Staff at a Treatment Facility

When you enroll in an addiction treatment program, you’ll tap into a team of professionals who want you to get better. Rather than working through the issues alone, you’ll have a whole group of people who are rooting for you, working with you, and showing you the steps you can take to leave drugs behind for good.

While the exact composition of your treatment team might vary from facility to facility, these are a few of the professionals that typically work in the treatment industry. Learning more about who they are and what they do could convince you to enroll in your own treatment program, so you can make strides toward your own intense recovery.

President or Chief Executive

You might not ever meet this person, as it’s unlikely that your day-to-day treatment will be handled by someone who is in charge of the entire facility. However, this person has a vital role to play in your recovery.

In any industry, a chief officer is vital. As an article in the Harvard Business Review puts it, chief officers set the tone for the entire organization, developing a vision for what the company should do, and providing the leadership that ensures that everyone in the company knows what to do in order to meet those goals.

In a rehab facility, a president might make decisions involving the size of the staff, the amenities the program might offer, the fees the facility might charge, and the types of therapy the facility should stress in marketing materials. This work might trickle down to your care, as the leadership this person provides helps your treatment team know what to emphasize when they’re working with you.

Financial Officers

People who hold this job title are concerned with issues involving money. They might provide insight to the president on the amount of money the organization has, and they might advise the president if the organization should spend money on upgrades or innovative equipment. But this person might also work directly with you.

For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests that about 7.1 million people had brand-new access to health insurance coverage for addiction in the past few years, due to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Someone who works as a financial officer might help you to understand how your benefits work, and that could be a great help to you if you’ve never had insurance before and aren’t certain what you should do in order to take advantage of your coverage.

A financial officer might also help to pull together scholarship programs or payment programs for you if you’re required to pay some of the fees for your care and you’re unsure how to do that.

Nurses

While addictions can cause emotional changes, they can also alter your body. And sometimes the changes drugs can bring cause illnesses that require medical treatment.

For example, the National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests that cocaine can cause a plethora of medical disorders, including bowel gangrene and severe irritation of the nasal passages. While very serious medical problems are best dealt with in a hospital, some addiction treatment facilities provide on-site nurses who can help with ongoing care.

A nurse in an addiction treatment facility might administer medications, do routine health checks, assist with wound cleaning, and assess overall healing. That nurse might report the results of regular testing to a doctor, who pulls together treatment programs and assists with overall health.

Technicians

Addiction treatment facilities that offer around-the-clock care might employ a cadre of technicians who assist with the day-to-day operations of the facility. They might hand out food at mealtimes, clean the hallways, enforce the rules, and otherwise keep the facility running.

They’re far from background players, however. Sometimes these technicians have their own stories about addiction recovery to share with you, and you might find that their support and understanding are vital to your own recovery. They might even lead your support group meetings, giving you extra knowledge about what addiction is and what you’ll need to do to combat it.

Meet the Staff

If you’re intrigued about who might be available to help you recover from an addiction problem, we’d like to help. Just call the number at the top of the page, and our admissions coordinators can answer any questions you have about addiction care and recovery. We’re available to help any time, so please call.

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