McLean Naukeag

They provide inpatient residential, telemedicine, inpatient hospital, outpatient and detox, which is the whole of what this address in Belmont is set up for.

They handle detox for alcohol, benzodiazepines, cocaine, methamphetamines and opioids. Ask how many days theirs lasts, because that varies more between places than people expect and Belmont has 8 other centers to compare.

One of their programs is built for veterans, which usually means a separate group rather than the same room with a different label, and it is one of the 7 named here.

Some of what they do can happen remotely. Ask which parts, because it is rarely all of them and the 8 centers near Belmont differ on it.

Within 14 miles there are 8 other centers, across Waltham, Newton and Arlington.

They prescribe 3 medications: methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone. What a provider actually stocks changes, so ask for the one you need by name before driving to Belmont.

The things worth comparing are the ones a program can answer with a fact rather than an adjective. Paying a marketing company for referrals is common in this field, so who answers the phone is not always who treats you. Ask what kind of person this program would turn down, because a real answer exists.

Programs expect family contact rather than tolerating it, though the amount is set by the person in treatment. A household that changes nothing while one person is treated puts that person back into the same week they left. Ask whether family sessions carry on after the main program ends.