Sterling Area Health Center

They provide outpatient and telemedicine. Whichever one you start at the usual pattern is to step down through the levels rather than stop at once, and Standish is the closest place to carry that on if you move.

They do not detox, and nothing inside 14 miles of Sterling does either. Ask them where they send people, because a place without one usually has somewhere it refers to.

They treat teenagers as well as adults, which is the less common arrangement and worth confirming for Sterling specifically.

Outpatient only. Nobody stays overnight, so the week is built around appointments you travel to in Sterling.

They prescribe buprenorphine and naltrexone, which means the medication side is handled here rather than referred out to somewhere else in Sterling.

They offer telemedicine, so some of this can be done by video rather than traveling into Sterling.

Compare what each program provides rather than how each one describes itself. The programs that handle a co-occurring diagnosis and the ones that do not are a genuine fork in the road. Ask what kind of person this program is not right for. A good answer exists.

Many people are treated without leaving work at all, because outpatient programs are available evenings and early mornings. Where a workplace runs an assistance program it usually sits outside the management chain and keeps what it is told. Keep a copy of everything you send and every date you were given.