4 Reasons Why It’s Good To Travel Away From Home for Drug Rehab

Should I Travel for Rehab or Go to a Local Drug Rehabilitation Center?

We often get the question on whether a family member should travel to a drug or alcohol treatment outside their state or area, or go to a local treatment center.

There are pros and cons to both.

Predominantly, we think it’s often a healthier choice for both family members and individuals to travel to treatment farther away from home.


We help people with addictions and substance use disorders recover. Get mindfulness training and learn the 12 Steps for deeper healing.


Too Easy to Leave Treatment When You’re Local

Treatment for drug addiction gets emotional, especially if you have an underlying mental health issue. In most cases, people with substance use disorder and alcoholism have buried their emotions.

They have not dealt with them. When they become sober, those emotions and feelings are all staring them in the face. They must deal with them. Emotional outbursts and feeling pain can happen in treatment.

Most people who come to treatment want to heal from past trauma, mistakes and self-induced pain.

But it gets emotional.

If you are going to treatment locally and you are at the height of an emotional outburst, it’s easy to call a family member or a friend to ask them to pick you up.

When you are at an out of state drug rehab, it’s more difficult to call someone to pick you up. Instead, you’re more likely to work through your emotional outburst.

Space for the Family to Heal from Drug Addiction

Drug addiction and alcoholism affects the entire family.

Younger kids feel unloved from the lack of attention while parents feel guilt and shame and worry about their other child who is addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Addiction is a chronic disease and affects the family as well as the person with substance use disorder. Often families do not understand their role in the addiction.

It can help a family to have space from the person who is addicted so they can treat their own mental health issues.

Get Away from Old “Friends”

The circles of people addicts use with do not have the best interest of the people who are trying to recover.

Actually, the book of Alcoholics Anonymous states that we are without defense against the first drink.
We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago.

Instead, the alcoholic or addict will reminisce about what it was like hanging out with using buddies. They will not think about why they came to drug rehab in the first place.

Outside Comfort Zone

Being able to immediately go back into your environment really gives you an excuse to avoid examining yourself.

Often we have left a path of destruction, harmed relationships and legal problems behind us. It can be scary to face these and to feel the emotional turmoil inside and from others.

If you can just leave treatment and slip back into the old way of living, it will sound like an easier option than cleaning up the past and taking care of your psyche.

About Renewal Lodge

Renewal Lodge is owned by Burning Tree Programs, a family-owned treatment company that provides ethical treatment. Call our admission specialists who will help you find the best program for you and your family.

Find Healing At Renewal Lodge

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Dear Renewal Lodge Visitors,

My name is John Bruna, co-founder of the Mindfulness in Recovery® Institute, and more importantly, a grateful member of the recovery community. I am incredibly fortunate to have found my recovery in 1984. Of course, I did not achieve continuous recovery through willpower or my own efforts, but through the guidance and caring support of countless others that selflessly taught me how to live through the 12 Steps.

My journey of recovery brought this once homeless, shame-based, traumatized, insecure young man to a life far beyond anything I could have ever imagined. I discovered self-worth, the joy of helping others, the gifts of parenting and grandparenting, and most importantly the ability to live a meaningful and purposeful life with integrity.

One of the greatest gifts of recovery is that I have the opportunity to give back and help others discover their self-worth, dignity, and the skills to fully live lives that they find truly meaningful. This is the inspiration for developing the skills of Mindfulness in Recovery® (MIR) to meet the needs of new generations struggling with alcohol and other substance use disorders. MIR is a set of evidence-based skills designed to help people fully integrate their tools of recovery in ways that are personalized, practical, and in alignment with their deepest values.

While we train counselors and therapists throughout the United States and abroad, I personally have chosen to work directly with the amazing team and clients at Renewal Lodge to develop the model MIR 12-step program for the nation. I choose Renewal Lodge because of the vision of its mission and the dedication of its team. Renewal Lodge is an extremely rare environment in which the staff embodies the very mindfulness and 12-step practices and skills they offer their clients. The results have been beyond my expectations. It is an honor to be here and I treasure my personal time with every client I meet.

With Gratitude,

John Bruna
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John Bruna
Director of Mindfulness
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