Every day Release My Super picks up the phone – “Can you help me? I need to get into rehab”. There’s a sense of defeat or urgency in every call, which fades when we go through the process of how to release their super to get them into a private program.
“I didn’t know you could use your super to pay for rehab” – is invariably the response on the other end of the phone. Rehab is not something most people plan for, and it is not something they have been saving for.
The cost of rehab
The cost varies considerably and because of this how do you pay for rehab?
- A loan from a parent, which often is never paid back?
- A loan from a loan shark?
- A loan from your friendly bank?
- Can I get a loan for rehab?
The story of rehab
The public system in Australia is unable to cope with the demand of patients requiring rehab and mental health treatment. Even private rehab centres in Australia are struggling to meet the demand.
Which came first the chicken or the egg? There is NO quick fix and those who become your medical team have often undertaken years of study and have years of experience in their field of treatment. Psychologists, Psychiatrists, Counsellors are not cheap.
Fred’s story
Fred has been on ice for 3 years. He was able to hold a job and was diagnosed as a high functioning addict, until recently.
Fred doesn’t have enough money to pay for rehab. He has done some research but with the Covid19 restrictions as at the time of writing cannot easily jump across the invisible Covid borders. Fred has lost his job through Covid times and his mental health has declined whilst his consumption of ice has increased.
Fred doesn’t recognise his personality is changing, but his “non drug friends” are distancing themselves from him, telling him to get some help. “I don’t need rehab – that’s for druggies”.
So, let’s take a breath here. Fred uses ice, which is a drug and his use has increased. If rehab is not for those like Fred, then who is it for? Should it be free? Should we have to pay for it? https://goldcoastdetoxandrehab.com/who-is-rehab-for/
Fred is fictious, but very real as drugs effect the way we think and there are many Fred’s walking around in society.
A drug addict in a suit
Not all drug addicts become thieves or end up in goal. Many hold respectable positions, nurses, lawyers, doctors, paramedics, mums and dads. Drugs, whether we are speaking alcohol, ice (today’s number one problem drug), prescription drugs , opioids, cocaine or a combination of several drugs – the result is always the same. People get hurt, mothers, fathers, grandparents and children.
Mental Health in 2020
Mental health is widely discussed these days and the stigma attached to it previously seems to have lost its sting. Mental health is out in the open, yet so many still don’t know how to access treatment.
Release My Super specialises in assisting clients to release super to pay for mental health and addiction. We have relationships with mental health services and clinics and ensure all the strain is taken away from what can be an extremely stressful period for the client and their support team (family normally).
It is my super
Our superannuation is for when we retire, to ensure we have enough to live on. However, many of our clients face a very bleak outcome if they do not receive treatment.
Can’t they go to a public clinic?
Unfortunately, those public clinics have waiting lists that are even longer since I started typing this blog.
Australia is the lucky country and it is, because WE HAVE SUPERANNUATION and we have a Government that at the time of writing recognises the public purse cannot fund the mental health and addiction problems we have in this country but allow early access of super to do so.
It saddens me to see lives torn apart because of drugs and alcohol, families breakdown and the cost to the community is enormous in terms of social disintegration, loss of input to society and being unproductive in work environments.
Paying for rehab – Read More
Kathie Baker
