How do I Choose the Best Residential Treatment Center?

A residential treatment center is a facility designed to treat a variety of behavioral problems, including addiction and mental illness, in a completely contained environment. Choosing the best residential treatment center often involves thinking about what type of rehabilitation is needed as well as actually visiting the facility to ensure an appropriate fit. Often centers are gender-specific, age-specific, or problem-specific, so finding a facility that most closely matches the patient is very important when deciding which residential treatment center to use. Other things to keep in mind when choosing a center might include religious or economic considerations, as many centers are affiliated with religious groups and many centers are quite expensive and may not be considered affordable.

Choosing the right residential treatment center involves understanding how such a center operates. It is thought that by providing a supportive living environment with therapy and strict rules, many people manage to overcome even severe addictions. In cases of extreme misbehavior, a residential treatment center may provide discipline or may even be used in a punitive manner. While many centers do not allow patients to leave the premises during treatment, others are more open, often working with patients who are seeking treatment voluntarily. Some people with emotional disorders do not respond well to these environments and may in fact become more disruptive or determined to misbehave.

One way to choose the best residential treatment center is to search for treatment centers associated with a particular disorder. For instance, if heroin is the problem being treated, searching for treatment centers specific to heroin may be the best route. Typically, if a less intense treatment is already being sought for the disorder, the provider of that treatment will have recommendations for residential programs that may be a good fit. If the patient is seeing a psychiatrist or other health professional, he or she may also have recommendations for treatment centers.

In many cases, more expensive facilities provide better and safer care. There is always a concern that patients who are incapacitated by addiction or mental illness will be abused when out of the care of family and friends. For treatment to be successful, the patient must be free of abuse and other detrimental influences. Unfortunately, one must rely on a facility's reputation in order to determine whether the patient will be safe, as once he or she is in the center, communication will likely be restricted.

Many people do not enter residential treatment centers of their own free will. Whether by court order or parental demand, people with serious problems often enter these centers under duress. Anyone who is pressuring the individual to seek this extreme form of treatment must be sure to thoroughly research different treatment centers and actually visit the chosen center, because bad treatment can be worse than no treatment at all. Particularly for children, choosing a residential treatment center should be considered only when all other options have failed. Even if a person manages to choose the best residential treatment facility available, undergoing treatment within the facility may still be a difficult experience for the patient.