Spectrum Health Systems, Inc., a private nonprofit organization with 18 locations across Massachusetts, provides treatment for adult and adolescent men and women struggling with substance abuse and mental health disorders. The facility on Merrick Street in Worcester, Mass. is one of the three Spectrum Health Systems centers in the city and offers outpatient services. It is the largest outpatient site in the Spectrum network.
TREATMENT & ASSESSMENT
Clients undergo a three- to four-hour comprehensive evaluation, including a physical exam and toxicology testing, before admission. Personalized recovery plans are developed based on the findings. Same-day treatment approval requires clients to be experiencing withdrawal symptoms and to have refrained from illicit drug use for 12 hours.
The Spectrum Health Systems facility offers a range of outpatient services, including substance abuse counseling on an individual, group, and family basis. The facility also provides a medication-assisted treatment (MAT) program for clients struggling with opioid addiction that utilizes methadone, Suboxone, and Vivitrol for detoxification and/or longer term maintenance.
A three-week intensive outpatient program (IOP) is available for individuals who require more structured outpatient care. This program includes daily individual counseling and group therapy sessions, weekly in-depth individual sessions, and family groups.
The facility also offers a mandatory 16-week driver’s alcohol education program for court-referred clients with a first-time DUI conviction. Mental health services, such as clinical assessment, treatment planning, counseling, and medication management, are also available.
STAFF CREDENTIALS
No information regarding the treatment staff at this specific location is provided by the facility. However, four respondents to the Best-rehabs.com survey rated the Worcester staff’s level of training and experience an average of four out of five stars.
ACCOMMODATIONS & AMENITIES
The Spectrum Health System treatment center in Worcester is located in a quaint building on a picturesque street. It is within walking distance of downtown Worcester and near Interstate 290.
WHAT ALUMNI SAY
Two alumni polled by Best-rehabs.com expressed positive views of the Spectrum Health System facility. They awarded perfect five out of five stars for treatment effectiveness and meals/nutrition, as well as four stars for accommodations/amenities. One alum mentioned that the facility never gave up on them and that they got clean in 1995 and became a drug counselor in Texas. They initially chose the facility because of its medication-assisted program.
WHAT FRIENDS & FAMILY SAY
Three reviews from loved ones surveyed by Best-rehabs.com leaned toward the positive side. They indicated that they would recommend the facility, giving an average rating of 4.3 out of five stars in that category. Other categories received lower ratings, with counseling options and staff experience averaging 3.7 out of five stars, and family participation and holistic offerings averaging three out of five stars. One anonymous loved one appreciated the knowledgeable staff and trained clinicians.
WHAT STAFF SAY
An anonymous former staffer provided a moderately positive review of the Spectrum Health Systems facility in Worcester, rating treatment effectiveness three out of five stars, and accommodations/amenities and meals/nutrition four stars. This employee suggested that a longer stay of care and follow-up would reduce the chance of relapse.
FINANCING
According to its website, Spectrum Health Systems accepts Medicaid and a number of private health insurances. Self-pay options are also available on a sliding scale based on income.
Spectrum Health Systems, Inc. Reviews
I have’t had to go back to a detox in 17yrs.Not that I got sober at the spectrum program .Get up make your bed. Clean the bathroom 1st morning waking you up dead dope sick I don’t know if they still run it that,OG’S REMEMBER,but anyway I got in last month,all the paperwork u sign gives them permission to call all your Dr’swell I seen it after it was on her desk and I took it back so they discharge me haaah,then the 6 pairs of undeclothing they said and gave me back 3 good sport underwear white Ty’s back. How do they lose ur stuff in 30 minutes.That place has always terrible for me anyway. Call a different detox!!!!! Very rude ALSO .BRIAN KING 101
It seems like most of their It seems like most of the reviewers must have gone here years ago.
I've been to at least a dozen programs, including some of the most respected, not to mention most expensive, facilities in the state. Spectrum's (New England Recovery Center's) residential program is by far the best.
Just to counter a few of the other reviews that may be old:
-the family program is one of the most important pieces of spectrum. They have a weekly meeting to educate family members which, given how informed my family already is on addiction Issues, was surprisingly helpful. From the moment you go in, they involve your family, because they realize how important your family support is not only in treatment but in your Aftercare program. If you don't want your family involved, they don't push it, and family is to find however you want. If you want your boyfriend or best friend to be as involved as family, that's fine with them.
- the detox and residential program are both in state-of-the-art buildings. the building for the residential program was opened in 2015, and it includes a fitness room that you are encouraged to use, a large dining room that does not at all feel like a hospital kitchen, comfortable family meeting rooms, plenty of single bathrooms with showers, and double and triple bedrooms (mostly doubles) that each have multiple windows. Since the front wall is mostly glass, it lets in a LOT of light. The whole place is clean, modern, and comfortable, and it escapes the constricting, run down, sterile hospital feel that many programs in MA are plagued by.
-I had no problems with either my private insurance or MassHealth.
-They are extremely understanding and compassionate.
-They exceptionally holistic for a substance abuse program. Yoga twice a week, massages, a new cardio room, a meditation garden (in the process of being built), SMART recovery meetings in addition to 12-step groups, mindfulness, nutritional counseling, art therapy, EMDR, gender-responsive treatment...how much more holistic can you get at a 2-4 week program?
Disclosure: I was supposed to go to Spectrum 9 years ago, but the program I was at at the time decided the population at Spectrum at the time consisted of "too many aggressive men," and they feared I would be too anxious. That was 9 years ago, though. Things have changed.
This place is absolutely useless. I was a patient there per court order. Spectrum messed up billing my insurance so many times that it resulted in missed appointments that were required by court. In the end spectrum figured out how to bill my insurance, after I stopped going there and went to the VA. Thankfully there was a direct paper trail proving Spectrum's incompetence, otherwise my legal issues would have been greatly magnified. Absolutely do not bother wasting your time with Spectrum
It helped me to start my life over they have pretty good resources to move on to the next level of treatment groups are good and counseling was good. One thing I didn't like is that it wasn't clean.
Staff is well educated and willing to help. No gym or workout area. Spectrum offers methadone assisted detox treatment.