What a guide does
A guide is someone who knows the road. Ours has walked it.
We talk with you about what is going on, without judgment and without a script. We help you understand what kinds of help exist and what each one asks of you. Then we help you put the pieces together: which program, which first call, what to ask, and what to do while you wait for an opening.
We work for you. Nobody pays us to point you in their direction.
What we can help you find
- Detox
- A medically supervised place to get through withdrawal safely.
- Residential treatment
- Living at a treatment program for a while, with staff there day and night.
- Outpatient programs
- Treatment you go to during the day or evening while you live at home. An intensive outpatient program, or IOP, meets several times a week.
- Medication for addiction
- Medicines such as buprenorphine (Suboxone) and naltrexone (Vivitrol) that treat opioid or alcohol addiction. We can explain how they are used and help you find a prescriber. Whether one is right for you is a decision for you and a medical provider.
- Counseling and therapy
- One-on-one or group work with a licensed counselor or therapist.
- Peer support
- Time with people in recovery who have been where you are and know a way through.
- Recovery housing
- A home shared with other people in recovery, with structure and support while you get back on your feet.
- Help for families
- Support and education for the people who love someone with an addiction.
The in-between
The days after detox or a residential stay can be the hardest to get right. You leave with a referral and a phone number, and then it is on you or your family to set it up. The office is far away. The first opening is weeks out. Nobody calls back.
That in-between stretch is where we are most useful. We help you line up what comes next before the plan falls apart, whether you are heading home or into recovery housing.
For case managers and discharge planners
If you are sending someone back out into the world with a referral in their hand, we can be the person who helps them use it.
- We talk with the person or their family, help them set up the next step, and stay with them until they are connected.
- There is no charge to them or to you.
- Nothing is given or received for a referral, in either direction.
- We send people wherever is right for them. Often that will be a program you already work with.
Write to us at [email protected]. A person answers, not a call center.
What a guide does not do
We do not diagnose, prescribe or provide treatment, and we are not a crisis line. If you need medical care, we help you find it.
If someone is in danger right now, call 911. If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, call or text 988.
Why there is no charge
Two reasons. Akari Pathways is building its own outpatient care in St. Louis County, and it is not open yet. Until it is, this is how we get to know the people and programs of this community and earn a place in it.
The other reason is simpler. Helping the next person is what people in recovery do.
When our own services open, this site will say so plainly. They are not open now.