Living with a person who has a drug problem has adverse effects on the people around him or her.
If you suspect that your loved one is in need of professional drug treatment, the best thing that you can do is gather the immediate family members and discuss how you can encourage the person with the drug addiction to seek treatment.
Getting Help in Ontario
Fortunately, there are more than a thousand drug treatment centers that you can choose from in Canada, and plenty are available in Ontario.
Here is a brief overview of the wide array of choices that you have.
Treatment Options in Ontario
Basically, there are two types of drug treatment centers – those which are government funded and the ones which are privately owned and operated.
Government Run Treatment in Ontario
The government-funded drug rehabilitation centers (OHIP) are the ones which are usually covered by your insurance policies. These types of drug treatment centers can be further classified into several categories. There are institutions which are classified as outpatient and in-patient treatment centers.
Examples may include:
Acceptance to OHIP approved treatment facilities:
According to Ottowa Detox, the following are basic requirements for acceptance:
- You will need to be sober (A medically-supervised withdrawal unit is suggested for those with severe alcohol use and dependency).
- Once you are sober, book an appointment with a drug and alcohol counsellor at the closest local mental health and addiction office.
- The counsellor will likely (1) refer you to an outpatient program as an interim solution and (2) put you on a waitlist for a residential treatment program.
- Once wait listed, it is important to stay sober before your intake date (which could be weeks to months). This means going to peer-support meetings, attending outpatient therapy, keeping busy and not becoming idle (e.g. volunteering, going to the gym, or anything that will keep you occupied until it’s treatment time).
- Once in residential treatment, clients will spend their time in an intensified treatment program. With the pre-treatment sober time and new personal knowledge and understanding of coping, relapse prevention, and self-awareness, a person can hopefully return back home and learn to flourish in a life.
There are also drug treatment centers which specifically cater to teen addiction.
In addition, there are center which are considered as family treatment centers and ‘solvent abuse’ treatment centers. Finally, it is important to note that there are three basic stages in the treatment process which includes prevention, intervention and aftercare.
The last item is of particular importance so that the individual who was treated of the drug addiction problem will not fall into a relapse.
