When you start looking for a mental health and addiction treatment facility, you want to make sure you’re receiving the best form of treatment. After all, your mental health is a critically important thing and you want to make sure it’s in the best hands.
But how do you do that? What can you look for to make sure that the treatment facility you’re interested in is one that is not only dedicated to your care but meeting the highest standards?
To ensure the staff, the facility and the treatment modalities are all qualified and legitimate, you want to look for accreditation.
What’s so important about accreditation?
Accreditation is when a facility — be it a school, a zoo or a mental health treatment facility — is held to and meets a certain level of standards. These standards then alert the public that not only does this organization hold itself to a higher level, but there are also higher-ups checking in to make sure these standards are continuously being met.
This means that you can be assured that based on these standards, you’re getting the best education, visiting the best zoo or, in this case, finding the best mental health and addiction treatment facility.
What kind of accreditation do treatment facilities have?
If you’re seeking treatment, you’ll want to look for a facility that is CARF accredited.
What is CARF? CARF stands for The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities – and is the organization that establishes standards by which addiction treatment facilities can be assessed. It also provides review services to ensure the standards are continuously being met over time. CARF is a non-profit commission that functions globally.
CARF standards have been implemented and amended over 50 years by healthcare providers, client family members, client feedback and policymakers. Public input has also been used to ensure the standards are relevant.
How does a facility become CARF accredited?
A healthcare service provider that wants to achieve CARF accreditation will normally undertake a self-evaluation to see how their current standards compare with those regulations of CARF. The provider will then initiate a program of change to meet CARF standards where necessary.
When a provider feels that it meets CARF standards, it can apply for accreditation. Candidates undergo a CARF review and must submit an application three months before the date on which it wants the CARF on-site review or survey to take place. CARF requires that providers have been meeting standards for a minimum of six months before the on-site survey takes place.
The survey takes the form of a consultation, rather than an inspection. A team of industry peers conducts the survey. The team interviews staff members as well as present or former clients and their families. The survey team also examines organizational practices and relevant documentation.
The team will be prepared to answer accreditation and procedural questions posed by the provider’s staff. It will also make recommendations on how the provider can improve service delivery and operational practices.
The results of the survey are presented to the provider in a report, together with the decision on accreditation. The report identifies areas that need improvement or modification, and it also identifies positive aspects and how well the provider’s facility conforms to CARF standards. Accredited providers then complete a quality improvement plan and submit an annual conformance to the quality report.
Benefits of CARF accreditation
Clients seeking addiction treatment should check to see if the organization they are planning to use has CARF accreditation. This is the best way to be sure that a rehab facility provides quality services from quality staff.
Believe it or not, anyone can open an addiction treatment center, even if they don’t possess the professional qualifications or training necessary to successfully treat patients. While these rehab facilities can design their own treatment programs and promote them as real, some unaccredited methods can be quite unconventional, if not ineffective.
Such programs are rarely evaluated by qualified individuals, so there is no way for potential clients to assess the success rate of these programs. Even where facilities offer standard therapy and treatment programs, without any form of accreditation it becomes difficult to know whether the programs and services delivered are professional and clinically rigorous.
Facilities with CARF accreditation, on the other hand, will provide clients with the benefit of established, quality programs that have been proven to help people recover. By opting for an addiction treatment facility with CARF accreditation, people needing rehab can be assured of getting the very best levels of care with proven rates of success.
Looking for an accredited treatment facility?
If you’re searching for a mental health and addiction treatment facility, look for the CARF logo on the website, or call and ask about the accreditation status of the facility. Not only will this information help you be peaceful about your decision, but it will also clue you into what kind of treatment you’ll be receiving.
To get started with a CARF-accredited facility, consider Silvermist Recovery. With a certified staff and accredited treatment programs, your program is guaranteed to meet the highest standards available. Learn more by contacting us.