Veterans Treatment Program

Serving Those Who Served

Mental Health & Addiction Treatment for Veterans

Many of the brave men and women who served their country now face a new challenge that requires equal courage: overcoming a substance use disorder.

Dual-diagnosis addiction treatment for veterans in the Tri-State area is one of the services we are most proud to offer at Excel Treatment Center. Helping to meet the behavioral health needs of America’s vets is both an honor and privilege for us.

Military life is a commitment and calling for many, but it is not easy. Addiction can take root through many paths. Opioid addiction due to pain management. Alcohol use disorders branching from trauma and anxiety, and many others.

Trauma is a primary root cause of substance use disorders in military veterans. According to the VA National Center for PTSD, roughly 29% of OIF/OEF veterans will develop PTSD in their lifetime, compared to only 7% of the civilian population.

Because trauma and addiction are so deeply intertwined, our clinical team focuses on dual-diagnosis care to treat both conditions simultaneously.

Excel Treatment Center works directly with the VA Community Care program to help veterans access high-quality addiction and mental health treatment.

How Addiction Affects Veterans

Understanding Veteran-Specific Addiction Issues

Whether you’re a veteran just returning from deployment struggling to adjust to civilian life, or you’ve been home for a while, drug and alcohol dependence are often a real and present danger.

Many veterans struggle to find the right support for mental health or substance use disorders. They also face unique challenges that can make addiction a bigger threat than it is for most people. Military vets deserve treatment that’s built for them.

What can make veterans more vulnerable to addiction:

• Inadequately treated depression and anxiety
• Unresolved trauma and PTSD
• Chronic pain leading to opioid dependence
• Anger management concerns
• Fear of judgement that prevents asking for help

Being able to ‘grin and bear it’ without complaint is a necessary part of military life. But, this tendency towards silent self-reliance can actually work against you when addiction is the enemy at the gates.

Willpower alone isn’t enough to beat drugs or alcohol. It it was, we’d hardly ever see a veteran living with addiction.

Asking for help is an act of courage. A dual-diagnosis addiction treatment program that understands veterans can make it easier to establish the trust that make change possible.

Veterans Addiction Treatment at Excel Treatment

Treating military vets living with addiction and co-occurring disorders like anxiety and depression calls for effective, compassionate care that recognizes the different challenges veterans face.

We approach substance use treatment for veterans from a goal-oriented perspective. Military men and women appreciate clarity and order more than most. For them, recovery is best seen as a mission with clear objectives

Our job is to listen to them and empower them with both self-knowledge and tools to help them get well and continue their progress even after treatment is over.

Here’s how we do that:

1. Comprehensive Dual-Diagnosis Assessment

Every veteran we treat receives a comprehensive mental health and substance use assessment. We consider any existing diagnoses and medical records provided, but we also listen carefully to what they say about themselves and their experience with mental health symptoms as well as drug and alcohol use. 

What we learn becomes the basis for an individualized treatment plan designed to meet their needs directly. These treatment plans can, and will evolve over time as progress is made.

2. Drug and Alcohol Detox (as needed)

We work directly with the best dedicated residential detox programs in our area to ensure that any veteran who requires detox gets the best help available. Once they are medically stable and ready to progress to the next level of care, they begin the partial care (PHP) program at our main Dover, NJ campus.

Supportive housing at The Milestone House is offered to any veteran who is from outside the area or who doesn’t have a local home environment suited for stable recovery. We arrange it all, from detox placement to transfer and housing.

All you need to do is call. 

3. Continuing Treatment at Excel

Once detox and any other higher-level care is completed, veterans move into our main program at our Dover, NJ campus. Here, you will progress through our Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) and the Intensive Outpatient (IOP) levels of care and benefit from individual and group therapy, as well as specialized treatment like EMDR for trauma conditions like PTSD, as needed.

Veterans at Excel Treatment Center are assigned a primary therapist who is a veteran himself to ensure their treatment is as effective as possible. 

4. Robust Aftercare and Alumni Support

Support does not end when you move on from treatment at Excel. We provide a thorough discharge and aftercare plan for every veteran we have the opportunity to treat. Think of it as a roadmap to your recovery moving forward. Plans can include outpatient and aftercare recommendations and referrals, suggestions for fellowship and meetings, recovery lifestyle tips, alumni outreach and more. 

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