Over the past few years, Missouri has witnessed a rise in drug-related crimes and homicides due to a deepening tide of drugs flowing out of Mexico. Cocaine, methamphetamine, club drubs like Ecstasy, prescription drugs like Oxycontin and Ambien—every one of them is a problem in Missouri and getting worse. While the state government is becoming more focused on the problem, Missouri residents must be proactive in finding help for substance abuse problems. The network of drug and alcohol treatment centers in Missouri is growing, and most larger communities support at least one rehab facility of some kind. These are more likely to be privately run than public, as until recently Missouri’s focus has been on enforcement of drug laws and incarceration of drug offenders rather than on treatment and rehabilitation.

Even so, you are likely to find a wide range of services offer by the various Missouri drug and alcohol treatment centers and rehabilitation programs. This can be bewildering to families who never expected to have to deal with a drug or alcohol problem. Don’t hesitate to ask questions, and do evaluate any clinics and programs in your area to see if they meet some basic criteria before committing yourself or a loved one to their care.

Drug and alcohol programs are not all the same, and some treatment facilities focus on different aspects of the problem. Mental health counseling centers may not be equipped to deal with the physical problems brought by addiction. Likewise, a detoxification facility may be more focused on the short term physical component of getting rid of the drug toxins in the addict’s body than on the long-term goal of living clean. Make sure a program you choose offers a “mind-body-spirit” approach and a focus on “clean for life.”

While it may be tempting to focus solely on rehabilitation programs in Missouri, this could be a mistake. Even the most loving families can enable a drug habit without realizing it. Outpatient programs invite a return to the pattern of abuse when the patient must pass the same old drug hangouts, the same liquor store, face the same medicine cabinet every day. Often, work and family stress drove the addiction to some degree; it is unfair to expect an addict to be able to truly focus on how to live life without the chemical crutch of drugs or alcohol while still caught in the same web she could not handle without those things. Removing an addict completely from the distractions of daily life during treatment is a kindness, and sometimes a necessity in order to break him away from old habits and old ways of thinking.

Any drug and alcohol treatment center should offer, at minimum, detox, counseling, and long-term behavior modification therapy. The better ones also offer nutrition classes, fitness programs, and family outreach to help the whole family heal and move forward. There is no single component to addiction, so make sure any rehab facility, in Missouri or anywhere else, focuses on the whole problem.