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What to Look for in Teen Recovery Services

The Substance Abuse and Mental Services Administration (SAMHSA) is a remarkable organization dedicated to helping Americans, particularly recovery professionals and people in crisis, to better navigate substance abuse issues with better tools and information. It also performs research on programs and tracks and reports outcomes. This checklist is beneficial to any parent who is trying to make a decision about what comes next for their teen in crisis. Whether a parent is alone in this journey or working with a therapist, law enforcement office, or school counselor, the list is a dependable guide to understand quickly what one must look for in terms of support services.

When you are looking for a recovery program for your teen, here is a list of services that you should feel are required.

Primary Focus of Provider

• Substance abuse treatment services
• Mental health services
• Mix of mental health and substance abuse services
• General health services

Services Provided

• Substance abuse treatment
• Detoxification
• Methadone maintenance
• Methadone detoxification
• Buprenorphine used in treatment
• Halfway house

Type of Care

• Hospital in-patient
• Out-patient
• Partial hospitalization/ day treatment
• Residential short-term treatment (30 days or less)
• Residential long-term treatment (more than 30 days)

Special Programs/ Groups Offered

• Adolescents
• Persons with co-occuring mental and substance abuse disorders
• Persons with HIV/ AIDS
• Gays and Lesbians
• Pregnant/ postpartum women
• Women
• Men
• Residential
• DUI/ DWI offenders
• Other, Criminal justice clients

Forms of Payment Accepted

• Self payment
• Medicaid
• Medicare
• State financed insurance (other than medicaid)
• Private health insurance
• Military insurance
• Access to recovery voucher

Payment Assistance Available

• Sliding fee scale (Fee is based on income and other factors)
• Payment assistance (Check with a facility for details)

Special Language Services

• ASL or other assistance needed for hearing impaired
• Spanish
• Native American or Alaskan native languages
• Other Languages