Why are we women-only? In our experience, gender-specific rehab is more productive and usually produces better results than co-ed rehab. Women’s rehab centers like New Directions for Women take into account the many issues which are unique to women dealing with chemical dependency issues. Despite common misconceptions to the contrary, the path to recovery for women and men is often very different.
Men and women have different attitudes towards their addiction, tend to react differently to treatment, and take different actions when it comes to substances. Even the substances involved are often different, to say nothing of physical effects, biological issues, and emotional reactions.
Biological Differences
Many women have issues with menopause, pregnancy, and the like while in the rehabilitation phase. Of course these are not problems a man would have, and many women are extremely reluctant to discuss them in the company of men. There is no reason they should have to overcome this reluctance in addition to dealing with all the other issues of recovery. On the other hand, speaking about them with others who understand these problems can be extremely comforting.
Recovering from addiction quickly is also more important for women. Compared with men, women are affected more strongly by alcohol and addiction — each drink produces a more powerful effect on the female body than it would on a man. Health issues appear more quickly and can be more serious for a given level of drinking.
Emotional Differences
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, whereas men are most likely to relapse as a result of anxiety, women tend to be most likely to relapse when they are feeling sad and depressed. As a result we have a broad spectrum of services available to address healing on every level: from individual and group therapy, experiential therapies.
In many cases women’s addiction issues are the result of an emotional trigger, such as a conflict or traumatic event in the past. Though this is more common with dual-diagnosis women (such as those dealing with a mental condition as well as addiction) it’s possible in nearly every case. We offer in-depth trauma therapy which helps patients explore past traumas and how they may be contributing to addiction issues — the goal is to provide patients with a safe yet challenging way to connect with their own feelings.
Children’s Services
Of course New Directions goes to great lengths to meet our children’s special needs. Prenatal alcohol exposure may cause many disorders including fetal alcohol syndrome, so we provide assessments to identify developmental delays, learning disabilities, as well as clinical and medical needs.
We also include individual, family, and play therapy in our program as well as Mommy and Me time for bonding. Patients receive an education in addiction and alcoholism from the perspective of a family disease, as well as parenting education and a better understanding of parent-child communication. School-age children get the chance to enroll in local schools, while younger children can attend our daycare program on-site.
Ultimately, being a womens rehab center means we can tailor our program to the unique needs of women while giving our patients a safe and comfortable environment to recover.
