Alcohol & Drug Rehabs in Cambridge

There were 962 hospital admissions related to alcohol in Cambridge in 2018.

In 2021, in December alone there were 36 counts of drug related crimes in the crime report.

While it might be a town associated with academia, Cambridge, like any other town is still highly affected by the consequences of addictive substances.

A Bit About Addiction

When you accept that you have an issue with drugs or alcohol, it can feel overwhelming.

To accept the addiction is a huge step, to decide to enter recovery is massive.

Entering rehab offers the best way to heal because addiction is a disease that requires psychological and neurological support, as well as the physical.

Addiction is an illness that changes how your brain works.

This isn’t something you can just fix or change without learning from specialists and other experienced peers how to do so.

Addiction And Mental Health: Dual Diagnosis

A dual diagnosis might be made if you’re assessed during admissions and both a mental health condition and addiction are found to co-exist.

This may feel very daunting.

It’s actually very common for people with addictions to have developed them, because they turned to substances to try and manage uncomfortable symptoms linked to mental health.

Some people might have started using substances prior to developing a mental health condition.

Alcohol and drugs, of course, often lead to anxiety, depression, psychosis and much else.

When a dual diagnosis is identified, residents are supported by therapists to heal in both areas.

You’ll receive treatments for both.

Rehab And Abstinence

A lot of rehabilitation services will offer harm reduction advice and a relaxed approach to healing.

A private clinic is different.

While staff are friendly and welcoming, the goal isn’t about easing your experience of addiction.

The goal is to become sober, the treatments you receive will equip you to remain abstinent.

There’s no denying that it’s a challenge, but a life of healing is worth it.

What You Gain By Going To Rehab In Cambridge

There are many benefits when you access a drug & alcohol rehab in Cambridge.

It’s worth investigating individual rehab clinics in order to make direct comparisons.

What you’ll get from all private clinics is:

• Care from a specialist staffing team who have years of experience treating addiction.
• Therapies designed to treat the psychological underpinnings of addiction.
• A medically overseen detox for safe withdrawal.
• A comfortable and calm environment which is completely substance free.
• Daily relaxing activities to ease anxiety and enhance what you’re learning through holistic activities.
• Meeting other like-minded individuals who understand your experience and are ready to share and support.

Private Or NHS-Funded Clinics?

The main difference between private and council-funded rehab clinics is that the later offers outpatient services and the prior offers inpatient.

Outpatient is where you live at home but go to clinic for particular, treatments such as a 12 Step Session or a drop-in clinic.

Inpatient is where you stay as a resident on-site and participate in an immersive treatment experience.

Private rehabs offer top-of-the range therapies designed especially to address addiction.

Eligibility To Enter Rehab

To enter a drug & alcohol rehab in Cambridge, your addiction will likely be moderate to severe.

Symptoms include:

• Drinking more than 30 units of alcohol each day.
• Trying to stop using alcohol or drugs and not being able to.
• Suffering from mental health conditions alongside your addiction.
• Becoming violent when inebriated.
• Developing Delirium Tremens due to alcohol use.
• Developing Wernicke’s Encephalopathy because of the amount you drink.
• Losing control of how you use and mixing substances to feel an effect.

If you experience any of the above, rehab would be an excellent place to treat the condition.

Alternative Support Options

The alternatives to going to rehab are:

• Self-referring to a local drug and alcohol service. There you’ll get to speak to staff about your addiction and life and can make goals around your future.
• Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous groups where you meet other people who have addictions. Here you develop a spiritual sense of healing and recovery by finding an inner power and connecting to others.
• A home detox where a doctor will oversee a prescription that will taper you off alcohol or heroin across several days.
• Al-Anon Family Groups is an organisation set up to support your family members who might need some guidance in managing their own reactions to the reality of your addiction.

Addiction Assessments At Rehab

There are a couple of assessments you need to complete as part of the admissions process when you enter rehab.

The first is the ASAM Criteria which looks at how your addiction has developed and puts it into context against the rest of your life.

Questions revolve around:

• What you physical health is like.
• What your mental health is like.
• How you use substances.
• What withdrawal is like.
• How you feel about relapse and recovery.
• What your home life is like.

The second assessment is the DSM-5.

This is concerned with the severity of your addiction.

You’ll answer questions in the following areas:

• How much you drink and take drugs.
• What it feels like when you don’t use substances.
• Whether you’re able to regain control of how you use drugs and alcohol on your own.
• If you take part in any risky behaviours due to substance misuse.

Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test

If you drink alcohol and enter rehab, then you’ll be assessed through AUDIT.

Professionals use it throughout the world and it’s shown to be extremely reliable in terms of correctly identifying alcohol use disorders.

There are a series of questions – the higher you score, the more likely it is that you have a dependency as well as a psychological addiction.

The assessment will explore the following topics:

• Cravings and how you manage them.
• Whether you have tolerance and how much you drink.
• What alcohol withdrawal is like for you.
• What happens when you drink.
• How alcohol is affecting your life and those around you.

Interventions To Use At Home

Living with a loved one who has an addiction brings lots of challenges and heart ache.

There can come a point where you literally don’t know what to do.

Feelings of helplessness are common, and it’s important to seek help if it starts to affect your mental health and safety of people.

There are interventions you can stage to help the situation.

A traditional approach is where you ask a professional to join you in approaching your loved one and raising the worries you have.

After this, a discussion ensues where you talk about recovery options going forward.

Another intervention many families use is the CRAFT approach.

This is where you use positive reinforcement techniques to encourage healthy behaviours in your loved one.

It supports them to move through the cycle of change towards full and permanent recovery.

The Cost Of Rehab

The cost of a drug and alcohol rehab in Cambridge will fluctuate according to how long you stay and what type of room you stay in.

A ten day detox in a dormitory style bedroom costs between £2,000-£4,000.

In a private room, it would be between £3,000-£6,000.

A twenty-eight day stay including all the therapies in a shared room costs around £6,000, but a room to yourself comes in the region of £8,000-£12,000.

Some people might opt for a home detox, under the care of a doctor.

This is around £1,500.

Choosing The Most Suitable Rehab In Cambridge

Our best tips for choosing the most appropriate drug & alcohol rehab in Cambridge to suit your needs and preferences are:

• Find out what rehab clinics are nearby and what clinics that are in locations you might like to visit. Look through their websites, give them a call and see what you like the sound of.
• Check out how experienced staff are in the rehab clinics you’re interested in.
• Find testimonies and reviews of people who have stayed at the rehab before, see how good they are.
• Enquire about the cost of the rehabs you like the sound of and see what fits into your budget.
• Make sure the rehab you choose has a solid history of supporting people to recover from the substance you’re addicted to.

All About Alcohol Detox

Alcohol withdrawal is extremely serious.

If you’re dependent on alcohol, you’ll need the assistance of a medical team to ensure you wean off the drink safely.

Withdrawal symptoms include:

• Shaking
• Sweating
• Confusion
• Anxiety
• Low mood
• Panic
• Sickness and diarrhoea
• Seizures

These symptoms need to be monitored by a doctor who is able to prescribe Librium.

This prescription will last seven-ten days and by the end of it you’ll be comfortably alcohol-free in terms of the physical.

What’s important to remember, though, is that the psychological causes of your addiction need to be addressed.

This takes a bit longer and so therapies are recommended.

How Long Will You Stay At Rehab?

A stay at rehab differs in length depending on what you go in for.

Some people are treated solely with a detox, this lasts around ten days.

However, it is important to remember that a detox only tackles the physical withdrawal of a dependent addiction.

To address the psychological aspect, a longer stay is necessary.

The majority of patients will stay at a rehab clinic for twenty-eight days.

This gives residents the opportunity to learn new techniques and develop positive habits which are instrumental in keeping them sober into the future.

Rehab For Cocaine In Cambridge

Every substance has a reputation and people get judged in relation to that reputation.

Interestingly, cocaine is very much glamorised in film and TV shows.

Cocaine and crack aren’t dissimilar, but crack is judged so differently when actually addiction is addiction.

Many cocaine users can go on to using crack.

Both cause seriously damaging repercussions for a person’s health.

Regular and prolonged use can lead to:

• Skin sores.
• Erosion of nose cartilage.
• Increased recovery time from illnesses.
• Increased risk of diseases, including those of the lung and heart.
• Anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

It takes a lot of work to change how the mind works, to change perspective.

Going to a drug & alcohol rehab in Cambridge gives you the skills to be able to do this.

The staff help you to retrain the brain so that you can regain control of your behaviour.

Rehab For Heroin In Cambridge

Heroin addiction has an unfair stigma attached to it, especially when you consider that all addiction is the same at a base biological level.

Like other substances, it changes how your brain functions and has an impact on hormones and bodily systems that keeps your behaviour balanced.

Interestingly, heroin isn’t immediately addictive.

The issue for people who become addicted is that this is an opiate drug that relieves pain.

It’s therefore very common that people addicted to heroin also have deep physical or emotional pain.

At rehab, you’ll be supported through a detox.

This lasts around ten days.

Subutex is prescribed to manage the withdrawal symptoms, making it much easier to get through.

After this, you focus on psychological and emotional therapies so you learn to identify and healthily respond to triggers.

Rehab For Cannabis In Cambridge

Cannabis isn’t often seen as a “serious drug”.

Partly because it’s in a different class to heroin and cocaine, but also because it’s increasingly used in the medical field.

However, in the UK, there are certain strains of cannabis – usually those that people smoke – which are illegal.

THC is the psychoactive chemical that is illegal and is what people become addicted to.

Many users might initially smoke it for fun or to relax, but actually it can lead to anxiety, paranoia, depression and psychosis.

At rehab, you’ll learn more about the effects of cannabis on mental and physical health.

There will also be exercises to help you retrain your thought patterns around it so that you can change your associations with it.

The Psychological Treatments At A Private Rehab

Going to a private clinic offers you the best treatments for addiction in the UK.

Some of these are therapies that have proven through scientific research to be effective at treating substance misuse.

While others are alternative, people at rehab regularly emphasise the importance of them in enhancing and improving the first step of healing.

• Motivational Interviewing is where a therapist will support you to explore any doubts you may have about recovery. This is also the place where you can freely say all the benefits you feel you gain from alcohol or drugs.
• Brief Interventions are usually conversation based. A member of staff will reveal facts about substance misuse and its effects on health, or new perspectives that can really drive home a new idea for you to ponder.

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is one of the main pillars of recovery treatment. This is where you’ll start learning the skills required to change the neural pathways in the brain that lead you to take drugs and alcohol.
• Counselling will happen regularly so that you have the chance to share thoughts, feelings and emotions that are coming to the fore. There might be tips and tricks that the staff introduce you to, to help you get through this or to help you develop self-compassion.
• Dialectical Behavioural Therapy is offered to people who need support in learning how to manage their emotional responses. Often people with addictions have lost control of this. This therapy introduces the skills needed to separate yourself from automatic and unhelpful reactions that often lead to later regret.

• Art Therapy and Music Therapy are usually in group format. The session is usually relaxed and a space where people can explore a particular theme related to recovery. After people share what they have explored to the group.
• SMART group sessions give you the practical ideas to manage recovery every day. It breaks down the journey making it much more manageable.
• 12 Step sessions help you to find what a “higher power” means to you. Many people find that coming to a spiritual space in recovery offers a go-to at difficult times. The social side of recovery is also emphasised here.
• Holistic Therapies are where you’ll learn how to connect to your body in a wholesome and healthy way. Activities include mindfulness, yoga, equine therapy, ear acupuncture, tai chi and reiki.

Relapse Prevention Plan Post-Rehab

When you leave rehab, you’ll have a relapse prevention plan as part of your aftercare programme.

It will outline the HALT technique which you’ll have learned during your time as a resident.

HALT stands for:

• Hunger
• Anger
• Loneliness
• Tiredness

These human states are known to instigate substance use.

At rehab, staff will have helped you to identify ways of managing these feelings in healthy ways which will be outlined on the relapse prevention plan.

At home, you’ll use these points as well as a selection of others and steps to take around implementing new lifestyle choices to introduce and maintain a life of abstinence.

What About Charities and Publically-Funded Services?

Council-funded rehab services take place at a local town hub and at NHS facilities. 

Throughout the week there will be a variety of groups such as SMART recovery or 12 Step Groups.

Sometimes you might get access to a short course of ear acupuncture or a gym pass.

There is usually some light one-to-one input. Unfortunately, due to massive budget cuts in the field of addiction over recent years, services are much more limited than they used to be.

Free and NHS and charity-run services in Cambridge include:

1. Change Grow Live Cambridgeshire

Address: Mill House, Mill Road, Cambridge, CB1 3DF

Telephone: 0300 5550101

Website: https://www.changegrowlive.org/drug-alcohol-service-cambridgeshire/cambridge

2. Cambridge CAMHS

Address: Brookside Family Consultation Clinic, 18a Trumpington Road, Cambridge, CB2 8AH

Telephone: 01223 465100

Website: https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/service-detail/service/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-63/

3. CASUS

Address: 152-154 Mill Rd, Cambridge, CB1 3LP

Telephone: 01223 214614

Website: https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/search/service/cambridgeshire-child-and-adolescent-substance-use-service-casus-180/

4. Turning Point – Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

Address: Office 44 Pinnacle House, Newark Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE1 5YD

Telephone: 01733 857870

Website: https://www.turning-point.co.uk/

12-step fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous can help you remain sober, as well as other support groups like SMART Recovery.

Mental health providers Mind UK, Young Minds, Rethink Mental Illness, Samaritans and Papyrus operate in your area to provide wellbeing support.

Getting Help Today

We have helped people from all walks of life to beat their addictions and lay down the foundations for a brighter, happier and healthier future free from alcohol.

You can get in touch with us at any point if you have any queries about alcohol addiction rehab in Cambridge, so why not drop us a line on 0800 111 4108 right now to find out more about getting the treatment that you need.

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