Alina Lodge

So I left this facility around the halfway mark (avg stay is 11-13 months despite what their web sight might say). First the positives...the councilors and staff generally do care for the students wellbeing. There is a lot of time there to sit with yourself and do some soul searching. You are isolated from drugs and alcohol, so you most likely will stay sober while there. The program is extremely structured...to the point of the movie “Groundhog Day”. This, however, can drive one crazy. You can get in good shape there playing basketball a few times a week with an outdoor hoop. Food there is pretty good....I’ll give it 3.5 stars (However not much selection).For recreation, there is a ping pong table and a pool table, which you can use after 3pm. Bourd games after 3pm.1 cup of weak coffee with breakfast and lunch. Now the negatives...Very old fashioned, extremely overpriced (plan on spending 120-130 GRAND if u want to complete their program). Shame based treatment, someone mentioned Archaic...I can agree with that. Almost ZERO “stimulation”...they consider things like music to be a distraction, so there are no head phones. Instead we’d have “music” once a week for 1 hour where we sit around and play some cd’s on a boom box. No weights or resistance machines...only resistance “bands”, which they’re very adamant about using one at a time. They’re also very adamant about not hooking them onto anything, like over a door or chair. When these bands become the highlight of your day, these seemingly pointless rules can be frustrating. Suits and ties are to be worn to dinner every night, where you spend an hour eating each meal. They ring a bell to indicate the meal is ready to be served, where you walk up single file one table at a time to eat. Basic cable on the house tv from 8-10, till 11 on weekends. The pace there is extremely slow...the “tincture of time” as they call it. No cigarettes, and no cell phones/ computers of course (these would be “distractions”). No regular phones either. A typical day includes 2 lectures (which I found mostly useless with some exceptions) and an AA/NA meeting taken there (which are free on the outside). Communication is confined to hand written letters, and who you can write/receive letters from is monitored. Visitations are extremely limited... if you have kids don’t plan on seeing them for the first 6-8 months. They convince your parents of basically “tough love”, so if you ever got any charity from them you can kiss that goodbye. They break you down and make you very aware of your “character defects”, the idea being that your defects will keep you in active addiction if you don’t work on them. Being vulnerable and crying to the group is encouraged. The females are on the other side of the campus, separated at all times, and strict rules are enforced not to talk to them or even to look at them (facilitators pace back and forth in the middle of the lunch room between the girl and boys, much like correctional officers. Their job is to “observe and report” aka ease drop on conversations, and log it in there “log book”). If you are a few minutes late to breakfast, you don’t receive your medication for the day (very limited Phych meds given). In general, you are treated like a child. Everything is pretty much done for you, so you leave without a sense of self-reliance. As the staff sees it, you leave without there blessing, whether it be a week early or 6 months early, your most definitely going to relapse and probably die. I left confident in myself, dispite them telling me I wasn’t ready and was throwing away everything I did there. I left with serious feelings of guilt and shame for “giving up”. They are very good at convincing you of this. And if you leave early, they basically drop you off at the train station or truck stop. No calling anyone to set up any type of transition towards your next living situation or help with any legwork. Their way or the highway....this is used as a deterant so you don’t leave. To not “surrender” to their program is to not surrender to sobriety, and they tell you that your screwed. They act like they have a monopoly on recovery. If you stay until the end they will usually send you to Dover NJ or Minnesota and set you up. You never get to leave the campus for anything while your there, unless you have a doctor, dentist, or probation appointment. I tried to be as unbiased and honest in this review, without showing my resentment towards the place. I hated being there. I transferred to another program and halfway house, which is a fraction of the price, modern, and with way more aminities. One thing I got from Alina was being grateful for the small things....which I could have gotten from prison, or even if I was dropped off on a desert island. I left because it’s not the way I wanted to get sober....it’s tough enough getting clean, feels like they are rubbing salt in the wound. Does it work? I’m sober today....just be ready to be very uncomfortable for a long time. Maybe explore your options first, being the year 2018?? I hope this helps anyone reading this to make a decision, god bless you all and good luck!!!!

I have been to Alina twice and it has been the only rehabs were I have been able to leave and maintain long term sobriety. It is a big scary step to take but alcoholism is no joke and Alina helped me recenter and find myself again and set me on a new and much better path. I never thought I could maintain sobriety and Alina gave me that hope and made it a reality. Thank you Alina!

Archaic, outdated program stressing shame and isolation as a means of recovery. Perhaps it was once effective for juvenile delinquents, but no one should ever send a loved one there. There are better treatment programs - look into them.

My daughter was at Alina Lodge for 12 months. She credits her time here for saving her life. Her words not mine. Her spiral down into addiction was a slow painful one for her and us, her family. She resented the rules and lack of freedom as most people would. We had told her she couldn't come home if she left treatment. We did our best to get her help for almost 3 years but nothing stuck, no outpatient program helped her overcome her destructive behavior. We watched her become a different person, one we didn't like but loved too much to give up on. She had other problems that she tried to self-medicate away; depression, anxiety, an eating disorder. After she was arrested for driving under the influence we knew we were outmatched by her addiction. We told her she must go to an inpatient program or leave home. She chose treatment. Alina Lodge wasn't where she wanted to be but the intensive program forced her to take a close look at her behavior and figure out how to change, how to deal with life's challenges without drugs or alcohol, how to believe on herself again. My husband and I are truly grateful that we have our daughter back again. She says Alina Lodge saved her life. We believe she saved herself with the Lodges help. We don't think she could have done it without them.

I am confident that were it not for Alina, my loved one would have succumbed to the disease of addiction. After a little more than a year he is restored to health and hopeful for his future. Alina helped us to understand the disease and its impact on not only the addict; but the family as well. Addict turned student (although some time reluctantly); we know that our student possess the tools and desire to remain sober. His brain has been given a chance to heal with free time and reflection as well as develop bonds with others in the community. Rules exist to enable training and discipline and from what I experienced the style was not punitive. We are grateful to Alina for having restored him to sanity and acknowledge the effort and dedication of the Alina team to remain true to their methodology that has provided many others before with peace and serenity. We are again hopeful! As far as the physical facility and food, some buildings are older but maintained and the food seemed nutritionally balanced.

This place saved my life, sober over 5 years now. Hands down the best rehab facility. Highly highly recommend.

My oldest son went there for 11 months. The first 6 he fought the program, the last four months were a thing of beauty as he finally discovered himself. Now my youngest is there. After all the out patient and 28 day programs, he also ended up at Alina. Addiction is all through our family, both sides, my wife's and mine. Yes they take away many things they deem not in your best interest. No smoking no caffeine. They break you down to where you finally look at yourself in a real way. There is nothing cruel, it is a lot of time spent in quiet reflection and study about addiction, no horseback riding and days spent at the gym. The thing is that the disease of addiction can't be pampered. The student at Alina is there to learn why they repeat this behavior. People get he idea that if they keep telling addicts how proud they are of them and they are so loved, that stuff is going to help them. It is not. You have to tell them how scared, disappointed and frustrated you are and that you are not going to help them in any way until they sit down and figure it out. But then we want that warm fuzzy. My mom did that with my brother, he overdosed after five years of her pampering and died. This is a get real place with a bit of tough love, they make the families get real with the addict. They make you say enough, it is time. Yes I love you but this time you must find out why you do this and start to love yourself and us in a real and meaningful way. Don't listen to those on here telling you this place is anything but the best place to get real with the world. Otherwise get ready to repeat the whole thing over and over until...

I was in Alina lodge for just under a year. I was court ordered to complete a treatment program. Alina lodge was my first rehab. I was physically addicted to heroin, and I needed help. My mother, not knowing what to do, consulted her psychologist and that is where she came across this place. I was married when I entered treatment. Alina and my family made it so that I only saw my wife twice in a year. The last time she came to visit me was about 8 months into my stay. She drove 5 hours to stay at a hotel down the street and see me for about 45 min. The 45 min consisted of me her and two councilors. They told her that, after 8 months, I was resisting treatment and being uncooperative. I voiced my frustrations to the councilors and my young wife. She left shortly after to drive the 6 hours back home. Fast forward two months later I was still in the lodge. I had seen people with multiple rehab stays come and graduate before me. The only difference between them and I seemed to be that their family pressed their release more than mine did. If your family wants you released within a certain time frame, you will get out in the 6 to 8 month range, otherwise you will be there for a year plus. I made it just over ten. I became disillusioned understandably, and constantly asked to be released to another facility. Finally I was released and driven to another facility in New Jersey called endeavor house. Again I was driven directly from Alina lodge to endeavor house, but Alina lodge still felt the need to write a letter to my probation office and inform him that I had violated the terms of my probation, which technically I did not do. I stayed another 3 months in the second facility and went to a sober house in Minneapolis, where several of the men that I had grown close to and for deep, emotional connections with from Alina lodge also attended after their release. When the director of Alina lodge found out I was staying with my friends in Minnesota, he urged the director of the sober house not to let me stay with people that I had grown close to. After 6 months I return to my home state of Massachusetts ...I did complete a treatment however so I only had to complete about 4 months more of probation. To make a long story short, Alina lodge offered no alternative treatment to me or my family, they wrote a letter to my probation officer misleading him into thinking I walked off property, and when I joined my sober friends in a sober house they protested my presence there. They charged my scared family 12500 dollars a month which they blindly paid because they were unaware of any alternative...

I brought my long-term partner to Alina Lodge for a second visit. He had underwent 10.5 months of inpatient treatment previously and was therefore offered a complimentary 30-days of inpatient following his relapse. Having lost his job and insurance, it seemed like the only option and despite my lesser review, we're very grateful for this opportunity for him to get sober again. Alina considers themselves superior to other treatment facilities because they don't entertain a set period of time before releasing their "students". Instead, they seek a guarantor who can provide the required $12,700+ per month. In our case, my partner's father had previously been the guarantor and was quickly contacted upon his admission to re-up a similar commitment. Should Alina respond to this post, they will certainly not reveal the legal release my partner was required to sign. To this day, I don't think I'll ever see it but let me share the outcome of the rights they obtained by way of this material document. I was not allowed to speak to him. In fact, only after 3 - 6 months would I be able to visit him on an authorized family day. Should that lucky day arrive for me, I'd spend the first half of it attending 4 - 6 hours of education. The letters we wrote to one another were monitored. He had to open my letters in front of a counselor to validate that there wasn't any substances or money (also called contraband). The letters he wrote me were postmarked a minimum of 3 days, often a week following his write date. I was also reprimanded for writing him 3 times in a single week and warned that my letters would be "returned to sender" if it was decided to cut me off. Prior to sending too many letters - I was contacted by his counselor just 2 weeks following his intake for a few reasons - 1) because I was writing him letters and 2) because he requested I be a part of his treatment (we talked prior to his admittance). The result of our conversation was an invitation for me to come to the Lodge for an "intervention". I was warned that his would not be a fun conversation with the "student" but necessary for his treatment, especially now that he was sober and could process it better than those pre-treatment. I agreed and trusted their guidance. I arrived to merely an interrogation about who I was and what my relationship as a "former" girlfriend to the student was. There was no intention of including the "student". I learned that previously his family bought into the isolation and shame that Alina uses to treat "repeat offenders". In that 10.5 months, he had previously not seen or heard from a family member until after 6 months of in-patient stay. And it was then that his father was instructed to visit for a scripted confrontation. I learned that upon his previous release he needed to accept a recommended half-way house (more financial commitment btw), which was a good distance from anybody he would need to reconnect with (2 young children, career contacts and even his parents/family). The belief is that a student needs to disassociate with a former life and recreate a new one. The clinical director told me that his children would be "very angry" when I asked about this possible repeat. If you are looking to put your loved one in a jail-like setting and have them isolated, this is the place. If you believe in a recovery that includes the support and care of loved ones (several modern day treatments are this way), then you will regret sending your addicted family member to Alina Lodge. It isn't your fault that your loved one is an addict and it should be your decision to stay or leave. Alina will lie to family and students alike to enact "their plan". And by the way, they will not tell you or the student what their plan is. They will only bill an exhausted family month after month while telling the hopeful student that "they're not ready". In my research of practical, modern day treatments (in particular those that recover positive parts of the former life), I learned a few things. Inpatient treatments that exceed normal amounts of time (30 - 90 days) don't help addicts learn to cope in a functioning, practical environment. Building a network that supports a day-to-day lifestyle is something post in-patient and crucial to long-term success. Not a surprise that the best of Alina's students will struggle only 3 months after release. And their plan to relocate students to far away places that don't entertain family or career, it adds difficulty to building a supportive life on the outside. I'm fortunate that my loved one wanted to succeed, released himself (despite the suggestion of failure) and developed a support network in the real world. We (his family and I) were frightened to take him back without an established alternative plan. But the reality is that we couldn't talk to him to establish an out patient alternative. We just had to remove him from an unfavorable environment while believing in his character and will to recover. Good luck with your loved one and I hope this review helps you make a more informed decision. It doesn't do me any good to spend time writing such a review but I wish that someone else would have done the same for me.

Very misguided approach to addiction treatment. Punitive approach. Near incarceration conditions.,

Alina saved my life but there really is no program. You sit and do nothing most of the day . It's not 6-9 months . It's 12 months. You feel manipulated the whole time your there but hey, that's what most addicts have been doing in active addiction so maybe that's part of the deal. Your forced to be honest and that's what we struggled with. Would I recommend Alina ,yes but not for more then 6-8 months . It's pointless after 4. But im sober, and getting my life back in an honest way.

A “no-nonsense” approach should cost a no-nonsense amount. 12-step. Yes, pick up your packet - depending on the counselor, and hope to get some time with them. Meanwhile, walk around in a parking lot, sit in quiet time, can't eat an apple where you live, can't even depend on where you are going to live the next day. Write permission to see your counselor, write permission to do anything. Pay extra for your laundry (overpriced) and also 3x as much for basic necessities from a pharmacy in town that should be put out of business. Degrading and ignorant place that rakes in money. All it does it hold you away from your drug of choice and treat you like you are a villain. You have to dress a certain way for dinner and have to sit at the table for every meal for a set amount of time. "Boys and Girls" can't communicate or look at each other so instead of closing the door between the two "bad" factors, the have people revolve around your table. The attitude that addicts and alcoholics need to go to boot camp sits right with the notion that women shouldn't vote. It is outdated and almost barbaric.

Finally had a chance to het honest, they demand it. Confusing u never no when u are leaving You truly need to go there and be honest

Treatment-wise, their approach is really terrible. It's true, there is a way for everyone, and some say it works for them. But I think that if one responds best to discipline and punishment and shaming, there are bigger issues in the long run. ... I left before the end of the program and found my sobriety with regular counselors.

Alina Lodge is the only place that worked for me and countless others who are reluctant to recover.

I am sober for 6 years now but not as a result of Alina. Counselor was not honest and they had us listen to tapes of a very strange lady who founded the place.

Our daughter is still at the facility but from what I understand, it is helping her and is more "strict" with her than other treatment centers have been (which is a good thing).

Alina Lodge is a longer , undetermined term treatment center for drug and alcohol addiction. The length of stay , in my case 11 months, was crucial as it allowed me to feel safe in a rehab setting and for me to start to develop relationships with my counselor and my peers.

Helped me out.

All good counselors left and went to a different recovery site.

My after care consisted of sober living/outpatient services.

The recovery program was based on the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and the adherence to the group programs and counselor sessions. There were strict rules that were enforced. If broken the student was expelled. The philosophy... was "A tincture of time" In other words you stayed at the Lodge until you were released with a good foundation of recovery. If not you stayed until they said you were ready. There's now a broad based recovery program there now. I don't know what it's like now because they now offer more programs for over eating or smoking or sex etc. Multiple addictions etc so it I far different than when I was there. It's really expensive right now. I could not afford it. It's cheaper to stay sober.