San Francisco General Hospital - Opiate Treatment Outpatient Program

They offer outpatient and telemedicine. Which one fits is usually decided by how much structure the first few weeks need, and San Francisco has 8 other centers within 14 miles.

No. The nearest place that does offer one is in San Francisco, under a mile away.

Some of what they do can happen remotely. Ask which parts, because it is rarely all of them and the 8 centers near San Francisco differ on it.

Alongside this, San Francisco has 35 NA meetings and 564 free AA meetings.

They offer a program for people who are pregnant or just postpartum, which not every center around San Francisco does.

What you take comes with you, in the original labeled containers, and is reviewed on arrival. Pill organizers are often refused at the door, because medication has to arrive labeled. Take the labeled containers rather than a week of loose pills in an organizer.

It is a screening conversation: what is being used, how much, your health, and what you are covered for. The person answering is usually trained to screen rather than to treat, so the clinical detail comes at the assessment. Ask what they would recommend if money were not a factor, and then what they recommend given that it is.

Expect days for withdrawal management, weeks for a residential program, and months for anything outpatient. The early part of any program is mostly stabilizing, and the work people picture when they think of treatment starts after that. Ask what the criteria for leaving are, because some programs have them written down.