What Makes an Excellent Drug and Alcohol Rehab Centre?

If you’re suffering from drug or alcohol addiction, staying at an drug and alcohol rehab centre could transform your life. Ocean Recovery has drug and alcohol rehab centres throughout the UK, so you’re not far from away from a venue to suit you.

It’s essential to find a drug and alcohol rehab that provides the very best care to help you beat your drug and/or alcohol addiction. When it comes to your health, nothing but the best will do.

What makes an excellent drug and alcohol rehab centre?

Read our guide to find out.

Specialist Staff That Understand Drug and Alcohol Addictions

The best rehab centres recruit highly experienced and qualified staff. Rehab centres should be run by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of doctors, nurses, psychologists, mental health professionals and alcohol specialists. Often these teams have years of combined research and study, which helps shape tailored support packages rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

Look for an alcohol rehab centre that uses evidence-based approaches and proven therapies to help people beat drug and alcohol addictions. Ask staff how they helped other people, and ask to read case studies — they should be more than happy to share these with you. You could even speak to former patients if they’ve given permission and learn more about alcohol rehab and how it works.

Staff have often experienced drug and alcohol addictions first-hand or helped a family member, so they understand what you’re going through.

A Rehab Centre That Provides Safe Drug and Alcohol Detox

UK drug and alcohol rehab centres should be registered with the Quality Care Commission and provide safe detoxes to all patients who need them. A detox is a process that gets alcohol out of the body, carried out in a safe and controlled environment, lasting from 7 to 10 days. Qualified medical staff, and those who have specialist knowledge of the detox stages, stay with you throughout the process.

You will feel unwell mentally and physically during a drug and alcohol detox and experience withdrawal symptoms. You’ll likely feel sick, sweat, shake and experience headaches and loss of appetite. You may feel depressed, anxious, restless and irritable. But the good news is that these feelings will pass, and qualified and sympathetic staff will look after you. You can move on to receiving treatment in the form of counselling and group therapy once you’ve finished your detox.

Never attempt an addiction detox at home. It’s dangerous, and you could become seriously ill. If you’re considering a detox, make sure you do it at a registered alcohol detox clinic — never alone.

Flexible Treatment Options

Do you want to stay in rehab or receive treatment at home? When researching alcohol and drug rehab centres near you, look into the type of treatments they offer. Call the centre’s admissions team to arrange an assessment. They’ll advise you on the kind of stay you need. You can become an inpatient, where you sleep at the centre for anything from 1 to 3 months, or an outpatient, where you stay at home and visit the centre for treatment.

The admissions team will fill you in on how long you’ll stay, the type of treatments available (therapy and counselling), and their aftercare.

All good drug and alcohol rehab centres allow you to extend your stay if you need to. If you don’t feel ready to return to your old life, it should be no problem to amend your visit.

A Focus On Your Mental Health

Alcohol and drugs don’t just affect your physical health; they can also massively affect your wellbeing, causing you to feel depressed, anxious and paranoid. The best drug and alcohol rehab centres offer intensive therapy that focuses on repairing your mind AND body.

People consume drugs and alcohol for many reasons: to forget about problems, have fun with friends, or celebrate. Consuming drugs and alcohol make many people happy and relaxed, but that’s only temporary — when the feelings go away, you’re likely to feel low or anxious. People often become addicted to mask their true feelings. Pre-existing mental health conditions can flare up, making you feel worse than you did before consuming these substances which encourages the cycle of addiction to continue.

Your caseworker will devise a tailored treatment plan, working with any external agencies or therapists you’re already involved with to get you back on track.

You may have been taking mental health medication before you arrived at the centre. Doctors will discuss any medicine they think could help you and, with your permission, prescribe a new drug or amend your existing dose.

Counselling And Therapy To Suit You

The best drug and alcohol rehab centres should offer a wide range of counselling and therapies to help tackle your addiction. Examples of talking therapy are cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), a type of counselling that looks at why you feel, think, and act in specific ways. CBT helps you manage your problems, giving you tools and strategies to apply in challenging situations. CBT flips negative and irrational thinking to positive and balanced thoughts, guiding you to a happier, more manageable life.

Drug and alcohol rehab centres usually provide complementary and alternative therapies, and many people find them enjoyable and relaxing. Centres often host regular classes covering yoga, Pilates, art therapy, fitness and meditation to help heal your mind and body. If you need help finding employment, education and housing, rehab centres will explore your best options and signpost you to relevant organisations.

Comprehensive Aftercare When You Leave

The best drug and alcohol rehab services, like the centres operated by Ocean Recovery, should support you after you leave rehab. Most people leave drug and alcohol rehab feeling confident they won’t touch alcohol again, but they are at most risk of relapsing when they return to old friends, routines and places.

Most drug and alcohol rehab centres offer free support, and a 24-hour helpline for 365 days when you leave. With a support plan in place, a network of local support groups such as AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), NA (Narcotics Anonymous) and regular counselling sessions, patients have the best chance of avoiding alcohol, managing their wellbeing and living a fulfilling, sober life.

If you want to talk about drug and alcohol rehab near you, call us on 0800 880 7596. We’re here to help you beat your addiction.

John Gillen - Director at Ocean Recovery

John Gillen - Author - Last updated: April 30, 2022

John is one UK’s leading professionals in the addiction recovery industry. Pioneering new treatment techniques such as NAD+ and ongoing research into new therapy techniques such as systematic laser therapy, John is committed to providing the very best treatment for people throughout the UK and Europe. During his extremely busy schedule, John likes to regularly update our blog section with the latest news and trends in the industry to keep visitors to our site as well informed as possible on everything related to addiction treatment.