Ethical Treatment Centers have been pushed aside by the dearth of unethical and shady operations in California and Florida. So, how to find the right place for your or a loved one?

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Ethical Drug Rehab: What to Look for (and
What to Avoid) in an Addiction Treatment
Center
Serenity Vista November 17, 2018Blog
Ethical Drug Rehab
If you or your loved one are struggling with addiction, you’re no stranger to how
completely unmanageable it can make your life feel. Sooner or later, most of us who
struggle with addiction reach a breaking point – a point at which we realize that the
rationalizations, attempts at moderation and failed promises aren’t working, and it’s
time to get professional help.
But once you make the all-important decision to seek addiction treatment, another
weighty one presents itself: Which center to choose? With most of the US rehab
industry being private and under regulated, and virtually no objective information
easily available online (most third-party referral sites are in fact managed and paid for
by rehabs themselves), learning what to look for in a center is crucial to your
treatment success. Here’s what you should look for – and watch out for – when
choosing a rehab.

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Relapse for Profit: Some Rehabs’ Goal is Not
Your Treatment Success
Unfortunately, some rehabs are motivated not by their passion for the healing power
of recovery, but strictly by financial gain. For some, the pull of shockingly large
profits from filing fraudulent insurance claims and cycling clients in and out of
treatment is all too strong. That’s why we see so much underqualified leadership at
rehabs’ helms, and why so many make false promises that aren’t backed by evidence
of positive outcomes.
These concerns are especially pressing in California and Florida. Southern California,
where Orange County alone is home to 1,117 rehabs, is now unaffectionately referred
to as the “Rehab Riviera.” An exposé on unethical rehab centers by the Orange County
Register revealed outrageous information about their practices: lax requirements for
starting a rehab; a shortage of inspectors in the state; a mountain of complaints and a
dearth of reliable public information. Client deaths in rehabs were averaging a tragic
two per week.
The news coming out of Florida hasn’t been any better. Known as the “Rehab Capital
of America,” Palm Beach County is home to countless disreputable rehabswho are regularly
exposed for practices like offering subpar counseling, conducting exorbitant and
unnecessary testing and condoning or even encouraging drug use onsite.
Sober homes, which are often unlicensed and informally run, tend to be the least
regulated rehab venues. One former addict, Mike Verlie, says of his experience in the
sober living circuit:
(Sober homes) are mainly privately owned and not regulated at all.
Some may claim to follow nonprofit guidelines, but in reality, it’s mostly
just a single guy or a couple of people who own houses and call them
sober houses.

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What is “Patient Brokering?”
Perhaps most disturbing of all is a practice called “patient brokering.” Because of the
huge profits that each potential patient represents, some rehabs pay out huge
percentages of their treatment fees to people who refer them into treatment – and
those unscrupulous referrers use troubling tactics to do so. These rehabs may recruit
former addicts to pose as recovery peers and convince someone to come to a new
rehab, essentially using the referred client as a pawn for financial brokerage or large-
scale insurance scam.
Meanwhile, people genuinely struggling with addiction are continually relapsing and
re-enrolling in treatment, often with centers in totally different parts of the country.
Not only does this increase the cost of addiction treatment for everyone, it also
threatens clients’ sensitive recovery process and puts them at risk for overdose. The
practice is so common in the Sunshine State that it’s been dubbed “the Florida
Shuffle.”
It’s a story Ohioan Rich Strickling knows all too well. His son Alex, a bright young
22-year-old struggling with heroin addiction, was persuaded by one such patient broker to
enter the program at UMNPA Treatment in Anaheim. In the final steps of his admittance
process, Alex was told he’d have to fail a urine test in order to be accepted. He died of
a heroin overdose in his hotel room just a few days later.
Alex’s story isn’t the first. Last year, NPR exposed a similar set of South Florida rehabs
using “body brokers” to recruit clients with good health insurance coverage. The
problem is so pervasive that Palm Beach County established a Sober Home Task Force,
which arrested six sober home operators in 2017 alone.

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How to Find an Ethical Drug Rehab
Addiction Treatment Center
So how can you identify a reputable rehab? According to independent, academically-based
news source The Conversation, here are some factors that are recognized as
improving treatment outcomes and making recovery longer-lasting:
 Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and other evidence-based therapies
 Individualized counseling
 Personalized treatment planning
 Flexibility – Overly disciplinarian programs are shown to have an adverse effect
 Program length – While most residential programs start at a minimum of 28 days,
if possible, three months is considered a more effective treatment standard
 Active participation and completion of the program
Whether a rehab is based abroad or in your home country doesn’t have any bearing on
the quality of its programming. The same set of concerns apply when evaluating your
treatment options.
The focus here is on finding an ethical drug rehab that is going to treat you as an
individual and help you recover with the utmost of professionalism, dignity and
respect.

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Serenity Vista: Our Purpose is to Help You Heal
At Serenity Vista, we understand how isolating it can feel to be trapped inside the
confines of your addiction. That’s why we accept you as one of our family as soon as
you arrive. In our small, intimate setting (we only allow up to six guests at a time),
we’ll eat our meals together, get to know each other, and we’ll support you every step
of the way.
Our tropical oasis in Panama is healing in and of itself. It’s abundant nature reminds
you of the beauty of life and relative smallness of your problems. You’ll receive a
highly individualized, comprehensive program led by caring professionals including
two, 2-hour therapy sessions daily. You will develop new life-living skills. With the
intensive, individual guidance of caring professionals, you will experience personal
transformation as you address your addiction at its deepest level. Our guests leave
with a newfound sense of optimism and connection with life that enables them to be
their absolute best selves. Sober, healthy, happy, and free.
To learn more about our holistic and highly individualized program, contact us online,
email us at info@serenityvista.com.
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