Entering treatment is not as simple as filling out a form or making a phone call. An admission isn’t automatic, and it isn’t a punishment — it’s a considered decision designed to protect the person seeking help and the people already in treatment. Some individuals arrive ready for rehab, scared by what their lives have become and desperate for stability. Others arrive because families, doctors, or courts insist on intervention, even when the person is resistant. And the truth is, willingness is helpful, but it is not a requirement for rehab to work. Many of the people who arrive angry, defensive, or completely closed off end up becoming the ones who benefit most once the structure settles their nervous system and the fog begins to lift. But not everyone is suited to immediate inpatient care, and forcing someone who is not clinically or emotionally ready can do more harm than good. Admission is a collaborative process — thoughtful, careful, and focused on safety, not coercion.

Our job is not to push people into treatment. Our job is to find the right place for them in the continuum of care so the intervention actually works. Some people need detox before anything else. Some need outpatient stabilisation. Some need psychiatric intervention. Some need boundaries at home before treatment makes sense. And some do need inpatient rehab immediately, even if they can’t see that yet. We look at the entire picture — clinical risk, overdose risk, mental health complications, family dynamics, motivation levels, and the impact on other patients in the community. Admission must support the individual and protect the therapeutic environment. At Changes, we don’t admit people to tick a box or fill a bed. We admit them when the timing, readiness, clinical need, and treatment plan align in a way that makes recovery possible. Whether the person walks in voluntarily or arrives resistant, the goal is the same: get them to a place in their own life where change is not only possible but sustainable.