The Lone Star state has battled Mexican outlaws for well over a century, and it is still heavily engaged fighting Mexican drug cartels running drugs over the long Texas border with Mexico. Heroin, crack cocaine, meth, club drugs, and huge quantities of prescription drugs diverted from medical use linger on their way through Texas to points north. Even the smallest rural towns in Texas are not immune to the dangers facing bored young people looking for thrills. Any family could find themselves suddenly faced with the need to find and evaluate drug and alcohol rehabilitation and treatment centers.

In Texas, that might mean driving to a larger town to seek help. Smaller communities may offer a combination of mental health counseling and hospital programs for detoxification, but families should carefully evaluate the type and scope of services they offer. A comprehensive course of treatment is required to effect a genuine recovery. Detox alone is not enough to break the emotional dependency; counseling alone is not enough to address the physical addiction and its side effects. And any program that does not offer long-term behavior modification is unlikely to produce permanent relief.

Most families quite naturally want to keep treatment as close to home as possible, but this is not always the best or wisest option. Continuity in care is important, as is putting the recovering addict into a safe environment that does not enable him or her to quietly continue drinking or abusing drugs on the sly. Drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers in Texas that offer inpatient programs, removing the addict from the old lifestyle while teaching him to live drug-free, should be seriously considered by any family hoping to permanently alter a loved one’s behavior.

For most families, the array of clinics and treatment programs can be confusing, an obstacle to even beginning treatment. There are a few key things to look for. No program can guarantee success; every addict is different and should be treated as an individual, with a course of treatment tailored to his or her specific needs. If a rehab center seems to promise a sure-fire cure, stay away. Likewise, if its focus is only on managing withdrawal, it probably does not offer long-term counseling and behavioral therapy, both critical elements in full recovery. Until an addict faces up to why he abused alcohol or drugs, and learns to cope with life without the chemical crutch, all he will get from rehab is a short respite before the next relapse.

“Clean for life” should be the goal of any Texas alcohol and drug treatment facility or rehab center large or small. What good is rehabilitation if it does not teach a permanent alteration of the self-destructive behavior? Likewise, family outreach is important, to help addicts and loved ones reconnect. Nutrition and fitness should be components of a good rehabilitation program, to teach a healthy lifestyle and rebuild bodies dragged down by substance abuse.

The Texas network of drug and alcohol treatment centers means families don’t have to depend on hope and determination to “kick the habit.”