Alcohol is regularly consumed by the majority of adults in the UK, but most do so in moderation. They stick to the Government’s recommended safe consumption guideline amount of fourteen units per week. However, not everyone drinks within these safety guidelines.
There are many who regularly drink more than fourteen units per week, while some drink that much in one drinking session. As you can imagine then, binge drinking is a massive problem here in the UK and most people who do this do not realise the danger they are putting themselves in.
While excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to health, it can also lead to a crippling addiction and the subsequent need for treatment. This then results in many affected people fretting over how to pay for alcohol rehab treatment.
How Much Is Alcohol Treatment?
If you have found yourself struggling to break free from alcohol, it is likely that you have an addiction and need professional help to get better. To this end though, know that here in the UK you have plenty of options. While there are free programmes provided by the NHS and local charities, you will have to pay if you are considering an inpatient programme, as the vast majority of these are provided by private clinics.
The cost of alcohol treatment in a private clinic will vary from one clinic to the next and usually depends on the length of the programme required, the level of luxury of the facility, and the reputation of the clinic.
On average, a 4-week programme will set you back between £4,000 and £13,500. There are cheaper programmes available though as well as programmes that are much more expensive.
Paying for Treatment
At this stage, you might be wondering how to pay for alcohol treatment and may be thinking that it would be better to choose an outpatient programme instead – one that is offered free of charge.
What you need to be aware of however is that most free programmes come with an extensive waiting list. This means that you might be waiting several months for a place to become available; for many, this is far too long.
Inpatient programmes typically offer immediate access as they are not restricted by such funding issues as their outpatient counterparts. Free programmes tend to be heavily over-subscribed and are unable to meet the demands placed upon them. This also means that they cannot take on every new patient straight away.
There are other good reasons for paying for your treatment though. If an inpatient programme is something you are interested in and feel you would benefit from, paying for treatment will probably be the only way to access such a programme.
Either way, inpatient programmes are considered the best way to overcome alcoholism in the shortest amount of time. With most programmes running for between four and six weeks, you could be on the road to recovery sooner than you think.
In a private clinic, you will have access to care and support around-the-clock from a team of professional counsellors, therapists, doctors, nurses, and support staff, all of whom will all work with you to help you overcome your illness.
How to Fund Your Treatment?
Although the issue of how to pay for alcohol treatment might still be holding you back, it is worth taking some time to think about it carefully. With so many reasons why paying for treatment can benefit you, it is important to think about, in the first instance, if you want to pay for treatment and, second, how you are going to fund it.
The high cost of private treatment is an obstacle for many individuals, who automatically assume they cannot afford it. Nevertheless, if you sit back and add up the amount of money that you have spent on funding your habit over the past year or two, you might soon see how much your addiction is costing you and subsequently how much you could save if you get the help you need.
As well as the money spent on alcohol, add in the money you probably owe to family members and friends. Maybe you have borrowed money from your bank or have taken out extra credit cards to help pay bills when you have spent all your income on alcohol. If so, consider the amount of interest that you will be paying, or the fees applied to your accounts when you have missed payments.
Think about missed days at work and lost income that resulted from this, not to mention the lost promotions or lost jobs.
So, if how to fund your alcohol treatment is something you have been concerned about, you can start to see how getting this treatment will save you money in the long run.
In addition, if you have a private healthcare plan, you may find that it covers the cost of inpatient treatment; or at least part of it. Most of the big companies cover alcohol rehab, which means you will not have to worry about finding the money yourself.
It is worth speaking to staff at your chosen private clinic for advice about how you might fund your treatment. Most will want to see you get the help you need and will be able to advise you on ways of funding your treatment.
Is Treatment So Important?
So while the issue of how to pay for alcohol treatment could be one that has been holding you back for some time, know that failing to get treatment for your addiction could result in disastrous consequences for both you and your family.
As the illness progresses, your health is likely to deteriorate. It is simply not possible to regularly abuse alcohol without it having a negative impact on your mental and physical health. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that can result in many problems, some of which can become life-threatening. It is linked to heart disease, liver disease, and at least seven forms of cancer. It has also been associated with an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
As well as the impact that alcoholism has on your health and overall wellbeing, it is important to be aware of the profound effect it can have on your relationship with the people you love. The chemicals in alcohol can alter the way your brain functions, affecting the frontal lobe among other areas. The frontal lobe is responsible for logical thinking and good decision making, so as you continue to abuse alcohol, your ability to think clearly will be affected.
You will continue to abuse alcohol even though you know that this will cause harm to yourself and your loved ones. This is because you are unable to see the damage your drinking is causing, and you will be powerless to resist the urge to drink. Your loved ones will not understand why you carry on drinking when it is tearing the family unit apart. Most fail to understand alcohol addiction and the way in which it affects the drinker.
As you might imagine, relationships can be pushed to breaking point when alcohol becomes a problem. Without treatment, you may find that some of your relationships break down completely and cannot be repaired.
In addition to the impact on health and relationships, it is important to also consider the financial implication of not getting treatment. Even though you might be worried about how to pay for alcohol treatment, you should consider the fact that your financial situation could reach a critical stage if you do not get help.
As your requirement for alcohol grows, you will need to spend more money on it. Moreover, because alcohol will become the most important thing in your life, you will put funding your habit above everything else, including any financial commitments you have. This can mean that you leave your family members in financial difficulties. Without treatment, your situation will continue to spiral out of control and you could end up losing everything.
Getting Help
Please call us today to find out how we can help you get started on the road to recovery. UKAT has several private clinics across the UK and our team of advisors are waiting to answer any questions you have regarding our programmes and the treatments we offer.
We can also provide helpful information and advice about how to pay for alcohol treatment and the other options that are available to you. Please call today to find out more.
