10 Benefits Of Women’s Rehab Centers

Women and men are inherently different in their biological, emotional, and cognitive dispositions.  Women and girls get into alcohol and substance abuse for reasons that are sometimes different from those of men.  Experts thus encourage gender-specific treatment programs to cater to these different needs and to offer a better-specialized care.  Inpatient treatment centers that do not have gender-specific treatment programs have been found to have lower retention rates, especially for women.  Therefore, there is a great need to have women’s rehab centers.  

The benefits of women’s’ treatment centers include:

1. Cater to the unique needs of women

There is a structural difference that is more focused on the individual and unique needs of women that will ultimately lead to higher retention rates and adherence to treatment.  Women are often more emotional than men, and their triggers also vary from those that trigger men.  Rehab centers that have programs tailored to meet these needs are in a better position to offer effective treatment.

2. Emotional support

They also provide greater emotional support that is directed specifically to the needs of the individual.  A women’s program will generally tend to have a lot of focus on the emotional aspects of addiction, but the need for emotional support tends to vary from person to person.

3. Coping skills to go back to society

Provision of coping skills for re-immersion back to the society after rehab.  Many women attest to this being the most challenging part of their recovery.  There is a lot of stigma and shame projected onto alcoholic women and those battling with substance abuse.  Women’s addiction programs empower women with the necessary skills to accept their addiction and get over the shame associated with addiction, own the process and function better in society.

4. Treatment of underlying issues

In the society, women are often subjected to a lot of terrible traumatic events and this may be one of the reasons that they turn to addiction early to help deal with these traumatic events.  These centers seek to find the deeper causes of their addiction and try to treat them using CBT and other treatment methods that address these deeper emotional issues that led to addiction.  

5. Offer a support system

Women-only programs focus on the specific individual and the problems that they face in dealing with their addiction.  Addressing these issues with fellow women creates a support system that aids with the treatment and recovery process.  The women feel a sense of community and are more willing to open up to their fellow women.  This service is extended post-rehab and they have a sort of lifeline when in trouble.  

6. Lowers the rates of relapse

The comfort and solidarity offered by a women-only rehab facility often have a more positive effect and the relapse rates are less than in those that offer mixed-gender treatment programs.  This is because the programs are tailored to meet their specific needs.

7. Promote wellbeing

These centers promote wellbeing by allowing patients to regain their strength, overcome dependency on alcohol and substance abuse and rebuild their confidence.  The sense of community developed among the women also gives them something to fall back on after they have returned to the society.

8. Platform for sharing experiences

Provides a platform for easier sharing of stories, incidences, and traumas among peers who have undergone similar or even worse events and are in a better position to sympathize with them than in a mixed-gender setting.  A lot of women have undergone trauma, and it can be very difficult for them to share on these if the setting is not female-exclusive.

9. Prevent cross-addiction

Addicts have been found to want to fill in the void left after they quit substance abuse with new relationships as a sort of emotional escape from having to deal with the fear and anxiety that comes with recovery.  This cross-addiction is harmful as the addict is just replacing one addiction with another.  Gender-specific treatment programs eliminate these intimate and sexual distractions and allow for a safe environment that focuses all their attention and time on themselves and their recovery.

10. Childcare and parenting care

Many women who are sole caretakers of their families or have husbands who work, and can therefore not take care of their children are afraid to go into rehab.  They fear what might happen to their families and who will tend to the needs of their children.  Women rehab centers provide childcare and parenting care and other similar features that are helpful to women who are the primary caretakers of their family so they feel more empowered to handle family issues together with their recovery.

The above is just some of the benefits of women’s treatment centers.  If you are seeking a rehab center to enroll your wife, daughter, or yourself as a woman, you want to make sure they offer effective treatment of addiction.