How To Get Help
Written by Sarah Jenkins, MSW, RCSWI
11.30.2020
I have heard from many people who don’t know how to get help for themselves or their loved ones, and are struggling with not knowing where to begin. This article will give a brief list of action steps to help people get started on their recovery, or get back into their recovery.
I will start with least restrictive treatment and lowest level of care, to the highest, most restrictive level of care. Everyone’s path to recovery looks different, there is no one solution. Sometimes people need all of these or one of these, it really depends on the person, where they are in the recovery or addiction process, as well as their medical needs and mental health needs.
Disclaimer- quitting alcohol cold turkey can be detrimental to a person’s health. Please seek consultation with a medical provider as there are many treatment options to safely detox, including some at home detox options nowadays with the expansion of telelhealth among medical providers. https://americanaddictioncenters.org/withdrawal-timelines-treatments/cold-turkey
- Go to a meeting. There are multiple, free 12 step support groups throughout the US and internationally. In the US there is a great app called “meeting guide” that will give you a list of all of the meetings near you at any time of day. This is a great place to meet other people in recovery at various stages of the recovery. You can usually find a meeting every day of the week and this provides a huge source of support for many people with addiction and/or alcoholism. You can also hear stories and learn of other treatment methods that worked for people within the recovery community. There is significant clinical research regarding the effectiveness of 12 step groups, and their ability to heal deep rooted issues, often stemming from childhood. See https://www.aa.org/pages/en_US/meeting-guide
- Find a therapist specializing in mental health and/or addiction. There is a great therapist locator on “Psychology Today” where you can find a therapist near you. State guidelines are all different so it’s probably best to start looking in your own state. These regulations are changing with telehealth and Covid, and to avoid uncertainty, start with a therapist near you. See https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists
- IOP/PHP groups. IOP – Intensive Outpatient Groups and PHP – Partial Hospitalization Groups. This level of care usually meets 3-5 times per week and is often covered by insurance. This type of format often allows people to keep their jobs and attend treatment at the same time. In Tampa, I would recommend my colleagues at Clean Recovery Centers, which is where I worked prior to building my private practice. They offer telehealth options, night time IOP groups and are able to see out of state clients. https://www.cleanrecoverycenters.com/ You can also call the national helpline through SAMHSA, which provides free referrals for mental healthh and/or substance use treatment at any level of care, 1.800.662.HELP (4357), or visit their treatment locator at https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/
- Inpatient or residential treatment. This level of care allows you to live within the treatment center and focus fully on recovery. Often, many people need to get away from their current living environment, people, places and things to get solid stability before transitioning to a lower, less restrictive level of care. SAMHSA has a great treatment locator tool here, https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/ For those of you in Florida, or wanting to come to the Tampa Bay area of Florida, since I worked at Clean Recovery Centers and very much trust the staff and their treatment model, I would recommend them for this level of care as well as they provide treatment housing.
- Medical detox. Often, people need to be medically detoxed off of drugs and/or alcohol before they can attend lower levels of care. Seek consultation with a medical provider to get an assessment and see what level of care might be best. You can get assessed through your primacy care doctor, a licensed mental health or addictions clinician, a psychiatrist or psychologist, which can be found on Psychology Today or the SAMHSA treatment locator. You can also Google search “medical detox” to find detox services near you.
- Inpatient crisis stabilization units. Sometimes people need 24/7 surveillance for their own safety for people who are suicidal, homicidal, actively psychotic, or generally a harm to themselves or others. In Florida, BayCare Behavioral Health has numerous inpatient psychiatric units within some of their hospitals throughout the Tampa Bay area, https://baycare.org/services/behavioral-health Outside of Tampa, FL, you can call the SAMHSA help line 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or the national suicide hotline 1-800-273-8255 to find emergency help for crisis situations.
This is by no means all of the treatment options out there, as there are many. This is just a brief list of some of the most commonly used treatment methods to get people started on their recovery journey, and to help friends and families of loved ones struggling with mental health and/or addiction issues.
For more specific information and a customized treatment plan for what might be best for you or your loved one, seek consultation with a medical provider, treatment locators and therapist locators are above.
If you have any questions or need additional help, feel free to email sarah@recoverlife.us or call 813-693-2019. Also, feel free to comment with any resources that were helpful for you, or share your story on our anonymous recovery community https://www.recoverlife.us/community/ to help someone else.
