Kolmac Clinic

Kolmac saved my life. The daily meetings they held– and tapered down, then transitioning/​graduating with the same group into Continuing Care-​a lot of accountability. in our small group we laugh and would feel like gossip but all are participants and are happy-​no poor deeds gossip a bit more because sometimes it’s harmlessa f

I have been clean now for 1618 consecutive days. I completed my 8 weeks of intensive treatment and continued with months of weekly sessions in their continuing care program. My doctors, counselors and case manager helped me through every step of my early recovery. Kolmac gave me the tools I needed to stay clean and taught me how to use those tools. Everyone in my program was given the same tools and some of them chose not to use them. Unfortunately, a very real symptom of addiction is to not take responsibility and blame others. Reading some of these reviews makes me very sad. It’s very painful seeing family members blame a recovery clinic for the one thing they can’t give you. A person MUST posses the desire to get clean. If they don’t, it will not work. I was given Suboxone just like many other opiate users and I had no issues mentally or physically when it was time to ween off like Kolmac instructed. If it wasn’t for Kolmac, I would not be where I am today. I would more than likely be dead or in jail because that’s the real fact of where addiction was ready to take me. Kolmac was recommended to me by a few people who work in the field of recovery (not one of them worked at Kolmac). I will forever be grateful to Kolmac for showing me the way. But I will also give myself credit because I listened and did what they suggested. I hope my very personal, first-​hand experience helps you make a wise decision, whether it’s for yourself or a family member.

Kolmac is a mill. Here was the situation with a close member of my family (first hand information as I was a participant). The end result was that the Patient exchanged a very curable problem (6 months) with a long-​term addiction given by Kolmac (3.5+ years of trying to get off). Kolmac gave the Patient Suboxone, which is one of the most physically addictive substance around, worse than the pain killers which were the underlying problem.
(1) Patient was a «surburban mother» who became addicted to pain killers over 6 months. Kolmac put her on 10+mg of Suboxone, then up to over 20mg as the Patient had nausea as a reaction. The «nurse» who administered the initial dose seemed very wary, probably wondered silently why a surburban mother was give such a «legalized drug.
If you Google and read the NY Times expose on pain killers (and Suboxone), you will discover how awful Suboxone is. Read Stevie Nick’s experience on how Klonopin, prescribed by her doctor to get off heroin, was far more difficult to kick than heroin.
(2) 6 months of pain killer addiction became 3.5+ years of Suboxone addiction, Suboxone is a DEA registered drug (the agency with SWAT Teams kicking down drug dealer homes) and only DEA registered doctors can prescribe, limited to 100 patients per doctor. It is a very bad drug, and physical withdrawal is very severe — if you’re young, you can recover easier. Kolmac and others basically put you on Suboxone FOR LIFE as a remedy to 6 months of pain killer addiction ?? Your Pharmacist knows you’re a drug addict, and if anything is off on the prescription, they won’t fill it for fear of getting in trouble with the DEA (which also cracked down on chain drug stores in Miami/​Dade County for dispensing 1 million Vicodin/​Percoset pills a month when their geriatric customers couldn’t possibly need that many.
(3) In terms of intensive outpatient care, Kolmac puts you in weekly group therapy lead by interns or counselors with secondary degrees. They then moved to «self-​directed» groups because of lower cost. They billed my family Patient’s insurance company $ 175 per session, for which they receive $ 100 ($ 15-​$ 25 copay from the Patient). Do the Math, Kolmac gets $ 5,200 per year (52 weeks per year x $ 100, patient pays $ 780 + parking in downtown and gas) to meet a group which you can meet basically free at a AA meeting. This lasted over 3 years ($ 15,000 paid by insurance) plus another couple of $ thousand for hooking her to Subuxone. Kolmac saw nothing wrong with lifetime Suboxone maintenance and weekly meetings ($ 5,200 annual annuity). It’s a great business…
(4) In order to reverse all the damage caused by Kolmac, we bit the bullet and detoxed the Patient at Father Martin’s Ashley — 28 days costing about $ 30,000.
If a facility uses Suboxone as the «solution» — ran away as fast as you can — Google it to educate yourself. If they recommend Vivitrol to detox — also be wary because it’s a $ 1,200 PER MONTH injection — commercial prescription plans require prior authorization, when the generic daily pill costs $ 12/​month (branded is Rivia, cost $ 60/​month). Also, these «comfort» meds make painkillers non-​effective — you can’t have root canal surgery unless you get off the pill for the day. A treatment facility is padding its «success» rate by bankrupting you or addicting you to something worse.

You will meet primarily with the «drug counselors»;. Kolmac expects you to be open with them if you drink, but then they penalize you for being honest if you relapse. They want you to think that they care, but the trust they build is lost when they abandon you without warning. I wasted seven months and several thousand dollars only to be discharged when I relapsed for one afternoon. This is supposed to be a treatment facility where the staff supports and helps you change, not one that neglects you when you relapse. In my case, they just left a message on my answering machine saying go elsewhere– this was very unprofessional, and did not even follow Kolmac’s own review process. I was very disappointed in the way I was treated.