Finding addiction or mental health treatment for yourself
What is medically urgent first, choosing a level of care that fits your daily life, checking insurance coverage, protecting your job under FMLA and 42 CFR Part 2, and comparing programs privately.
By Hunter Shepard · Updated 30 Oct 2026 · 8 primary sources cited · Clinical review: pending
Paying for treatment
How Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance, TRICARE and the VA pay for addiction and mental health care, what to ask before you go, and what to do if you have no insurance.
By Hunter Shepard · Updated 18 Sep 2026 · Primary federal sources cited · Clinical review: pending
How employer PPO, EPO, and HMO plans cover detox and rehab
How employer-sponsored health insurance plans (Aetna, Anthem, BlueCross BlueShield, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, Optum, UMR) cover detox, residential rehab, PHP, and IOP, including deductibles, out-of-pocket maximums, and prior authorization.
By Hunter Shepard · Updated 20 Oct 2026 · Primary federal sources cited · Clinical review: pending
Using FMLA and short-term disability for residential rehab
How to take up to 12 weeks of job-protected FMLA medical leave and use Short-Term Disability income replacement for residential treatment while keeping your job and workplace privacy.
By Hunter Shepard · Updated 20 Oct 2026 · DOL & HHS sources cited · Clinical review: pending
How Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) work for treatment
How workplace EAP benefits (ComPsych, Magellan, Optum, Carelon) provide confidential assessments and transition into residential, PHP, or IOP treatment covered by your primary employer health plan.
By Hunter Shepard · Updated 20 Oct 2026 · Primary federal sources cited · Clinical review: pending
Levels of care, explained
What detox, residential, day treatment (PHP), intensive outpatient (IOP) and outpatient care mean, with a short list of words you may hear.
By Hunter Shepard · Updated 18 Sep 2026 · SAMHSA & NIDA sources cited · Clinical review: pending
How to raise it without a blowup
Calm, caring ways to start the conversation with someone you are worried about, and why research favors them over an ultimatum.
By Hunter Shepard · Updated 18 Sep 2026 · SAMHSA & NIAAA sources cited · Clinical review: pending
Twelve questions to ask a program
What to ask about coverage, staff, medications, family involvement and the plan after discharge, plus warning signs to watch for. Easy to print.
By Hunter Shepard · Updated 18 Sep 2026 · SAMHSA & NIDA sources cited · Clinical review: pending
Medications for addiction, and naloxone
How medicines for opioid and alcohol use disorders work, how to use naloxone in an overdose, and why some drugs should never be stopped suddenly.
By Hunter Shepard · Updated 18 Sep 2026 · FDA, SAMHSA & NIDA sources cited · Clinical review: pending
How we write these guides
- Every guide is written by Hunter Shepard, who runs findingrehab.io. He is not a clinician.
- We base each guide on public health sources, such as SAMHSA, NIDA, NIAAA, the CDC, the FDA and Medicaid.gov, and we link to them.
- Each guide shows who wrote it, the date it was written and the date it was last read through for accuracy.
- A review by a licensed clinician is still pending for every guide. Each guide says so at the top, and it will keep saying so until it is true.
- The guides are general information, not medical advice. A program's own clinician decides what care fits a person.
Our editorial policy sets out all of this in full: what we check, what we do not check, and how advertising is kept apart from the listings.
If you see something wrong or unclear, please tell us.
If someone may be overdosing or is in danger, call 911. For a mental health or substance use crisis, call or text 988. See crisis help for more.