For families · Hopkins, Minnesota
Help for Families: When Someone You Love Needs Treatment
Family support through outpatient addiction treatment in Minneapolis, starting with a phone call you can make before your person is ready to.
Northwoods Haven Recovery works with families across Minneapolis and the Twin Cities from our outpatient center in Hopkins. About half of the people who call us are a spouse, parent, sibling, or adult child calling about someone else. If that is you, you are in the right place, and you do not need your person’s permission to ask questions.
We can explain how treatment works, what an assessment involves, what insurance covers, and how to talk to someone who is not ready to hear it. You will hang up with a clearer picture and something to do next.
Who calls
About half of our calls come from a family member
What we can share
How the program, assessment, and insurance work
Family involvement
Part of treatment when the client wants it
Level of care
Outpatient: your person comes home after every session
Where you stand
You cannot make the call for them. You can make one for yourself.
Loving someone with a substance use disorder means living with a problem you did not cause and cannot fix alone. You have probably tried talking, waiting, pleading, and covering for them, and you may not be sure anymore which of those helped. What you can do from where you stand is learn how treatment actually works, understand what your options are, and change how you respond, whether or not your person changes yet.
When you call about someone else, the first conversation is about you as much as them. We ask what you are seeing, how long it has been going on, and what you have already tried. We explain the chemical use assessment, both levels of outpatient care, and how insurance verification works. If your person needs detox or a higher level of care first, we say so and help you find it.
What we can tell you, and what stays private
- How the Intensive Outpatient Program and the Relapse Prevention Program work, including schedules and length
- What the chemical use assessment involves and how your person gets one
- Which insurance plans we are in-network with and how verification works
- How to talk to your person about treatment, and what tends to shut the conversation down
- What resources exist for you, including family support groups and your own counseling
- What we cannot share: a client's information, attendance, or progress without their written consent. That protection is theirs, and it applies to the people who love them too.
If your person becomes a client: they decide what you are told and how involved you are. Many people choose to include their family, and when they do, we welcome it. When they do not, we still cannot share details, but we can keep talking with you about how to support them and yourself.
How it works
Three steps, and you can take the first one alone
You do not need your person on board to begin. The first step is yours, the second is theirs, and the third involves both of you when they are ready.
01
You call and talk it through
Tell us what you are seeing. We answer your questions, explain the options honestly, and help you plan how to approach your person. If you are not sure treatment is even the right word yet, that is a fine place to start.
02
Your person completes an assessment
When they are ready, a comprehensive chemical use assessment with a licensed alcohol and drug counselor establishes what is going on and which level of care fits. If a higher level of care is needed first, we help find it.
03
Treatment, with family involvement when the client wants it
If outpatient care is the right fit, intake follows and programming starts right after. Family involvement, from updates to sessions together, happens with the client’s written consent and at their pace.
Is it an emergency?
If someone has overdosed or is in danger, call 911 first.
Naloxone reverses an opioid overdose and is available at Minnesota pharmacies; keeping it in the house is reasonable if opioids are involved. If your person is in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Treatment questions can wait until everyone is safe.
Ready to talk? How admissions works
Why families call here
We talk to families every day. We built the program knowing we would.
Half of the people who reach Northwoods Haven Recovery are calling about someone else, and the program is set up for that reality.
You can call without them
You do not need permission, a diagnosis, or a plan. You need a question, and someone who will answer it honestly.
Straight answers about fit
If your person needs detox or residential care before outpatient treatment can help, we tell you that and help you find it instead of taking them anyway.
Treatment fits around a life
Both levels of care are outpatient. Your person keeps working, keeps parenting, and comes home every night, which for many families is what makes treatment possible at all.
Mental health treated alongside
Trauma and PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and ADHD are treated in the same program as substance use, because the two usually arrive together.
Family involvement, on the client's terms
When your person wants you involved, we make room for it. Recovery holds better when the people at home understand what is being worked on.
Resources for you, either way
Whether or not your person ever walks through our door, you leave the call knowing where you can get support of your own.
What you can and cannot control
You cannot make someone get treatment. You can change what you do.
Nobody can be argued, shamed, or rescued into recovery, and most families have already learned that the hard way. What you can control is your own part: what you will and will not cover for, what you will and will not pay for, how you respond when the pattern repeats, and how honestly you talk about what you are seeing. Clear, kind boundaries are not punishment. They are often the thing that finally makes treatment look better than the alternative.
The family usually needs its own support, and there is nothing weak about that. Living alongside addiction is exhausting, and you cannot pour from an empty cup for months on end. Al-Anon and Nar-Anon are options many families use, your own counselor is another, and we are glad to point you toward what is available in the Twin Cities. Taking care of yourself is not stepping away from your person. It is how you last.
- You are allowed to set boundaries and keep them
- Your person's privacy is protected, and so is your right to ask for help
- Relapse, if it happens, is a reason to call, not a reason to give up
What treatment looks like here
Two levels of outpatient care, and your person comes home after each one
Everything at Northwoods Haven Recovery is outpatient. The assessment decides where your person starts, and the same counselors carry them from the first level to the second.
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Three-hour groups most programming days, individual counseling with their own licensed alcohol and drug counselor, and co-occurring mental health care. About two to four months.
Relapse Prevention Program
Ten to twelve weeks of low-intensity outpatient care with the same counselors, ending with a written relapse prevention plan the family can understand and support.
Conditions we treat
Alcohol, opioids, methamphetamine, cocaine, benzodiazepines, marijuana, prescription drugs, and more, always through the same outpatient path.
Co-occurring mental health care
Trauma and PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and ADHD treated alongside substance use, so the whole picture gets addressed.
Assessments and services
Assessments and services that get you into the right care
Everything begins with an assessment. These are the services around our two levels of outpatient care.
The hour that turns a worry into a diagnosis and a level of care. Where everyone starts.
A clinical evaluation for Minnesota DWI court, probation, and licensing requirements, with written documentation.
Individual counseling with your own licensed alcohol and drug counselor, inside every level of care here.
Therapies
Evidence-based therapies we use, taught as options
Seven approaches, one plan built with you. Your counselor teaches you what each one does and you decide what belongs in your recovery lifestyle.
Catch the thought that comes before the drink or the drug, test it, and practice a different move before Friday.
Skills for intense emotion, urges, and relationships: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness.
Make room for the craving or the feeling without acting on it, and build a life around what you value.
Find your own reasons to change, at your own pace. Includes motivational enhancement therapy, the structured short form.
The same people each session, so accountability is real. Where most of the traction in outpatient treatment comes from.
Every group and session run on predictability, choice, and safety, because most people carry something older than the substance.
Mental health, relationships, work, and purpose treated as one picture, with a recovery lifestyle you define.
You do not choose a therapy from a menu. Your counselor teaches you all of them as options and the plan uses what works for you.
Paying for treatment
Insurance-covered addiction treatment that's accessible to anyone who wants it.
Medicaid was the first network we joined, on purpose. We’re also in-network with major commercial plans. We’ll verify your benefits and tell you plainly what your plan covers before you commit to anything.
Minnesota Medicaid
Blue Cross Blue Shield
HealthPartners
UnitedHealthcare
Medica
Hennepin Health
Private pay accepted
Not listed? Call and we'll check.
Common questions
Questions families ask
Every family’s situation is different, and the first call is where the specific answers come from. These are the questions we hear most from the people who love someone.
LegitScript Certified
Verified addiction treatment provider
Can I call about someone else?
Yes. About half of our calls come from a family member or friend. We can explain how treatment works, what the assessment involves, what insurance covers, and how to talk to your person. You do not need their permission to ask questions, and the conversation is confidential.
How do I get my loved one to agree to treatment?
You cannot force it, but you can change the conversation. Pick a calm moment, describe what you see without labels, say what you are willing and unwilling to do, and offer a specific next step, such as calling us together.
Can you tell me if my family member is attending or how they are doing?
Not without their written consent. Client information, including attendance and progress, is protected. Many clients choose to include their family, and when your person signs a release we can talk with you within its limits. Until then, we can still support you and answer general questions.
What if my loved one refuses to go?
Keep the door open and take care of yourself. Refusal today is not refusal forever. Set the boundaries you can keep, stop covering for the consequences, get your own support, and let them know the offer stands. Many people call after a family stopped rescuing them.
What do I do if my person overdoses or is in danger?
Call 911. If opioids are involved, naloxone reverses an overdose and is available at Minnesota pharmacies without a prescription; keeping it at home is reasonable. If your person is in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988. Treatment planning comes after everyone is safe.
Is family involved in treatment?
When the client wants it, yes. With their written consent, family involvement can range from updates to sessions together and a shared understanding of the relapse prevention plan. The client sets the pace. We encourage it, because recovery holds better when home understands the work.
Does insurance cover this, and can I check for them?
We are in-network with Minnesota Medicaid, Blue Cross Blue Shield, HealthPartners, UnitedHealthcare, and Medica. We can explain how coverage generally works on your call; verifying a specific person’s benefits requires their plan information and, usually, their participation. We tell them what they would owe before they commit.
Where can I get support for myself?
Al-Anon and Nar-Anon are family support groups many people use, and your own counselor or therapist is another option. Ask us on the call and we will point you toward what is available in the Twin Cities. Your wellbeing matters on its own, not only as a means to helping your person.
Related articles
Related reading for the people who love someone
Your team
Meet the counselors who answer the phone and guide your treatment.
Getting started
How to get started: four steps, no waiting eleven days.
Reaching out doesn’t commit you to anything. It means you asked a question, and we answered it.
01
Call
We listen to what’s going on and where you are in the process. No script, no pressure.
02
Chemical use assessment
A comprehensive assessment to determine diagnosis and the level of care that fits.
03
Referral to the right care
Ideally with us. If another program fits you better, we’ll connect you to it.
04
Intake
Programming starts immediately after intake. Already have an assessment? Send it over and we’ll review it.
Take the first step
When you're ready, we're here.
Reaching out doesn’t mean you’ve committed to anything. It means you’re asking a question, and we’ll answer it honestly, even if the answer points somewhere else.
100% confidential
Insurance verified fast
No commitment to ask
Outpatient only
Referring professionals
Send a comprehensive assessment, plus treatment plan reviews, discharge summary, med list, and insurance information if applicable. A list, not a portal.
Visit us in Hopkins
Northwoods Haven Recovery
5900 Green Oak Drive, Ste 306
Hopkins, MN 55343