Well the Internet should be a wealth of resources for this question. I can only speak for the one treatment center that I went to, The Retreat in Wayzata, MN. I’ll see if I can describe a typical day there: wake up at 7AM, eat breakfast, meditation in the basement, morning big book study, AA meeting, lunch, stories from guests, more AA meetings, dinner, more meetings. There is a lot of smoking on the patio in between sessions.
The Good: It’s a positive environment where you get time to know yourself. The people are friendly, but can be a bit pushy. Meditation in the morning can be such a great start to the day since you can really get mentally ready to be the best that you can be. The food is just fantastic. I do recommend the lemon chicken and the gumbo. If Kent is still cooking, you’ll gain plenty of healthy weight. Great places to exercise too.
The Bad: The Retreat only does Big Book/AA recovery and they are really pushy about it with no other alternatives offered. I’ll try to say this in the least offensive way possible, but I felt like I was being spoon fed cheap religion every day. At the end of 30 days, I was just disgusted. I didn’t look forward to weekends either because this old man named DJ (Dwayne Jackson) came to give lectures. DJ was one of the worst human being I’ve ever met.
I’m sure every place has a mix of good and bad. Overall, if you’re looking for a religious based recovery location, the Retreat might be a good option. Otherwise, look elsewhere.