Alcohol Rehab in Texas: How to Find the Best Fit for Lasting Recovery

Major decisions are often difficult, and the bigger the choice, the bigger the challenge. When your decision may significantly impact your own or your loved one’s well being, the pressure can become overwhelming—especially if you feel lost at sea among a multitude of options.

This is certainly the experience many people have when searching for alcohol rehab in Texas. In such a large state with some of the most populous cities in the country, it’s only natural that you’d have many potential facilities to choose from. Narrowing your search down to only those within a certain radius or to those that offer certain therapeutic options is your first step, but even once that is accomplished, you may still find yourself struggling to move forward under all that pressure.

Take a deep breath and acknowledge that those feelings are okay. While this is an important decision, it doesn’t have to be a painful one. If you still feel like you have too many possibilities to choose from, or aren’t sure if the facility you’ve found is truly the right one, continue to take things one step at a time. This will help you find the reassurance you require in order to be confident in your final decision.

Narrowing Down Your Options for Alcohol Rehab in Texas

Decision paralysis is real and can feel impossible to overcome when you’re in the thick of it. 

If you feel utterly incapable of making any choices right now, take a step back and breathe. Go for a walk, try a guided meditation, or do some yoga or light exercise. Talk to a family member or friend, if you feel able to do so. If it’s late or you’ve been at this for a while already, maybe take a nap or sleep on it, and return to your task when you’ve had some rest.

Once your mind is a little clearer, list out the facilities you’re currently considering. If the list is very long, consider going back and checking each facility to make sure it can accommodate all of your basic necessities, including any special dietary or mobility needs. It may be that you can strike one or two more options off of your list. Or, if you’ve been looking at all of the alcohol rehab centers in Texas, try narrowing your search a bit—make a short list of the facilities that are closest to your home or ideal location.

Once you’re down to just a handful, ideally no more than five or so, see if you can prioritize them—maybe by location, cost, how much you liked their website, or whatever else feels right to you. If you feel absolutely lost as to how to order them, that’s okay too—just number them one through five (or however many you have). The main purpose here is to give yourself a sense of order and a structure you can follow for the next step.

Evaluating an Alcohol Rehab Facility

At this stage, you’ve either got a handful of options to weigh or one potentially ideal candidate that you’re just not 100 percent sure about yet. In either case, it’s time to pick up the phone and call the first few choices. This may be intimidating at first, but speaking directly to a facility’s admissions staff is key to gaining both the information and confidence you need to choose wisely.

Prepare your questions ahead of time. It’s all too easy, especially if you’re already flustered, to forget to ask an important question when you’re coming up with everything on the spot. Instead, write down a list of questions—or use this list of questions to ask rehab facilities—ahead of time to ensure your conversation stays on track and that you get all of the answers you need.

Give yourself permission to ask follow-up questions, either during your initial conversation or a future one, and don’t worry about asking too many things or even repeating questions if you feel you need to. It is an admission staff member’s job to help you find the answers you need to move forward with your recovery journey.

It may be that your initial call tells you everything you need to know about whether or not to choose a certain facility. If it turns out they cannot meet your accessibility requirements, or if they only offer outpatient programming and you seek residential treatment, it’s an easy elimination. But there are other things to look for during your call that can help you determine whether or not that specific alcohol rehab program is right for you or your loved one:

• Transparency—Staff should be helpful, knowledgeable, and willing to answer all of your questions. If they are vague or unforthcoming about important information like cost, insurance policies, or accommodations, consider moving on to your next choice.
• Consistency—The answers they provide should line up with the information on their website, and if it does not, ask why. It may be that their website is simply outdated, but you can check this yourself if so. Answers should also be consistent from one conversation to the next. If the information you’re getting doesn’t add up, this could be a sign of disorganization.
• Sensitivity—No matter who you are talking to—whether they are clinicians, nurses, or the admissions staff—all staff members should treat you with the respect and compassion you deserve.

If this seems like a lot to keep track of while you talk, don’t worry—you don’t have to. Simply take notes (if you’re able) of the answers you are given, then take a few minutes after your call to think back on how the conversation went. Try not to wait too long after your call to do this, so that your exchange will still be fresh in your mind. Remember, it’s okay to call back with more questions if necessary.

Choosing the Best Alcohol Rehab 

If you still feel a little unsure, the final element that can tip the scales in favor of one facility or another is intuition. All other things being equal, the alcohol rehab facility you are most comfortable with—the one with the most helpful staff and most welcoming environment—will put you most at ease. The more comfortable you, or your loved one, are during treatment, the easier it will be for you to open up to the process of healing from alcohol addiction.

There is no foolproof test for evaluating an alcohol rehab center’s suitability prior to spending actual time there. But, by following these steps—and your own best judgment—you can make the best possible choice given the information you currently have access to. But should the program or facility you choose turn out not to be the best fit, know that this is not the end of the road. After all, as you already know, you’ll still have other alcohol rehab options in Texas to choose from—and the benefit of experience to help guide your next step forward.