you’re a good fit for their programs before admitting you. As such, they’ll want to know all about you. Don’t worry about detailing your entire life story at this stage — there will be a more in-depth interview when you arrive at the center for treatment. The initial conversations are about trying to determine what kind of services would best benefit you.
Questions to Ask
Just like the residential alcohol treatment centers will want to know all about you, you’ll want to know all about them. It’s important that you ask your own questions to make sure they’re a good fit on your end. The first thing you want to make sure of is that they’re licensed and credentialed.
Accreditation is a big plus. This is a separate process from state licensing, and it’s a lot more strict. The two main organizations that govern accreditations for rehab centers are the Joint Commission and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). If the alcohol treatment center you’re looking at has an accreditation from either of those, that means they’ve gone through a rigorous process to prove their facilities are top-notch.
Another thing you’ll want to ask about before you enter alcohol treatment in Missouri is aftercare. It might seem presumptuous to talk about what happens after treatment before it’s even begun, but it’s important to make sure you won’t be left high and dry after you’ve completed your initial plan. Most people need some type of ongoing support, especially after leaving residential alcohol treatment centers.
Step Four: Make a decision.
Once you’ve made it to this step, you have a lot of information to sort through.
The first thing you should decide is what type of program you’re looking for. Maybe you’ve already decided and only called those types of facilities, or maybe you looked into a few different varieties of alcohol treatment in Missouri.
Residential alcohol treatment centers aren’t right for everyone. They might seem like the most comprehensive and obvious option, but they don’t have to be your default. What’s right for you will largely depend on your level of addiction and individual circumstances. If you have a job you need to keep working while you’re in treatment, then residential alcohol treatment centers are unlikely to be your best option.
For other people, though, residential alcohol treatment centers are the absolute best place for them to be. Those who need to get out of toxic living situations or unhealthy family dynamics are often best helped by removing themselves from those places entirely and spending a month or more at residential alcohol treatment centers. We know that can sound really intimidating. But sometimes, a clean break is best for you. Hopefully you’ve gathered enough information in the first few steps to know which option is best at this stage.
Step Five: Follow through.
You’ve gotten this far. It would be a disservice to yourself not to see your decision through. The whole process might seem pretty scary, but don’t get discouraged.
Especially if you’re looking at residential alcohol treatment centers, there will likely be an extensive intake process once you arrive. You should get a tour of the facility, and the staff should make their expectations clear.
Know that residential alcohol treatment centers can’t hold you against your will, so if you decide to leave, they probably can’t stop you. At the same time, your insurance might not pay for another stay if you leave against medical advice. So if you end up wanting to try again later, you might be paying for it out of pocket. That’s a great incentive to do your best to make it all the way through a stay at residential alcohol treatment centers.
If you’ve opted for a different treatment option, you should still do your best to see it through. Of course, not every type of therapy and treatment is right for everyone — that’s why making that decision is so hard — but you’re likely to experience some discomfort even if you’ve made the right choice. It’s also normal to go through multiple treatments, so don’t feel like a failure if your first round doesn’t stick. You can go through this process as many times as you need.
Your alcohol treatment doesn’t have to be in Missouri.
Obviously, we’ve been heavily focused on alcohol treatment in Missouri. It’s where we’re located, and the main point of this post is to help people looking for alcohol treatment within the state. But that’s not your only option.
High-quality residential alcohol treatment centers exist in many places. You should only limit your search to alcohol treatment in Missouri if you have important reasons for doing so. If, for example, the travel would make out-of-state treatment financially impossible for you, or if you can’t travel for medical reasons, then yes, you should stick to alcohol treatment in Missouri. But if you don’t have any hard restrictions, at least look into your options outside the state. Getting away from toxic friend groups or bad family dynamics could be just what you need.
If you’d like more help making this decision, we’ve written extensively about the choice between near and far away rehab here.
Find the right alcohol treatment in Missouri for you.
As we’ve reiterated several times, the best alcohol treatment in Missouri is the program that suits your individual needs. Scouting out top-tier residential alcohol treatment centers isn’t going to do you any good if you know an outpatient program is better for your situation.
Before you’ve even looked at any of your different potential choices, though, you need to identify and work through any barriers you might have to entering alcohol treatment in Missouri. These can include finding a way to pay for treatment or an attitudinal hurdle you need to jump.
Once you get started looking at your different options, they all need to be weighed carefully. Starting by bringing up your concerns with your doctor is a great first step. Go about it in the most straightforward and honest way possible. Then, you can use the information you learn from that conversation to reach out to different treatment facilities. Know to ask the right questions in those first conversations. Gather information from all of them, and then sit down to make a decision.
Synthesizing what you’ve learned can be a great way to make that choice. Commit to that decision, and you should be well on your way to recovery.
