Free drug and alcohol treatment is available, and not just through your insurance company. Many drug and alcohol treatment facilities reserve a small number of beds for people who can not afford to pay for drug and alcohol treatment. In Orange County, California some facilities are even required to reserve a number of beds for scholarship recipients to meet the requirements of their licensing, depending on what type of licensing they have. It never hurts to ask the private pay drug and alcohol treatment facility you are looking at if they have scholarships available, but don’t do this if you are just looking for a good deal on treatment. If a person takes a scholarship bed at a treatment facility when they could actually afford to pay for full treatment, or even if they have the ability to partially pay for treatment services, then the person will be taking away a bed from someone who really can’t afford to pay for treatment. At Northbound we keep a number of our beds open for people who can not afford to pay for drug treatment. We have provided full scholarships to many clients over the years. This means that their entire treatment is paid for, and in some cases we even give them spending money as well. Again, this is for people who really can’t afford to pay for treatment. When someone is scholarshiped through a private pay drug and alcohol treatment facility it is costing the treatment facility thousands upon thousands of dollars. Unless the treatment center is set up as a non-profit organization, the money for a scholarship bed comes out of the treatment facility’s pocket, so to speak.
FYI- One way to tell if an addiction treatment facility is ethical and has their heart in the right place is to ask them if they do ofer scholarship beds to people. Don’t ask as if you are looking for one if you don’t need one, but just inquire to see if they do offer scholarship beds. If they do then you know that the treatment facility is not all about money and is truly in the business of helping people recover from drug and alcohol addiction. Northbound Staff
