Residential Treatment

Residential rehabilitation services offer intensive, structured interventions after withdrawal from drugs of dependence, including alcohol. Short-term residential treatment programs are commonly delivered in conjunction with a medically supervised withdrawal program and incorporate skills-building with a focus on cognitive/behavioural and relapse prevention interventions. Some evidence exists suggesting that people with more severe alcohol problems may benefit more from inpatient care, and those with low levels of alcohol problems may benefit more from outpatient care. 

Therapeutic communities are a type of residential rehabilitation that emphasises a holistic approach to treatment and aims to address the psychosocial and other issues related to alcohol and/or other substance use disorders. Therapeutic communities are generally long-term programs from 12-52 weeks in length. A narrative review based on 16 studies concluded that there is some evidence for the effectiveness of therapeutic community treatment. However, there is little evidence that therapeutic communities offer significant benefits in comparison with other residential treatment, or that one type of therapeutic community is better than another. Evidence does exist to suggest that longer time in treatment is linked to improved outcomes.  

In Australia, residential treatment services are offered by a range of providers including, government-administered agencies (Area Health Services), private for-profit providers (private hospitals and clinics), and not-for-profit agencies.