How to choose treatment for a teen or young adult

Six steps to choose the best treatment for your teen

The following steps can help you think through all potential care options, narrow your choices down, and decide on the best option for your teen and your family. 

• Step 1: Get an assessment. Seek out a clinical assessment to figure out the best level of care for your teen’s specific needs. 
• Step 2: Check insurance benefits. Call the member services number on the back of your insurance card (or check your Medicaid/TRICARE portal) to confirm your behavioral health benefits. 
• Step 3: Filter and decide on your shortlist. Explore adolescent treatment programs that accept your insurance and meet your family's treatment needs.
• Step 4: Request a Verification of Benefits (VOB). Submit your insurance details to your top facilities and ask them to run a VOB to identify any potential out-of-pocket costs.
• Step 5: Confirm academic and safety protocols. Confirm exactly how each facility handles school and review their safety protocols to ensure they meet your expectations for your teen’s care. 
• Step 6: Check intake and referral requirements. Make sure the facility’s team handles the pre-certification or prior authorization process with your insurance before enrolling. 
• Step 7: Select the right program for your teen. Choose the program from your list that best fits your teen’s recovery goals and that specializes in adolescent-care. 

What should you think about when deciding on a treatment for a teen?

As you look for treatment for a teenager or young adult, you can’t just look for a general facility that notes "youth accepted”. And the best rehab option is not always the closest one to you or the first one that answers the phone when you reach out. You also should consider how an adolescent’s specific and unique needs intersect with a facility's care approach keeping these factors in mind as you think about treatment options:

• Dedicated adolescent track versus mixed environments: A program built primarily for adults is rarely clinically the right fit for a teenager. Teenagers should be in age-related environments where therapy models match their needs. 
• The level of care needed: Treatment needs can range from outpatient care to residential care to inpatient (hospital) care. You need a program that matches an independent clinical assessment to best fit your teen’s needs.
• Co-occurring mental health conditions: Substance use in teenagers is frequently an attempt to cope with underlying behavioral health challenges. Many teenagers face high stress in different areas of their life and drugs and alcohol can oftentimes seem like an easy fix. The program you choose must be equipped to treat substance use alongside depression, anxiety, trauma, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), eating concerns, self-harming behaviors, and more.
• Academic focus: A teenager can’t afford to fall behind in school while receiving necessary care. You should look for facilities that provide information for handling schoolwork, tutoring, and formal communication with their school directly. 
• Family involvement: Opening up to a loved one is one of the most effective ways to connect a teen with support for long-term recovery. That is why it is important to look for rehabs that treat addiction as a family issue, integrating parents into family therapy sessions. 

What level of treatment does your teen need?

Deciding on the right level of treatment depends on how severe your teenager’s substance use is, how severe withdrawal symptoms are, whether they can stay at home while seeking care, and whether they have co-occurring mental health conditions that also need support. 

• Withdrawal management (detox): You receive short-term, medically supervised care to help you safely stop using alcohol or other drugs and manage withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal management may take place in a hospital, residential, or outpatient setting, depending on your withdrawal symptoms and risk of complications, and is often the first step before ongoing treatment. Withdrawal management should always be directly linked to longer-term treatment. Some programs may be connected to longer-term inpatient treatment or a residential program. In other cases, outpatient treatment may be appropriate after completion of withdrawal management.
• Inpatient: You stay overnight and receive 24/7 care in a structured setting. This can be in a hospital or a nonhospital residential program, and can be especially helpful if you need intensive support for substance use and other health concerns. Inpatient care often follows withdrawal management when additional stabilization or intensive treatment is needed.
• Hospital: You stay in a hospital and receive medically managed, highly structured care, including 24/7 nursing for substance use and other serious biomedical or mental health conditions. Hospital care often focuses on stabilization and may be short term.
• Outpatient: You live at home and go to a clinic or facility regularly for individual, group, or family sessions with addiction treatment professionals. Outpatient care can range from an hour or less per week to several days per week. Depending on your needs, outpatient treatment may include a partial hospitalization program (PHP), an intensive outpatient program (IOP), or standard outpatient therapy. Typically, higher intensity treatment is advised initially, and once you’ve achieved recovery, sessions can be shorter and/or more spaced out. Some people may also complete withdrawal management on an outpatient basis before continuing treatment.
• Telehealth: You meet with addiction treatment professionals by phone or secure video instead of in person. Outpatient care may be delivered exclusively via telehealth or through a combination of virtual and in-person visits. Telehealth can also supplement  residential or hospital-based care.

When you reach out to facilities, make sure to ask how they determine level of care, how they handle transitions between levels of care, and whether they keep treatment timelines flexible and based on progress rather than a set timeline. This is also known as having a flexible length of stay rather than a fixed length of stay. Beware of programs titled “28 day,” “8 week” etc. How long your teen remains in treatment should depend upon their progress toward recovery, not a set number of days. 

To determine which level of care your child needs, it is best to speak to a medical professional for an assessment.

Can a teen or young adult start treatment as soon as today?

Yes, but access depends on the specific level of care they need, where your family is located, and facility capacity.

In most areas, outpatient therapy, IOP, and PHP can accommodate new patients faster than residential beds or inpatient medical withdrawal management units. If your family is facing a non-emergency situation, call outpatient or day programs to request a fast assessment. Having your child in an outpatient or day program right away is often far more important than waiting for the "perfect" residential bed to be available. Remember, residential programs do not necessarily have better outcomes. Assuming that the home environment is safe and conducive to recovery for your teen, you may find an evidence-based outpatient program that is equally or even more effective.

In an emergency: When teenage alcohol and drug use interferes with daily life, causes severe health issues, or presents an immediate safety risk, it is time to seek emergency support.

• Immediate physical danger: If there is an active drug overdose, severe physical withdrawal, suicidal behavior, violence, or an immediate threat to life, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department. 
• Behavioral health crises: If your teen is experiencing an intense psychological or behavioral crisis but is not in immediate physical or medical danger, you can dial the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline to speak with local crisis intervention specialists who can help. There is no youth specific hotline, though staff are trained to provide support to anyone experiencing a mental health crisis and certain states have implemented youth crisis response teams.

What if every residential adolescent program is full?

Because adolescent residential beds are systemically limited, you may encounter waitlists (reminder that you should first determine if your child actually needs residential care versus another level of treatment, such as outpatient). If a facility tells you they have no openings, you can ask their admissions team the following questions:

• Do you provide telehealth services, intensive outpatient support, or "bridge care" to keep our teen supported while we wait for a bed?
• Can we schedule a clinical assessment now so our paperwork is cleared the instant a spot is open?
• Can you refer us to an alternative adolescent provider nearby?
• If needed, can we start outpatient medications for addiction treatment (MAT) right away with an external prescriber while on your residential waitlist?

Do you need to travel for youth rehab, or can you receive care near you?

Whether you should keep your teen local or travel for treatment depends on the level of care required and the availability of programs near you. If your child is recommended for standard outpatient therapy, family counseling, an IOP, or a PHP, staying local is generally preferred. This allows your teen to continue school and keep their daily routine.

However, if your child requires residential inpatient treatment or medical withdrawal management, expanding your search geographically is often necessary because of: 

• Adolescent bed shortages: Residential facilities made for teenagers are less common than adult rehabs. Many regions lack youth residential beds entirely, requiring families to travel to other regions to find an immediate opening.
• Specialized behavioral needs: If your teen requires specific clinical programming, the few facilities able to handle such care are concentrated in major cities or dedicated regional medical centers.

What rules and quality standards should you be aware of before choosing care?

Adolescent behavioral healthcare has specific realities and quality indicators that don't apply to standard adult rehabilitation so it is important to understand the below before deciding on a rehab for your teen.

• Age-specific legal and consent laws: The age of medical consent for behavioral health treatment depends on your state. In some states, a parent can legally enroll a 16-year-old in treatment against their will; in other states, a minor as young as 12 or 14 can self-consent and have the option to sign consent forms to allow their medical records to be shared with their parents. Because of the differences between states, make sure to ask a facility how your specific state's minor consent laws apply to your child's enrollment in care. 
• Access to Medications for Addiction Treatment (MAT): Data shows that MAT are a highly effective part of treatment. However, some adolescent facilities still operate under unscientific "abstinence-only" care approaches that do not provide MAT. Addiction Medicine experts consider abstinence from non-prescribed drugs, while taking MAT, to be consistent with abstinence.
  • If a program declines to provide MAT at the facility, prohibits patients from maintaining MAT via an external provider, or forces a short-term prescription to end without coordinating a long-term bridge supply with outside prescribers, you should consider this as an indication that the program is restrictive and not practicing evidence-based medicine.
• Safety and runaway risk protocols: Quality adolescent facilities should have safety protocols in place to handle active suicidal ideation, behavioral aggression, or runaway attempts. You can ask a rehab about how they handle safety and risk protocols, and at what exact point local authorities or parents are notified if a minor attempts to leave. 

What questions should you ask a rehab before enrolling your child in treatment?

You should reach out to the rehab you are interested in and ask the following questions to ensure the care will meet your expectations: 

• Is this a dedicated adolescent program with adolescent-specific peer groups clinicians who experience treating youth?
• What is the exact age range of the youth at your facility?
• Do you have family therapy as a mandatory part of your care? How are parents or caregivers involved in treatment planning?
• How do you treat co-occurring mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, trauma, ADHD, self-harm, or eating concerns simultaneously under one clinical plan?
• What is your safety protocol if a minor has active suicidal thoughts, behavioral aggression, or attempts to run away from your facility?
• What does your discharge and aftercare planning look like? 

What does the "best rehab" mean for a teen?

The "best" facility is the one that is right for your child and your family’s specific situation. Care should: 

• Match your teen's clinical level of need.
• Be in-network with your health insurance.
• Have trauma-informed staff who have an expertise in adolescent care.
• Integrate family therapy into the care plan. 
• Provide educational structure and continuity, coordinating directly with your school district.
• Have a step-down discharge plan that supports your teen’s long-term reintegration into their home and school life. 

A note for any teen or young adult reading this page

If you are a teenager or young adult reading this because you are worried about your own alcohol or other drug use, please know that you are not alone, that you have the power to make healthy decisions for yourself, and that there is help available.

• Choosing to ask for help is a health decision, not a disciplinary issue. Entering treatment is handled with the same medical privacy as treating a broken bone—it is designed to get you well, not get you in trouble.
• If you aren't comfortable talking to a parent or caregiver just yet, you do not have to carry this alone. You can start by opening up to a school guidance counselor, a pediatrician, or a trusted teacher. They can protect your privacy, answer your questions without judgment, and help you figure out the next right step.
• Please note that exceptions to protecting your privacy sometimes have to be made if you are in danger of hurting yourself or others.

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