Admitting the need for help is the first step to seeking that help. If you're here, you or a loved one has recognized the need for some kind of help or assistance with substance use disorder. Whatever the substance, whatever the severity, help is available here in the greater Detroit area. It's just a matter of finding the right kind of help.

Here at BMC-Troy, we offer substance abuse treatment options with CADC-certified therapists. If you would like to talk to us directly about what we offer and how we can help you or your loved one, simply call our office at 248.528.9000. If you need something else, like inpatient support, read on for information on how to find that assistance in Detroit.

DISCLAIMER: This article is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered medical or psychological advice. The information presented here is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any mental health condition or replace professional therapeutic care. Every individual's experience with trauma and mental health is unique. Please consult with a qualified mental health professional, therapist, or healthcare provider to determine the most appropriate treatment approach for your specific situation. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or emergency, please contact your local emergency services or crisis hotline immediately.

Experiencing a Crisis? Don't Wait: Call Help Now

An overdose or a serious crisis deserves serious help, and with substance use, that means calling 911. If your crisis is cognitive, you can also call 988 to reach the Michigan Crisis and Access Line. Both options can get you the help you need, as soon as possible.

If you're struggling but don't feel like you're in crisis, but the thought of reading this article and figuring out what to do is too daunting, you can call one of the organizations that can help you navigate this situation.

• SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1.800.662.4357
• Oakland Community Health Network Crisis Line at 1.800.231.1127
• Michigan's statewide recovery resource at 211
• Never Use Alone, an overdose prevention organization, at 1.877.696.1996

These national, state, and local organizations can give you guidance and help you take the next step on the road to recovery. They're all available 24/7/365, they're completely free, and they're fully confidential. Don't hesitate if you need assistance. Help is available.

Now, to get into the considerations and steps to take to find help when you aren't in an immediate crisis, read on.

Recognizing the Need for Treatment

Substance abuse is not a moral failing. Mental health issues, stress, social and cultural influences, and a variety of other stressors can all lead to substances as a coping mechanism. Those substances cause physiological changes to the brain and body, leading to both physical and mental dependency. It's no wonder it's so difficult to address, especially without support.

All of this is made even more challenging because of how other issues, such as chronic pain, burnout, grief, untreated or poorly treated mental illness, PTSD, and other conditions, can contribute to the use of substances. Without the right coping strategies and medications, substance use can feel like the only option that works.

How do you know when it's time to seek help? Sometimes it's obvious, but sometimes the signs aren't so clear. Think about whether any of these have become true for you:

• You're using more substances, or using more frequently, than you intend to.
• You want to cut back or stop, but you can't, no matter how hard you try.
• You spend a significant amount of time obtaining, using, or recovering from using.
• You have persistent or continual cravings to use.
• You recognize the problems your substance use is creating, with relationships, work, health, finances, or the law, but you can't stop.
• You're reducing activities that you enjoy in order to use substances instead.
• You're needing more and more of the substance to get the same feeling you're used to.
• When you try to stop, you suffer serious withdrawal symptoms.
• You're using earlier in the day, more throughout the day, or in places you didn't use to.

These are just some of the signs that substance use is getting out of control, and that it's time to seek help.

If you aren't certain whether or not you need assistance, you can seek out an assessment and talk to a professional with no obligations and full confidentiality.

Understanding the Available Treatment Options

Assistance for substance abuse can take many forms, and it can depend a lot on your specific situation. We'll organize them here from the least intense to the most; the greater your need, the further down the list you're likely to want to look.

First up are peer support groups. Peer support groups are frequently modeled on programs like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. They're groups that meet once a week, usually for an hour or two at a time, led by an experienced coordinator who has been trained on the program, or gone through it themselves.

Peer support groups are great for low-level substance use problems, as well as for issues where a sense of community, a sense of purpose, and a sense of accountability can help. However, since they are generally not run by a trained or certified therapist, psychologist, or other specialist, there is often a limit to how much help they can be. This is especially true for people in serious need.

Often, peer support groups work best as a "step down" treatment option. Once you've passed the greater hurdles, you can use a peer support group as a form of ongoing maintenance, to help keep you on track and accountable to peers you also help support in their own journeys.

There are a lot of resources available throughout Detroit for peer support groups and other mental health and substance abuse resources.

Next up is common therapy. One of the realities of substance use is that it's rarely just about the substance itself. Many people turn to substance use because of other issues in their lives, and while those issues can be social, financial, or cultural, they can also be a result of trying to self-treat and self-medicate otherwise unaddressed mental illness.

In fact, many people facing substance use and abuse issues would benefit from what is known as dual-diagnosis treatment. Dual diagnosis simply means that there are two issues going on, usually a mental health issue like depression, anxiety, or PTSD, alongside substance use. Treating one without addressing the other leaves you floundering, but treating both can help address the root of the problem.

Therapy has the benefit of being offered by specialists with licensing and certification relevant to their specialties. At BMC-Troy, our substance abuse therapists are certified by the Michigan Certification Board for Addiction Professionals.

Certified therapists at BMC-Troy or through other providers can use a variety of strategies based on science to help address the root causes of your substance use issues.

• Comprehensive assessments to set a baseline and figure out where to begin.
• Cognitive-Behavioral strategies with evidence-based structures to address the root causes of substance use.
• Relapse prevention planning to help avoid relapse and minimize the risk it poses if it happens.
• Life skill and coping strategy development to help build the path forward.
• Family and relationship counseling to help rebuild bridges and repair relationships.
• Medication management to help with prescriptions to address other related problems.

Most people who need substance abuse assistance who are not in crisis will find this to be the most effective option, but it's far from the only choice available.

The next tier up for support for substance abuse is intensive outpatient treatment. Intensive outpatient treatment is a lot like more common therapy, but it is more frequent, lasts longer, and is more comprehensive. It's designed to be, well, intensive; something that puts serious time and energy into addressing the problem, while still allowing for you to live your normal life.

IOP treatment is meant to be the level before hospitalization or rehab is necessary. It allows you to work with a care team to develop a path forward, with multiple kinds of therapy, multiple sessions, and up to 10-15 hours of sessions per week until you can get things under control and dial back to more routine therapy.

Above IOP is PHP, the partial hospitalization program. PHPs are sort of like the mental image of a rehab clinic; a place you go during the day for a controlled environment, where you can talk to therapists, stay away from bad influences, and even detox from substances in a place where help is immediately available if things go wrong. Unlike full hospitalization, however, you're still free to go home in the evening.

Full hospitalization is the most intensive tier of treatment. Full hospitalization is just what it sounds like: being admitted to a 24/7 intensive inpatient care facility. Sometimes, this can be an actual hospital, especially if you've near-overdosed or are in a situation where rapid physical assistance may be necessary during the process of recovery. Other times, it may be in a dedicated rehab facility that specializes in 24/7 care.

Understanding these options helps you get a feel for what kind of assistance you may need. If you're largely functional day to day, but want to kick a bad habit and seek treatment for an underlying disorder, therapy or maybe an IOP is appropriate. If you're heavily abusing substances to the point that it's affecting the rest of your life in negative ways, an IOP or PHP may be the right course of action. Calling 911 during a potential overdose can result in an initial inpatient hospitalization before stepping down to a PHP or IOP.

Setting the Stage for Treatment

The hardest part of seeking treatment for substance abuse is admitting that you need to seek treatment at all. They say admitting that you have a problem is the first step to finding a solution, and those aren't empty words. It's a very difficult step to take, but it's equally important that you take that step.

There are two main steps you should take to lay the groundwork for treatment.

The first is seeking an assessment. An assessment, whether it's through a conversation with experts at SAMHSA, local therapists from BMC-Troy, your primary care physician, or another local specialist, can help you figure out where you are and what the right step forward will be. We're more than happy to help provide these assessments.

The second step is an FMLA request. FMLA is the Family and Medical Leave Act, and it is federal legislation that allows you to take a leave of absence from work for medical reasons, regardless of company policies. As long as your employer is large enough to be covered by the law, and you're a qualified employee, you can take a no-questions-asked leave for medical reasons. Medical reasons can include both substance abuse (and treatment) and mental health issues.

With FMLA, you can dedicate yourself to therapy, IOP, PHP, or even full inpatient treatment without worrying about your job. It's a powerful way to alleviate some of the biggest barriers to seeking treatment, those being work-related problems.

Seeking Assistance in Detroit

If you're in the greater Detroit area and you want to seek assistance for substance abuse, there are a lot of state and local resources available to you.

First, you can call one of the state warmlines for ideas on where to look.

• 211 for the Michigan recovery resource hub.
• SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1.800.662.4357
• The Detroit Recovery Project's resource line at 1.833.377.4325
• The Michigan Peer Warmline at 1.888.733.7753

The Detroit area also has many individual resources you can call.

• Oakland County Health Network at 1.800.231.1127
• Detroit Integrated Health Network at 1.800.241.4949
• Macomb County Community Mental Health at 1.586.307.9100

Other resources, like the Oakland County provider network directory, inpatient facilities like the Eleonore Hutzel Recovery Center, and more, are available through resources like MSU's resource page.

Henry Ford Health also offers outpatient and inpatient treatment at various facilities throughout the greater Detroit area, which you can read about on this page.

You can also call BMC-Troy during business hours at 248.528.9000. We're accepting new patients, and we're happy to schedule an assessment or get you started with substance use therapy. You can also fill out our new patient intake form online.

Help is available, so don't wait to make the call. No matter which resource you try, even if it's not wholly appropriate for you, they can help direct you to a more appropriate kind of treatment. We all just want to help you get to a healthier place, and we'll do what we can to make it happen.