Home / Who we serve / For a loved one
For a loved oneYou can make the first call for someone you love.
Most calls about treatment come from a wife, a husband, a parent or an adult child, not from the person who needs the help. You are allowed to call us and ask questions without committing anybody to anything. Shift is a virtual intensive outpatient program in California, attended by video from home.
The part nobody explains on the phone.
What you can do right now
- Ask every question you have. How the level of care works, what a week looks like, what it would cost. None of that requires their permission.
- Find out what their plan pays, if the plan is yours or you are the policyholder. If it is their plan, we need them for that call.
- Find out whether this is the right level of care before you raise it with them.
- Work out what to say. We have a guide on the conversation, written by clinicians.
What we cannot do, and will not pretend to
- Enroll an adult without them. They have to speak to a clinician and consent. There is no route around that.
- Tell you whether they are already a patient here. Substance use records carry 42 CFR Part 2 protection, so we can neither confirm nor deny it.
- Make them go. Nobody can. What you can do is have the next step ready for the day they say yes.
- Promise an outcome. We publish no outcome statistics and we make no predictions about a person we have not assessed.
Between a weekly therapist and a hospital.
Weekly therapy is an hour against a week. Residential treatment takes the month. Intensive outpatient treatment is the level in between: weekday group sessions, individual therapy, a treatment plan a licensed clinician signs, and family sessions when they are clinically indicated. Shift delivers it at ASAM level 2.1, by video, under California Department of Health Care Services certification 191663AP. There is no building to drive anyone to, and no month away to arrange.
Yours, then theirs.
If the screen says they need medical detox, residential treatment or acute psychiatric stabilization, we tell you that and help you find it. Those need a building and we will not pretend otherwise.
We read the plan before anybody commits.
Covered by many PPO plans. We check your benefits first.
Shift bills most major commercial plans on an out-of-network basis. We are not part of any commercial carrier network. If the policy is yours and they are a dependent on it, we can read it with you today. If the policy is theirs, the benefits call needs them on it.
Pages for specific cards: Aetna, Anthem, Blue Shield of California, Cigna, UnitedHealthcare, UMR, Carelon, Magellan, Kaiser.
Your details only. Nothing about them.
This form asks who you are, how to reach you and how you are related to the person you are worried about. It asks nothing about them: not their name, not their age, not what is going on. That is deliberate. They have not agreed to anything yet, and we are not going to start a record on them because you filled in a form.
- California, virtual. There is no building to get anyone to.
- You can ask anything without committing them to anything.
- We cannot confirm or deny whether anyone is a patient here.
Would rather talk now? Call (646) 275-2111 or email admin@shiftsupportnetwork.com. Looking for yourself? Start here instead.
Got it.
We call back from (646) 275-2111. If it is urgent, reach us directly instead of waiting.
Call (646) 275-2111If someone is in immediate danger, call or text 988 (the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) or call 911. Shift Support Network is an outpatient program and is not an emergency service.
Answered without the sales voice.
Can I sign them up?
Not if they are an adult. They have to speak to a licensed clinician and consent to treatment themselves. What you can do is get the information, the cost and the clinical read ready so that nothing has to be arranged from scratch on the day they agree.
Will you tell me whether they called you?
No. Substance use treatment records carry the stricter protection of 42 CFR Part 2, which means we can neither confirm nor deny that a named person has contacted us or is in treatment. That protection is the reason people call us at all, so we hold it even when it is the unhelpful answer.
They have said no before. Is there any point?
People say no until something changes, and the window when they say yes is usually short. Having the benefits check already done and a clinician already briefed is the difference between starting that week and starting in a month.
What if it is a minor?
Different rules, and they are workable. Consent and custody requirements for a minor in California are specific, and our adolescent page and family guide set them out accurately. Call us and we will tell you what applies to your situation.
Where do I start the conversation with them?
Our clinicians wrote a guide on exactly that: how to frame it, what to say, and what to do when they say no. It does not ask for your details.
What should I do if this is an emergency right now?
Call or text 988, which is the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and is answered around the clock. Call 911 if someone is in immediate danger. Shift is an outpatient program and is not an emergency service.