I created The Right Rehab to guide families and individuals through the confusing world of addiction and mental disorder treatment, insurance and how to pay for it without falling prey to the grifters and imposters who will do anything to get your hard-earned money. I do that by providing the following services.

Walter Wolf, Founder, The Right Rehab

the right fit

To get the right treatment, you have to know what needs to be treated. The key to my work is matching the right individual with the right treatment facility and long-term treatment plan.

What needs to be treated? Is it SUD, Mental Disorder or SUD AND a Mental Disorder — known as co-occurring maladies or a dual diagnosis? The diagnosis should be determined by a physician (psychiatrist primarily), psychologist or a licensed therapist or counselor.

If a current or recent assessment exists, great. If not, that means arranging one either in person or over the phone or video call. Either way, the assessment will most likely be one of the following:

• Substance Use Disorder — SUD.

• Mental Disorder.

• Primary SUD and Secondary Mental Disorder (Dual Diagnosis).

• Primary Mental Disorder and Secondary SUD (Dual Diagnosis).

This is where the uninitiated make a crucial misstep. To them all rehabs do the same thing. They end up picking a particular facility because “well, it looked good on Google,” and the sales rep on the other end of a toll-free number told them everything they thought they needed to hear.

The truth is this: an individual’s diagnosis must match the licensure of rehab if he or she is to get the correct treatment. Someone diagnosed with Primary SUD + Secondary mental disorder, has to go to a rehab whose licensure matches that diagnosis.

Next, additional factors must match with the individual such as:

• The rehab’s demographics and treatment regimen

• The individual’s drug-related and other medical issues

• Age

• Sexual orientation

• Gender identity

• Education

• Economic and social status

• Vocation that demands a Professionals program

• Need for a “stand-alone” program just for that particular occupation:

  • Physician

  • Attorney

  • Pilot

  • CEO

  • First Responder

  • Veteran

  • Active military

• Language

• History of Trauma

Then there’s the inexorable common denominator — resources. Unfortunately, the treatment one gets usually comes down to one common denominator: how to pay for it — cash and/or insurance.

Treatment ranges from a Malibu rehab for $240,000 to one that’s free in a church basement. The more resources you have, the more options you have. Conversely, the fewer the resources, the fewer the options. But do more resources alone guarantee recovery? Absolutely not. Whether at a recovery version of club med or an AA meeting in a damp basement with folding chairs, recovery is ultimately up to the individual no matter where it occurs.

Does one have to go to a rehab to get and stay sober? No. I know people in recovery who never stepped inside a rehab. The tools learned at AA 12-step meetings, plus the mutual support of the AA community continue to work for them. Is that for everyone? No. Remember, there is no such thing as one size fits all when it comes to the right treatment for all who need it, but most people need the evidence-based tools that only Inpatient and Outpatient treatment utilize to reach sobriety and maintain a recovery lifestyle.

It is a given that most families or individuals can’t afford $12,000 to $80,000 per month for treatment or has insurance to cover most of its cost. But know this:

There is a treatment program for everyone no matter one’s income or lack thereof. Whether you live on Park Avenue or Skid Row, there is a treatment program for you. You just gotta ask.

How do I know this? Because I’ve been there and now that’s what I do.

A key service we deliver for our clients is accessing every possible resource to pay for their treatment. From cash to private, employer, federal, state or military health insurance to Medicaid or Medicare to public assistance to facility-sponsored scholarships, we find the best way for you to underwrite your treatment. Plus, because of our well-earned reputation and numerous patients who need help, we are able to set the most favorable deals for our clients at the most ethical, evidence-based facilities of the highest integrity.

We share that integrity by never asking for anything from facilities except for treatment of the highest quality for our clients. Never, ever do we ask for nor receive any fee or commission from facilities. The only fees we earn are from our clients. Period.

We make and execute all the arrangements for our clients — you already have enough over which to worry without having to find the right rehab then making all the arrangements in a process in which you have absolutely no experience. There are only two items we cannot fulfill: the over-the phone assessment between the patient and the facility’s licensed professional and the discussion between the facility and the patient’s financial guarantor.

The facilities to which The Right Rehab refer are members of the NAATP (National Association of Addiction Treatment Professionals), plus they are certified by The Joint Commission and/or CARF. If you are considering a rehab that has none of the above, you’re taking a big risk.

Sober Escort

Either an hours-long drive or a flight are frequently necessary when the individual goes to rehab. Which brings me to the person accompanying the individual, the escort.

Generally, it’s not a good idea for that person to be the individual’s parent or a family member in order to avoid what I call the “scorecard.” It goes like this:

Parent: “You know, if you weren’t such a !@#$%-up, I wouldn’t be spending all our money on you!”

Individual: “You know, if you weren’t such a !@#$%*-up parent, I wouldn’t be a #?!@$%^ addict!”

You get it. Not the ideal way to start a new life.

The point is recovery should start the moment the individual is out the door. The last thing needed is for him to start a new life in a state of anger, when acting out is possible — and likely. Frequently, I arrange a “sober escort” to accompany the individual to treatment since it is crucial to avoid the deep-seated, family-oriented acrimony by having a neutral party or a professional escort personally hand-over the individual to the rehab.

Another reason for a neutral party is the final over-the-phone assessment between the rehab and the individual that frequently takes place while traveling to the facility. It is crucial that the individual be completely honest and truthful about his drug use — I mean everything. Confessing those details in the presence of a parent or family member often constrains his truthfulness. Not a good thing especially if the treatment is insurance-dependent since the insurance company’s authorization of the several levels of treatment necessary is dependent upon the individual’s actual drug use. That assessment in the presence of a neutral third party removes those constraints.

Intervention

People go to treatment for two reasons: 1) they know they need it or 2) it’s the best alternative to otherwise cataclysmic consequences. It’s #2 that calls for Intervention with a non-compliant individual.

On one hand, Intervention is about one thing — leverage. It’s not magic, it’s not alchemy, it’s about “go to treatment or the following will happen to you.”

If I were to rank the strongest point of leverage to get an individual to treatment, it’s “go to treatment or go to prison.” I can’t name one person who chose prison. That’s why when I have a client who has been arrested for a non-violent offense, I work with his criminal defense attorney to get that person to the right treatment facility as part of a one-year treatment plan immediately.

Only once have I experienced a judge or prosecutor say, “Bring the defendant back, now,” and that was due to special circumstances. Otherwise, I’ve experienced law enforcement favoring treatment over incarceration every time. Does going to treatment guarantee non-incarceration? No, but I’ve witnessed probation, drug court and other outcomes that kept the defendant out of prison when otherwise it was a sure thing.

The next strongest point of leverage is a failure-to-launch adult child with an SUD living at his parent’s home. As long as all his or her needs are being met, why change anything? As long as the enablement continues, nothing is going to change.

At this point, one of two Intervention techniques must be employed: 1) the immediate “take your shit and go therapy,” or 2) the more gradual, positive and compassionate Craft method. The advantage of #1 is the relative immediacy of the Intervention’s success in most cases — go to treatment now or your out of the house with no support from us. I say immediacy in most cases because despite the total cutting-off of enablement, there is never a guarantee when or if the intervention will succeed. I tell my clients it could take 6 minutes, 6 hours, 6 days, 6 weeks or 6 months for an intervention to work.

Timing is critical and the most challenging part of this method is keeping the family unified in breaking off their enablement and maintaining that behavior for however long it takes for the Intervention to succeed. All it takes is for one family member in a moment of weakness to enable the individual in any small manner and the unity of the effort is ruined. For this intervention to work, the key factor is the family’s unity.

#2 — CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) — cuts-off enablement gradually through positive reinforcement without the histrionics and drama of confrontation. By the significant family member modifying his or her behavior towards the family member with a substance use disorder, it ultimately encourages the one afflicted to decide for him or herself to go to treatment. This compassionate method is brilliant, but normally takes time to succeed, which may not be the preferred method if the individual’s high-risk substance use (injecting heroin for instance) at any moment could result in overdosing or death.

Other motivations for someone to choose treatment include loss or impending loss of a job; a spouse and/or family’s threat to leave; loss of home, friends, money — whatever it takes for one to “hit bottom.” I have had clients go to treatment and remain sober to this day for those reasons and unfortunately, the few who didn’t. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees, except that if you do nothing, the worst outcome will most likely occur.

1-Year Commitment

Our service does not end once the individual is admitted into a treatment facility. inCrisis Consultants’ service includes a one-year continuum of care (aftercare) post rehab that includes planning with the treatment facility a continuous aftercare program that includes: sober living, outpatient treatment programs, individual therapist if requested and several additional social and therapeutic services.