This week’s question and answer: “How does our program cost compare to others?”

It’s always tricky to compare costs – especially in an area where the price range is so extreme. Intensive outpatient programs we’re familiar with range from $3750 to $17,500 and of course residential offerings run the gamut from $20,000 to $200,000 or more.

So how do we compare our $8,750 to all the others?

We suggest that you compare what actually matters in determining whether or not a particular offering is apt to suit your needs, and whether or not a particular program is providing things you can’t get elsewhere.

For example? The vast majority of programs, residential or outpatient, offer nothing other than AA meetings barely disguised as “group counseling”. Obviously AA meetings are available everywhere for free so why would you pay to go to AA?

Then there is the staffing issue. Most program counselors are simply CD counselors whose only training and qualifications come from having passed a test on AA. Most describe themselves as being “in recovery” and, according to a recent peer survey, two thirds of them are “relapsing” even though they work in a treatment program. And they’re supposed to help you stay sober?

Next comes the question of how much of your time and money is actually going to be reflected in individual attention to your specific situation. Again, the answer is not much. Residential programs generally schedule one individual session per week (with that counselor who’s back to drinking) and most outpatient programs offer one or two sessions per month.

In summary, in exchange for your time and money, you might get:

  • 4 – 12 sessions with someone who’s still having problems themselves;
  • you’ll be paying to attend AA meetings you could have gotten for free anywhere;
  • you will have acquired a public label as an “Alcoholic” which, for 85% of you, you aren’t!

And for this you spent up to $200,000???

In contrast, for your $8,750 plus airfare and hotel, we offer:

  • 15 – 20 hours of individual time with each of us
  • 12 or more hours of individual follow-up time with one of us;
  • a completely customized and effective plan and program (not their 3%-5% “success” rate);
  • CONFIDENTIALITY!
  • Fully recovered – not “in recovery”;
  • Research based solutions, not demeaning cults and myths and labels;
  • Real professionals who have also succeeded in solving personal and family problems with alcohol and drugs.

Other comparison points you’d like to discuss? Good. We welcome the opportunity to talk about what’s in your own best interest.  And that’s why it’s time for you to make that call.

Permission Giving – Nowhere Else is the Difference Between “Us” and “Them” Sharper.

For years we have stressed that one of the big differences between what we do and what “they” do is that we encourage you to develop and live your own life!

There isn’t a more radical suggestion we could make.

While the AA/12 Steppers are exhorting you to join their cult, we’re suggesting exactly the opposite.

Live your life! You will succeed by becoming more yourself, not less.

You will be far less prone to revert to alcohol abuse if you grow to embrace your uniqueness – not by reducing yourself to a being a powerless conformist.

We also often say that what we help clients do is to see more options than they see for themselves – not to restrict their choices even further.

Please! Expand your circle of friends, acquaintances, and activities. Don’t reduce it even further than alcohol abuse already has!

Surround yourself with people who are leading the sorts of lives you wish to emulate – stay away for the nay-saying “Bucket of Crabs ” losers whose only real interest is in keeping you as miserable as they are.

Isn’t it time to go back to being an active participant in your own life? Not an anxiety ridden spectator?

Odds and Ends

Next Week’s Question & Answer: “Do you take insurance?”

*********

To compare what you get in working with us to what you get in a traditional program, please click HERE to read this client’s detailed review of our work with her.

*********

Popular Links:

“How Can You Cure My Years of Alcohol Abuse In Just 5 Days!”

Smart Women and Alcohol Abuse

Men’s Issues

Five Day Full Recovery Program;

Mary Ellen’s Ten Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Sent My Brother Off To Rehab;