In any given year, < 10% of people diagnosed with alcohol use disorder receive treatment, and many do not receive the type of care that best fits their needs. Two reasons may be that they don’t know where to turn for help, or they may not know that they have more treatment options beyond a mutual help group or long-term residential rehabilitation facility.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has developed a new online tool that may help. The “comprehensive, yet easy-to-use” Alcohol Treatment Navigator was developed “to help address the alcohol ‘treatment gap,’” said NIAAA Director George Koob, PhD. It’s based on decades of scientific research into clinical interventions and health services with input from patients, providers, and researchers.
The Navigator includes an overview of alcohol use disorder and a description of professionally led treatment options. It also gives step-by-step instructions for searching online directories of treatment providers, 10 questions to ask a provider, and signs of quality to listen for. A downloadable tool kit helps organize and simplify the search process.