Women’s Rehab Program

Often the reasons that women choose single-gender addiction treatment are hard to quantify. Many women report that women’s rehab simply felt like the right choice. They wanted to go through this difficult passage in their life away from the male gaze, without any possible overlays of the cultural expectations women typically have to navigate.

Some of the reasons women often prefer a women’s addiction treatment center over one that is mixed-gender are listed below.

A Sense of Safety

Women bring a lifetime of emotional content with them to rehab. In many cases, sexual trauma is a significant factor in their psychological profile. Among other women, a woman may feel more likely to trust her peers to open up about domestic violence, rape, or sexual abuse. An atmosphere where women share openly encourages more of the same, and healing can happen in earnest only when everyone feels secure enough to be honest with themselves and others.

Guilt-Free Zone

Women struggle to enter rehab largely due to guilt about leaving their families behind. As family caretakers, many women have a hard time asking for help. Most women also have a job or career. Their contributions to the family budget are vital. Their choice to leave their supportive responsibilities behind while they take care of themselves is often ridiculed. In a women’s rehab where everyone is dealing with the same situation, women feel understood, and the clinical staff can address the feelings of guilt and shame that can impede recovery.

Support that Nurtures

The power of peer support is well-documented. Men and women alike benefit from having a group of peers engaging alongside them in rehab. For women in rehab with other women, that support comes more readily. Men tend to be more stoic and suppress emotions, which means dealing with the emotional baggage of others is harder for them. Women are more accustomed to listening, soothing, and supporting other people and can more readily wrap each other up in nurturing support, which women who are trying to confront their addiction need.

Comfort

In rehab, there is one thing to focus on—recovery. But women often feel the need to present themselves pleasingly to the world, largely due to aesthetic standards set by men. Removing any overlay of discomfort or self-consciousness about how they show up in rehab is helpful for women. Removing that layer of expectation can give them ease so they can focus on the hard work of recovery.