"Remaining in treatment for an adequate period of time is critical for treatment effectiveness."

How do we define an adequate period of time for treatment when every case of addiction is unique?

In their Principles of Drug Abuse Treatment, NIDA indicates that the appropriate duration for an individual depends on his or her problems and needs. Research indicates that for most patients, the threshold of significant improvement is reached at about 3 months in treatment.

Many of our clients are people who either cannot or will not devote a minimum of 3 months of their lives to a residential treatment facility. And remember this is the minimum requirement to reach a threshold of significant improvement.

In many cases, a client has family or business needs which make devoting this much time away from home seem an impossibility. In addition, many treatment centers seem more than happy to provide their services for 28 to 30 days - flying in the face of the truth all treatment professionals know: a month in a facility, often far away from home, simply does not balance the damage created by years and years of substance abuse.

The NIDA goes on to say that because people often leave treatment prematurely, programs should include strategies to engage and keep patients in treatment. At Sober Champion, we feel that any responsible treatment facility who releases a patient prior to 90 days of treatment ought to include a Sober Companion as a key component of post-residential sucess.

When a patient returns home after treatment, how is that patient supposed to incorporate everying they learned in treatment into their everyday lives? How is the patient supposed to know where to find the best 12-Step meetings and the best local caring professionals? How effective can a newly abstinent person be at navigating the storms of family, work and health needs on his or her own?

Additional treatment can produce prodigious and long-lasting progress toward recovery.

The Sober Companion is the only form of substance abuse treatment which allows a patient to remain successful at home in all areas of his or her life. There is no way to create a new, healthy family dynamic while the patient remains in a facility, and no possible way of re-patterning the patient's brain to experience success in all the areas where the patient has previously experienced only failure.

Because we individualize our treatment plan method more thoroughly than any treatment facility can do, our patients have greater success after treatment than anyone. If you want a babysitter, Sober Champion can provide that kind of service. But if you want a plan for long-term success after treatment, an in-home provider with the experience and knowledge to help you through a healthy transition is the best way to go.