Can I have my phone in treatment?

Phone access comes through your clinician or during designated times, at every level of care. Your admissions coordinator walks you through the specifics before arrival so there are no surprises. The reason for limits is focus, not punishment, and emergencies always have a channel through staff.

Can my family visit or call?

Family contact starts early: your recovery supports are identified at admission and contacted within the first 24 hours, with your consent. From there, scheduled calls, approved visits, and family therapy sessions, in person or virtual, are planned with the clinical team. Our outpatient family education program also connects loved ones with others who have lived experience.

What if I arrive and want to leave?

Treatment at Longview is voluntary, and wanting to leave in the first days is common enough to be expected. The urge usually peaks exactly when withdrawal does, which is not a coincidence. Staff will talk it through with you honestly rather than block the door, and most people who stay through day three are glad they did.

Rooms are a mix of private and two-bed rooms, assigned by availability and clinical need. Your admissions coordinator can tell you the current setup when you call. Either way, rooms are for sleeping. The treatment happens everywhere else.

Yes, in designated outdoor areas, with several scheduled times through the day to get outside. Massachusetts law prohibits smoking indoors, so the outdoor spaces are the smoking spaces, and the daily schedule builds in fresh-air time.

Can I check in with work while I'm here?

There are designated times for internet and device access, and if something genuinely can’t wait, a plan gets made with your clinical team. The default is still a real break: treatment works better when it has your full attention.

Can my family send mail or packages?

Yes. Mail and packages are screened and opened with staff before you receive them, which keeps the environment safe for everyone.

What about money and valuables?

Bring $50 to $100 in spending money if you like, plus a card. It’s screened, documented, and stored with your belongings. Anything genuinely valuable is better left at home: if you choose to keep valuables with you, they’re your responsibility.

Is there a dress code?

Casual and comfortable, with proper footwear. Skip anything portraying drug use, violence, or sexual content, and anything tight or revealing. Staff can ask you to change, and flagged items are stored with your belongings until discharge. One more thing: this is New England, so pack for the weather changing its mind.

Can I go to AA or NA meetings, or religious services?

Yes. Recovery support meetings like AA and NA come after the day’s clinical programming, and staff will build a plan for access to religious services or other supports that help you. All of it is voluntary, and all of it is encouraged.

What to Expect

The first call

Fifteen minutes, one admissions coordinator, no obligation. You describe what’s been going on, they ask about substances, health, and insurance, and by the end you know whether Longview fits and what happens next. If you’re calling for someone else, all of this works the same way. Coverage verification usually comes back the same day.

Arrival and the first 24 hours

Arrival day is intake, and we keep it humane. Paperwork, a medical evaluation by nursing staff, a conversation with a clinician, and a search of your belongings, standard in every licensed facility, handled respectfully. If you’re starting in detox, a doctor sets your medication protocol that day and the only job you have for the rest of it is resting. Your recovery supports are identified at admission and contacted within the first 24 hours, if you’ve consented to that.

What detox days feel like

Days one through three are the roughest, and medication keeps them manageable. Nurses check on you around the clock. You sleep a lot, eat when you can, and nobody expects you at group therapy while your body is doing its hardest work. Somewhere around day three to five, sleep and appetite start returning, and that’s when treatment planning conversations begin.

Daily life in residential treatment

Structured and full, on purpose. Mornings start at a set time with breakfast and a group session. Afternoons hold individual therapy, specialized groups, and case management work on what comes after. Evenings are dinner, recovery meetings, and actual downtime. Meals are prepared on site, with dietary needs, vegetarian, allergies, religious, routed to the kitchen and nursing team at intake, rooms are a mix of private and two-bed rooms, assigned by availability and clinical need, and phone access comes through your clinician or during designated times. Weekends stay programmed, lighter but not empty, because unstructured Saturdays are where early recovery goes sideways.

What to bring to rehab

The short version: documents, a week of comfortable clothes, sealed toiletries, and your medications in their original bottles. The longer version:

Documents: photo ID, your insurance card (plus the primary subscriber’s information if the plan isn’t yours), and any medical records or prescription lists.
Clothes: enough for 7 to 10 days, several tops and bottoms, kept to a minimum because storage is tight. Laundry is on site with detergent provided, and a send-out service is available. This is New England: pack a sweatshirt, a jacket, and something for rain.
Toiletries: sealed and unopened, enough for about 30 days, with nothing containing alcohol in the ingredients. We will provide basics if you run short. Bring your glasses and any medical devices, like a CPAP.
Medications: unopened, in original containers, labeled with dosage. Our team stores and administers them as your prescribers direct, and you leave with a 14-day supply or enough to reach your next appointment. If you can’t bring them, bring the details instead: what it is, who prescribes it, the dose, the pharmacy, and when you last took it.
Money: $50 to $100 in spending money, plus a card if you want one. Everything is screened, documented, and stored with your belongings.
Electronics: phone, laptop, tablet, or e-reader. Screened on arrival, used during designated times with staff present, and stored securely in between.
Small comforts: books, a notebook, pens, writing paper and stamps, photos of your people, and a list of contacts with addresses and phone numbers.

What to leave at home

Alcohol and drugs, weapons and sharp objects, aerosols, toiletries that contain alcohol, anyone else’s prescriptions or anything outside its original container, nail polish and remover, candles and incense, and clothing that references drugs or alcohol. Everything you bring goes through a search-and-approval process. Items that aren’t approved are stored with your belongings and returned at discharge, and anything left behind is held for 14 days. When in doubt, ask admissions before arrival. They answer this daily.

Discharge planning starts early

From roughly the midpoint of your stay, your therapist and case manager are building the exit: outpatient appointments scheduled, prescriptions squared away, recovery supports mapped near your home, family sessions completed, and a written relapse prevention plan you helped draft. Discharge day itself is unglamorous by design. You leave with a folder, a plan, and appointments that start within days, because the first two weeks home are where aftercare earns its name.