Comprehensive Approach to Treatment

Our treatment approach combines many important elements to ensure the highest possibility of recovery and lasting wellness for our clients. If necessary, you will first undergo a comprehensive detox process. Then we proceed with our core psychological treatments, which include evidence-based behavioural therapies and essential wellness therapies.

All the while, you receive numerous opportunities for fun, exercise, and diversion – as recovery works best when it is part of a revitalising and empowering holistic process. Yet our commitment to positive outcomes does not end when you leave Hesten Hill Rehab. Recovery and wellness are lifelong endeavours, and the first months after leaving rehab are crucial. That’s why we offer both relapse prevention and online counselling, to ensure that the gains you make are real and long-lasting.

The approach in more detail

All of the elements of our treatment approach are designed to work in conjunction with each other to promote physical, mental, and spiritual healing along with lasting wellness.

Medical Detox

We conduct an initial phone assessment to determine whether you require an onsite detox or, in severe cases, admission to our partner hospital for an initial period. On arrival, you will receive a full physical and mental health evaluation from our doctor, followed by an additional mental health assessment from our psychiatrist. A detox plan is then put in place, with your progress carefully monitored and supported throughout. To ensure you are comfortable during the detox process, we provide 24-hour on-site nursing services, along with regular doctor visits.

Psychological Therapy   

Our psychological therapy programme includes cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT). Through therapy, you will learn practical ways to change the harmful patterns of thinking that are at the root of addiction and develop effective coping strategies. Once you learn to embrace more beneficial patterns of thinking, you can begin to heal, build the foundations for a better life, and more constructively deal with future challenges.

Trauma Treatment

Substance abuse and behavioural addictions are often linked to trauma. Traumatic experiences have lasting underlying effects that make it difficult to go about daily life. People who have experienced trauma often self-medicate with drugs, alcohol, or other risky behaviours. To treat trauma, we use eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR) as well as trauma release exercises (TRE). EMDR and TRE both work to alleviate the stress associated with traumatic memories, by allowing you to better process and resolve traumatic events in your past.

The 12-Step Minnesota Model

The 12-Step Minnesota Model was pioneered in the 1950s and popularised by Alcoholics Anonymous, first in the United States and then worldwide. It has since become one of the most widely used methods for treating addiction and maintaining a healthy life of sobriety. While the Model originally had roots in the Christian faith, it now has a more secular application that centres around admitting one’s powerlessness over addiction, abstaining from harmful substances, making amends, and setting forward on a better path.

Mindfulness Meditation

Mindfulness meditation simply involves paying attention to thoughts and sensations as they occur, without placing judgment on them. While this task sounds simple, in practice it is no easy to feat to train one’s mind to pay attention to its own psychological processes without becoming lost in thought. Practising mindfulness can be very helpful when used in conjunction with behavioural therapy, as it allows the practitioner to identify harmful thoughts and deal with them in a more constructive manner. The practice has roots in Buddhism, and our location in Thailand allows us to provide some additional variations that can improve both the experience and the results. These include walking cup meditation, singing bowl meditation, candlelit meditation, and monk-led chanting meditation.

Relapse prevention and aftercare

As part of the treatment programme, you will be given a tailor-made relapse prevention plan, which includes helpful techniques to manage cravings as well as a plan of action should a relapse occur. We also offer comprehensive aftercare in the form of both group and individual online counselling sessions. As mentioned above, the journey to lasting wellness truly begins after rehab, which is why we continue our support long after your stay has ended.

Other holistic and alternative elements

In addition to the main programme, we also offer a range of supplementary treatments, therapies, and activities designed to both reinforce the gains made in treatment and provide you with a diverting and memorable experience. These include exciting off-site excursions, full spa therapy sessions, nutrition plans, and delicious meals. We also give you access to a personal trainer, Pilates classes, Muay Thai training, yoga, acupuncture, aqua therapy, and art therapy.

Our treatment programme features: