Home-Based Drug Treatment Program Costs Less And Works

Hannah Berkowitz is 20 years old. When she was a senior in high school her life flew off the rails.

She was getting high on whatever drugs she could get her hands on. She was suicidal. Berkowitz moved into a therapeutic boarding school to get sober, but could only stay sober while she was on campus during the week.

"I'd come home and try to stay sober really hard — really, really hard," says Berkowitz. "Sometimes I'd make it through the weekend, and sometimes I just couldn't make it. It was white-knuckling it, just holding on."

The transition back home always triggered a relapse for Berkowitz.

"I thought it was just my fault and there was no hope," she says.

No hope — but Berkowitz did have luck. She had private health insurance and she lived in Connecticut, where a startup company, Aware Recovery Care, had begun treating clients in the very environment where Hannah was struggling to stay sober: her home.

A chronic disease approach

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