And Now What?

Last week we asked for suggestions and many of you responded. One question concerned ways in which what we do won’t change and those are listed below.

The other most common question was about how we can be more accessible to those of you who can’t, or don’t want, to travel and I’ve answered that in the second section. More questions? Please keep them coming to DrWilson@non12step.com!

First, what won’t change:

  • We will remain a research-based program;
  • We will remain individual;
  • We will remain confidential;
  • We will continue to encourage you to define your own preferred outcomes and definition of “success”;
  • We will stay the “all substance” (i.e. CBT, assertiveness training, diet and exercise considerations; habit breaking and formation, stages of change, relationship balance, deprogramming) “no filler” (i.e. AA, groups, Steps, equine-, ropes-, wolf-dog-, helicopter- therapy, beach walk or palm tree magic) people;
  • We will continue to provide on-going support as you need or request;

Second, what will change:

  • You won’t need to travel to Los Angeles – in fact you won’t have to travel any further than your computer;
  • The structure will change from Monday – Friday, 9:00 – Noon to Monday – Thursday, 9:00 – 11:00; plus weekly follow-up;
  • Our physical office will move from the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the San Fernando Valley;
  • Most services will be delivered by Skype to start with as we work to perfect this distance delivery model that takes advantage of all we have learned while giving you the latest research base in an affordable and more accessible format.

You can be a big part of helping refine this model. Collaborate with us to refine how this will work for you by calling or e-mailing to schedule a Skype session to get a feel for how this can work for you.

Insurance!

We do not accept insurance for a variety of reasons, and most programs that do use very deceptive practices. Here’s why we don’t:
Insurance records are not confidential and are widely traded and sold. Therefore using insurance results in you carrying a life-long “alcoholic” label even though you probably aren’t, and even if you are, exactly how is that label going to benefit you?

  • Insurance is expensive to the provider – we’d have to double our cost to stay even since we are not a volume based program;
  • Insurance reimbursements are unpredictable (see below) and require massive amounts of paperwork;
  • Insurance companies promote conflict between clients and providers. Not exactly a success enhancing side-effect.

Here’s why “they” do:

  • It suckers you into the notion that your “treatment” will be free. Hardly. Every admission contract states that you will cover any and all amounts not paid for by your insurance. Typically this amounts to up to 95% of the total cost;
  • You will not know what you have signed up for financially until it’s too late, even if your treatment is “pre-authorized;”
  • Rehab programs use the “covered by insurance” advertising to promote the idea that what they provide “works.” It doesn’t. Coverage was rammed into law by AA based rehab – you can buy a lot of mandates when you take in $35 billion annually;
  • Using insurance decreases your motivation to succeed since you don’t think you have any “skin in the game,” which promotes failure which is what revolving door rehab is all about.

There are other problems for you, and benefits to the Stepper industry, but isn’t this enough? If not, give us a call and we can discuss it further.