Four Must-Haves on a Treatment Website

The website for your treatment center is its primary source of advertising. It’s the first and most important impression you’ll make on potential clients. With the right elements, a quality treatment website can increase your admissions rates dramatically.

Use your program’s website to give those potential clients information about the services you provide, as well as the value those services will offer them. The impression left on your website is a chance to give clients and their families hope, to connect on a personal level, and to establish a caring atmosphere—before treatment even begins. By including a few must-haves on your treatment website, you can achieve these goals:

STAFF PICTURES

Potential clients and their families want to feel safe and comfortable with the treatment option they choose. They want to know that they’ll receive quality, individualized care. By including staff pictures on your website, you personalize your program’s treatment services. If a treatment program is faceless, it’s unlikely that people will feel drawn to it when making their decision. It’s helpful for clients and their families to know that real people will be providing them care. Seeing their faces provides a point of human connection.

Use professional yet friendly photos of your staff. You can set up standardized portraits, or use casual, personal photos (as long as they are appropriate). If you have photos of staff members in action, even better! Staff pictures are a great opportunity to give insight into the personality of your program.

With each photo, include their name, position, and a short bio that explains who they are and why they’re qualified. Choosing a treatment center can be a stressful process. These concrete details provide some peace of mind, which may turn those potential clients into actual clients.

PICTURES OF THE FACILITY

Pictures of your staff make treatment personal, and pictures of your facility can make the idea of treatment feel more comfortable. Especially if clients and their families can’t visit your facility beforehand, they want some sense of what the facility will be like. Seeing pictures of the facility allow them to visualize their treatment experience with your program.

Most facilities put a few generic photos on their websites, but, again, you want your facility photos to connect with people. If your photos are indistinguishable, sterile, or lacking personality, they won’t help convince potential clients that your facility is the right one for them. You want your photos to be unique and give insight into the atmosphere of treatment at your facility. If people can truly see themselves or their loved one in treatment at your facility, your program becomes a more realistic option in their minds.

Photos of your facility are a chance to provide visual information:

• what their living arrangements will look like
• where they’ll be eating
• the kinds of therapeutic or recreational activities you offer

The more picture you have, the better! High-quality photos are always best, but the technology made available by phone cameras can be just as effective.

YOUR TREATMENT MODALITIES

In the search for a treatment center, clients and family members want to find one that feels “right” for them. Each person has specific treatment needs, and your website should provide detailed information about your treatment philosophy and modalities. This allows them to measure up their ideal version of treatment with the kind you can provide.

Whether someone has been to treatment before or not, more details about your program can be a major convincing factor in choosing your facility. Your treatment philosophy is your approach to care. With adequate explanation, it can resonate with clients and their families on a personal level. When it’s evident that your primary focus is on caring for your clients—regardless of the specific aspects of your philosophy—it can reassure them that they are making the right choice.

Details about your treatment modalities are not only informative but also an effective form of advertisement:

• Explain the kinds of therapy that you offer, including any unique or special therapies that will appeal to specific groups of people. Why do you offer these therapies? Why are they effective and whom can they help?
• Describe any special counseling or educational groups that clients will participate in. How will these groups contribute positively to their recovery?
• Detail the different forms of support available in your program—from therapists to psychiatrists to self-help groups. What value does each of these components offer?
• Provide information about any recreational activities or unique components of your treatment experience. What distinguishes your program from others? How will a client’s experience at your facility be better than if they were to go somewhere else?

Always offer value when explaining your services. Details will go far here, to fill in any gaps or questions in the minds of potential clients and their family members. Show them—beyond a shadow of a doubt—why your treatment services are the best-suited for their needs

INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR EXIT PROGRAM

Treatment needs to prepare clients for life after completing your program. Demonstrate to potential clients that your program is in it for the long haul by including information about your exit program on your website:

• How will you be involved with clients after their stay in treatment?
• Do you offer aftercare services? What types and how are these beneficial for their recovery?
• Will you connect clients with transitional housing? Do you provide case management services?
• Does your program have a protocol for following up with clients that complete your program?

By giving potential clients and their families this information, you offer another layer of comfort and security. You will be there for them—in some capacity—even after they leave. They will continue to have support from you. When clients feel like your treatment center could be a place of refuge (almost a second home) it can encourage them to come to your program.

More importantly, explaining the details of your exit program is a concrete reassurance that recovery is possible. It can ease the anxieties of family members and loved ones. It can motivate clients in their recovery, and increase their confidence upon leaving treatment.

Your program’s website is your first point of contact. Potential clients and family members will rely on your site to give them a sense of what your treatment center is all about. It plays a major role in their decision! Use your website to your advantage.

More information provides peace of mind. More personality provides a point of connection. An emphasis on care provides reassurance. All of these factors combined can lead to more admissions at your facility.