When you’re experiencing symptoms of a mental illness or addiction, it’s crucial to find a rehab that can help you successfully manage your condition. Unfortunately, some centers seem better equipped to give you a headache than alleviate your symptoms. Visiting the wrong rehab can prevent you from getting timely treatment–high-quality treatment–that can improve your feelings and well-being. Don’t wait to turn around and walk out if you’re in the wrong rehab. Here are some signs that the rehab you chose isn’t worthy of your choice.
The Reviews Seem Well-Written–By the Same Person!
When reading reviews about a mental health facility, do you get the impression that the same writer wrote them all? It’s not uncommon these days for businesses of all stripes to hire professional writers to author reviews–made-up reviews that put the company in a positive light. If the reviews seem concocted with a cookie-cutter approach, that may be a red flag and a sign that it’s time to look elsewhere for treatment.
The Admissions Agent Is Excited When You Tell Them About Your Insurance
If you have great health insurance that covers everything and the admission person at the rehab gets really excited–like they won the lottery–you should worry. The next step in this process is, very possibly, their recommendation that you sign up for all of the treatments. A quality rehab center doesn’t equate a certain medical insurance card with a winning jackpot.
Congratulations! You Found a Network (Not a Treatment Center)
There are all sorts of networks these days that will help you find the right mental health treatment center–in their network! If you call into a facility only to discover that you’ve actually entered into a confusing network of call centers that will sell your information to a different facility, you’re not where you need to be. You need a quality rehab–not a run-around. Who knows where the network will send you. Instead, do your own research and find your own quality mental health rehab.
The Clinicians Moonlight There
Some mental health rehabs are staffed by assistants–and primarily by assistants. Of course, to attract clients, the website might list clinicians with the right licenses and certifications, but if these individuals only stop by after their hours spent at a different medical location to sign paperwork, you might be getting the B treatment. You deserve A+ treatment. Choose a facility where the licensed clinicians work there full-time.
Free Trips or Other Free Stuff
Walking into a mental health facility should lead you to effective management of your condition–not a free trip to a resort or far-flung spa. Respected healthcare facilities don’t offer free trips or gimmicks to get you in the door. If you’re seeing signs of free trips and contests, turn around and walk out. High-quality rehabs don’t bother with the free gimmicks. They don’t need to.
Fast Lab Tests Results—Faster Than You Can Produce Them
Some rehabs are a bit hyper-focused on running constant drug tests–faster than you can produce them. That can be a warning sign. Tests are often necessary, but sending you for batteries of tests may only serve to inflate the cost of your treatment. Be skeptical about test-happy facilities.
Treatment Menu
Mental illnesses are highly individual. If you walk into a facility and they feature a treatment menu that looks a bit like a Starbuck’s menu, you may not get the customized treatment that is critical to good results. Mental health treatment isn’t a buffet. Your medical provider will recommend specific treatments that are ideal for your needs and circumstances. Cookie-cutter treatments are unlikely to be effective. You need a focused approach to your condition.
There’s a Referral Program
You need a mental health rehab–not a hair salon or real estate office. Many businesses depend on referral programs. However, a quality mental health facility will not rely on formal referral programs and gimmicks to attract clients. Be skeptical of programs that offer you a free appointment with five referrals–as if you can share their business information with all of your friends. Remember, you’re there for help and not to help them find more patients. If they can’t attract patients by providing effective mental healthcare, they might not be providing effective mental healthcare.
It’s a Group Thing
Group therapy can be highly effective, but it’s most effective when it complements individual therapy. If the rehab you enter focuses on group treatment rather than one-on-one counseling sessions, you should find a different rehab. If you’re suffering from a mental health disorder, you need and deserve individualized treatment. A medical provider cannot provide you with a strong focus if they’re surrounded by a group of other patients. Don’t settle for this paradigm. Get individualized treatment.
Limited Interest in Your History
Qualified mental healthcare clinicians will be interested in your medical history. This helps them provide an accurate diagnosis. If you enter a rehab only to find that the people involved with your care aren’t particularly concerned with your medical history and previous symptoms, you should take that as a warning sign. Without this information, how can they provide you with the ideal treatment for your needs? It’s possible they just want to offer you any old treatment. That is not good mental healthcare.
Stock Photos Everywhere You Look
If you visit a rehab and peruse its brochures and pamphlets only to be met with image after image of “depressed sad man” stock photos, you might be at the wrong rehab. Why? High-quality mental health facilities invest in sophisticated marketing materials and while they won’t show you photos of their actual patients, they are not ashamed to show their campus and grounds. Using a stock photos you’ve seen on every other rehab’s site isn’t the most sophisticated means of communicating. If the rehab lacks sophistication at this level, does it really have the professional qualifications and experience needed to help you? It’s probably a sign that you need to explore some other mental health rehabs.
Visit FHE Health for Quality Mental Healthcare
Don’t waste your time–and money–at an unqualified mental health rehab. Mental health conditions require professional treatment. There are many fly-by-night treatment centers that rely on unsavory practices to stay in business and earn income. Don’t let nefarious rehabs waste your time and money. Do your research and choose a rehab that has an excellent reputation.
