These services are also usually available to the families of chemically dependent people - who are just as much in need of help and support as is the addicted individual.
Outpatient therapy follows much the same pattern as does Residential therapy. Group counselling is combined with individual counselling within a structured programme of recovery based on the 12 Steps practiced within Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Written assignments, lectures, videos etc. are used as appropriate.
Outpatient Programmes vary in length, depending on how often attendance is required. This may be 1 day per week - or 5 days per week - or something in between. A Day Care therapeutic programme may therefore last anything from 8 weeks to 6 months, or even longer.
Ask in your Local Advice Centre or Health Clinic to find out about Day Care Addiction Treatment facilities near you. You could also look in the telephone book - it may be listed under a local name, but if you check under 'drugs' or 'alcohol', you should find it.
Of course, if you live in West Wales - feel free to visit us. We'd love to see you. We are at:
Cyswllt Contact
49 North Parade
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 2JN
Tel: 01970 626470
For those of you who live in elsewhere in the U.K., you will understand that we can't list all the outpatient treatment facilities for drug or alcohol addiction that exist, as there would not be room. However, we are able to recommend the Day Centres listed below. These are:
Barking Havering and Brentwood Alcohol Advisory Service
James Cooke House
Levett Road
Barking
Essex IG11 9J2
Phone 020 8252 0002
One North East London (1NE)
(formerly known as WACS)
1 Beulah Road
Walthamstow
London
E17 9LG
Phone 020 8509 1888
Website: http://www.1ne.org.uk/
SHARP
11 Redcliffe Gardens
London
SW10
Phone 020 7351 7785
ARA - (Addiction Recovery Agency)
61 Queen Charlotte Street,
Bristol.
BS1 4HQ
Phone: 0117 930 0282 Fax: 0117 929 4810
Hope House,
49 Saltram Crescent,
London
W9 3JS
Phone: 020 8969 3587 Fax: 020 8964 8633
Nelson House
Brimscombe Hill,
Stroud,
Gloucestershire.
GL5 2QP
Phone: 01453 885656 Fax: 01453 731653
Drug and Alcohol Foundation
18 Dartmouth Street,
London.
SW1H 9BL
Phone: 020 7233 0400 Fax: 02072330463
For anyone who lives in the U.K., a very comprehensive list of U.K. services for those with an alcohol problem is available at the Alcohol Concern website. Many of those agencies also deal with drug problems, so this is a good place to begin looking for Day Care Treatment facilities within the UK.