Definition of a Residential Treatment Center

A residential treatment center provides individualized care to people who stay in them. It is often a last resort option when all other attempts at solving your problems have failed. Residents of treatment centers can stay for as little as one month to as long as four years or more. There are many factors to take into consideration when deciding whether to enroll yourself or a loved one in a residential treatment center.

Types

• Residential treatment centers are generally designed to meet the specific needs of a well-defined group of people. For example, there are residential treatment centers that assist people who suffer from drug and alcohol addictions and eating disorders. Residential treatment centers also exist to help children who have severe problems.

Function

• For drug and alcohol addicts and eating disorder sufferers, residential treatment centers are often called "inpatient treatment." They provide recovering addicts and eating disorder sufferers the necessary support and structure to enable long-term recovery. Residential treatment centers for children house, treat and educate youths who have problems severe enough to require a strictly supervised environment. These centers take a multifaceted approach to address many problems that reach beyond the classroom and affect a child's daily life with peers, family and the rest of the world.

Features

• Residential treatment centers create an individualized and consistent plan to address your problems. They offer doctorate-level clinical staff and psychiatric intervention. Treatment centers provide medical support and healthy diet and exercise regimens suited to your specific needs. Residential treatment centers for children provide support in three different areas: the classroom, living environment and clinical treatment.

Considerations

• When you look into residential treatment centers, it is important to consider quality of care during treatment and followup. Make sure staff members are appropriately licensed and have good credentials. For addiction treatment centers in particular, national accreditation agencies evaluate the programs, so check whether the treatment center you're interested in has been rated. Also check what types of aftercare programs are available.

Warning

• If someone you care about is in a residential treatment center, it is important to keep in mind that you cannot force him to heal. Painful feelings often arise for residents in treatment centers. Make sure your loved one receives ongoing support from multiple sources during and after the treatment center stay. Child residential treatment centers should be considered a last resort to help children with severe problems. Send your child to a center only if you have already tried or ruled out less intense intervention methods.