Johannesburg is a city that has many rehab treatment centres and thus a lot to offer those who need help in recovering from addiction. Just about any kind of addiction can be treated in these, from gambling and sex to drugs and alcohol. Internationally, the city is renowned for its programmes and thus many people from all over the world come to South Africa to recover from addiction.
Most of the rehab centres in the city could be classified as multi-disciplinary. This is because rather than specialise in one type of addiction, they are able to treat all kinds of addiction together. Often in these centres, drug and alcohol users are put together with those suffering from internet addiction and other bad habits, and are treated based not on what they are addicted to, but on the actual addiction itself. There are also those facilities that give what is called secondary care and these help patients who have already been through rehab in the period just after they leave. In a way, they are like halfway houses where addicts who are in recovery can come back time and time again for support.
Johannesburg also plays home to outpatient facilities in which patients can come on a weekly basis to have counselling and to meet with others suffering from similar problems. These are usually quite popular because the cost of rehab and of treatment in the city is quite high.
Many treatment facilities allow for a free assessment of someone who is suffering from an addiction, after which they can recommend a course of treatment. In these cases, they are able to determine what the best course of treatment would be for addicts, that is, which treatment would help them heal according to their individual needs.
Sadly, there are probably more people who are addicted to drugs, alcohol and other vices than there are treatment facilities and this means that those who need care are often not getting it. Those who are put into rehab or do go on a treatment programme are often the lucky ones and there are many more who need treatment but either cannot afford it or have no access to it. The culture of the country and of the world perhaps seems to be at fault, since it usually accepted that these people are pariahs, rather than just people in need of help. If it was made more apparent to them that help was at hand, perhaps addiction would be less of a problem and addiction recovery would be more prevalent.