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What are rehabilitation centres?

Rehabilitation centres are institutions that provide care and support to enable a return to a healthy life after a period of illness. In this context we are concerned with alcohol rehabilitation centres which provide care and support for people suffering from alcoholism. Rehabilitation centres will usually provide both the medical and psychological care needed to treat alcoholism. As such, in the UK, rehabilitation centres will usually provide both alcohol detox and on-going psychological rehabilitation, both of which are commonly necessary to achieve recovery from alcoholism.

As far as the rehab element of treatment is concerned, there are various types of rehabilitation centre - twelve step rehabilitation centres, therapeutic community rehabilitation centres, religious based rehabilitation centres, and medical model rehabilitation centres. The commonest form of rehabilitation centres in the UK is twelve step.

All rehabilitation centres tend to share a number of key features. Residents must be drug and alcohol free (apart from tobacco); rehabilitation centres provide a structured programme of psychological, educational and social therapy, which aims at preparing the alcoholic or addict to manage better an alcohol free life back in society; rehabilitation centre programme lengths vary between 1 and 9 months.

Many rehabilitation centres will provide detox in-house when this is necessary, in advance of commencement of the rehabilitation programme.

Rehabilitation centres versus community (home) treatment

Admission to a rehabilitation centre for a period of residential treatment, appears to present a higher probability of successful outcome than does community based treatment.

A 1996 follow-up study, conducted as part of the National Treatment Outcome Research Study (NTORS) indicated the following (Gossop M et al, 1999): When compared to community services, residential rehabilitation centres are likely to achieve comparable outcomes, but treat clients with more severe patterns of addiction, thus indicating greater effectiveness of residential rehabilitation centres as compared to community rehabilitation.

Duration of rehabilitation centre stay

Compared to early leavers from rehabilitation centres those retained at least 28 days in short rehabilitation centre programmes, and 90 days in longer rehabilitation centre programmes are probably four times less likely to relapse than others, as indicated by some research studies.

The issue of retention in rehabilitation centres is central to effectiveness, and can be seen as a function of how the rehabilitation centre relates to its clients, rather than the reverse. Rehabilitation centres which actively engage with clients, provide supportive environments and well structured programmes, which are clear about their policies and their therapies, and which tailor their activities to individual needs produce better outcomes.

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