Nasha mukti kendra in Punjab.

Six things to check before you admit him anywhere

Most families ring three or four places and then pick one, usually on a feeling. A feeling is not a bad guide, but these six questions will tell you more than any brochure. Ask them of us and of everybody else you call.

• Is there a psychiatrist on the staff, or one who visits? This is the single biggest difference between centres, and it decides whether the fourth month holds. A doctor who comes twice a week cannot treat what is behind the drug.
• What is the registration number? Not whether they are registered. The number. Then look at which district issued it and in which year.
• How long is the programme, and what happens after detox? If the answer is three or four weeks, that is detox only. The body gets treated and the mind does not.
• Can we come and see the place first? Any centre that is reluctant has told you something. You should be able to walk in, with him or without him.
• Who is awake at three in the morning? Ask what staff are actually on duty at night, because that is when the first week gets dangerous.
• What happens to his name and his photograph? Get the answer before admission, not after.

Our own registration number is 24/HMH/2017-18. The HMH in it stands for Hanumangarh, which is the district the licence was issued in, and it has been in force since 2017. We say that plainly rather than leaving it to be discovered, and there is more about it on the Hanumangarh page.

ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਵਿੱਚ

ਕੇਂਦਰ ਚੁਣਨ ਤੋਂ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਤਿੰਨ ਗੱਲਾਂ ਪੁੱਛੋ। ਆਪਣਾ ਮਨੋਰੋਗ ਡਾਕਟਰ ਹੈ ਜਾਂ ਨਹੀਂ, ਰਜਿਸਟਰੇਸ਼ਨ ਨੰਬਰ ਕੀ ਹੈ, ਤੇ ਇਲਾਜ ਕਿੰਨਾ ਚਿਰ ਚਲਦਾ ਹੈ। ਆਸਰਾ ਦੇ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਵਿੱਚ ਡਰੋਲੀ ਭਾਈ, ਮੋਗਾ ਤੇ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਮੁਕਤਸਰ ਸਾਹਿਬ ਵਿਖੇ ਨੇ। ਆਪਣਾ ਮਨੋਰੋਗ ਡਾਕਟਰ, 50 ਬੈੱਡ, ਸਟਾਫ਼ ਚੌਵੀ ਘੰਟੇ। ਫ਼ੋਨ +91 83601 40700।

हिंदी में

केंद्र चुनने से पहले तीन बातें पूछिए। अपना मनोरोग डॉक्टर है या नहीं, रजिस्ट्रेशन नंबर क्या है, और इलाज कितने समय चलता है। आसरा के केंद्र पंजाब में डरोली भाई, मोगा और श्री मुक्तसर साहिब में हैं। अपना मनोरोग डॉक्टर, 50 बेड, स्टाफ़ चौबीस घंटे। फ़ोन +91 83601 40700।

The free government route, honestly described

Punjab runs the OOAT programme, which provides outpatient opioid treatment at low or no cost through a large number of clinics across the state, and de-addiction treatment also runs through civil hospitals and district health services.

We will not talk you out of it. For a good number of families it is the right first step, and plenty of people have got better through it.

What you should know is what it is and what it is not. It is outpatient. He goes, takes the medicine, and comes home to the same street, the same phone and the same friends. For a man whose problem is mainly physical dependence and whose home is otherwise steady, that can be enough. For a man who cannot get through one afternoon at home without going back to it, it usually is not, and the family ends up ringing a residential centre a few months later.

What is available and what it costs changes from time to time, so confirm the current position directly with the civil hospital or your district health office rather than trusting anything you read online, including this page.

Where our centres are

In Punjab, at Daroli Bhai in Moga district and at Sri Muktsar Sahib. We also run centres at Hanumangarh in Rajasthan and at Mandi Dabwali in Haryana, both close to the Punjab line, and families from Punjab use those as well.

One number covers all of them, and admission does not depend on which state your address proof is from.

• Moga, our main centre
• Sri Muktsar Sahib
• Hanumangarh, Rajasthan
• Mandi Dabwali, Haryana

We also have pages written for families in Bathinda, Barnala, Faridkot, Firozpur, Abohar, Malout and Kotkapura.

What the treatment involves

About four months, residential throughout, in three stages. The programme is the same at every one of our centres.

• Medical detox first, under supervision, because the first week is the dangerous one. What detox involves.
• Counselling, daily, individual and in groups, which is where the reason behind the drug gets dealt with rather than parked.
• Rehabilitation, the part most places skip. Routine, yoga, gym, sports, and enough time for the habit to lose its grip. The full programme.

What is treated here: chitta and heroin, doda and post, alcohol, smack, ganja, medical store tablets, and the mental health side that sits behind most of them.

Bringing someone who does not want to come

Almost nobody arrives at a de-addiction centre willingly. If he is refusing, that is not a reason to wait, it is the usual starting point.

Ring and tell us the whole situation, including the parts that are hard to say on the phone. We have handled this a few hundred times and we will tell you what has worked for families in the same position. Never plan it alone at the last minute, and never make a promise you cannot keep, because it costs you his trust for months afterwards.

Confidentiality

No name and no photograph leaves any of our centres without written permission from the family. The men in our video testimonials chose to speak. Most families do not, and that is completely normal.