×

The top 12 rehab centres in Cape Town and the Western Cape

Of the 12 rehab centres in Cape Town and the Western Cape compared here, most run a first programme of 21 to 63 days.

WhatsApp usFree and confidential
Rows of colourful Victorian bathing huts on the sand at Muizenberg beach, Cape Town
In this article
  1. Renewed Life Center
  2. Centres
    1. Other centres
    2. 3. SANCA Western Cape, Athlone, Cape Town
    3. 4. Akeso Stepping Stones, Kommetjie, Cape Town
    4. 5. Bloemendal Clinic, Paarl, Western Cape
    5. 6. The Cedars, Cape Manor House, Cape Town
    6. 7. Harmony Clinic, Hout Bay, Cape Town
    7. 8. Diamond Recovery Centre, Cape Town
    8. 9. Ixande, Kenilworth, Cape Town
    9. 10. Connection Mental Healthcare, St James, Cape Town
    10. 11. Anker Huis, Kenilworth, Cape Town
    11. 12. Rustenburg Addiction Care, Somerset West, Western Cape
  3. Before you choose
    1. How to choose
    2. Admissions
    3. Free rehab
    4. Questions people ask about rehabilitation centres in Cape Town

In the first half of 2025 specialist centres in the Western Cape treated 1,489 people, most often for methamphetamine, alcohol and cannabis, according to SACENDU. The list starts with ours, Renewed Life Center in Lakeside, where Phase 1 lasts a month, the standard stay is two months and the work goes to the reason under the drinking or using.

1. Renewed Life Center, Lakeside, Cape Town

Renewed Life Center is a residential rehab in Lakeside, in Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs, built on one idea: drinking or using usually does a job for the person, such as getting them to sleep or keeping an old memory quiet, and that job is what we treat. NIDA’s treatment principles say effective treatment attends to the person’s many needs, not just the drug use (NIDA), so the work on the reason starts in week one.

Families write after a small last straw: a promise “from Monday” repeated for a year, a son drinking again by the second weekend after 21 days elsewhere. You do not need proof before you tell us what is happening.

What Renewed Life Center treats

  • Alcohol, from a bottle every night to binges that wreck the week
  • Drugs: cocaine, tik and other stimulants, cannabis, opioids, and mixtures of them
  • Prescription medication and sleeping tablets, including benzodiazepines
  • Addiction with depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD or trauma, on one plan

Withdrawal from alcohol, benzodiazepines or opioids needs a medical detox first, in the same house. See also alcohol rehab in Cape Town, at one of the alcohol rehab centres in the Western Cape with a medical detox in the same house, and drug rehab in Cape Town.

How Renewed Life Center treats

Renewed Life Center treats with the methods the international standards recommend. The WHO and UNODC International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders (2020) are the international reference for treatment services; NICE guidance on alcohol-use disorders recommends CBT and help for family members in their own right. A 2020 Cochrane review found that structured 12-step facilitation led to more continuous abstinence than other established treatments such as CBT (Kelly et al., 2020). We use all of them, each for its own job:

  • CBT and DBT for the thoughts that start a relapse and the minutes when a craving is loudest
  • Schema therapy for the old patterns that keep sending a person back
  • EMDR one to one and TRE (Tension and Trauma Release Exercises) for trauma
  • Family therapy in person or by video, and a family group every Wednesday on Zoom
  • Relapse prevention, ending in a written plan for your own street and your own Friday night
  • 12-step work every weekday from 16:15, and a 12-step meeting every evening

Take the next step toward lasting recovery at Renewed Life Center

Describe the situation on WhatsApp. We ask what is being used and for how long, then tell you straight whether our programme fits and where to start. A partner or parent can write for the person.

Depression, anxiety and trauma are treated on the same plan as the addiction, as NIDA advises for co-occurring conditions (NIDA); Ruby Weber leads that dual diagnosis work.

What else does Renewed Life Center treat?

Gambling and gaming, sex and love addiction, co-dependency, eating disorders, and trauma, anxiety or depression with or without a substance on top.

How a week at Renewed Life Center works on the cause

The day starts at 07:00, with a one-to-one session at 10:00 and groups until four: DBT, schema therapy, relapse prevention, a process group, Family Sculpture, TRE, art therapy or yoga. From 16:15 to 18:00 you work on your steps, the evening ends with a 12-step meeting, and lights go out at 22:00. Saturdays bring a hike, a pottery workshop or a meal in town. By the end of the first month the work has moved to what the substance was covering.

The team

The team has decades in this field, and several of them are in recovery themselves.

  • Nikki Edwards, Programme Director and Clinical Manager, has 11 years in recovery.
  • John Roberts, Senior Recovery Specialist and Operations Manager, has 39 years of personal recovery.
  • Ruby Weber, psychologist, has more than twenty years in addiction work with South African and international clients.
  • Dr John Wulz, our GP (mental health and emergency medicine), sees clients on site.
  • Leila Bolland, social worker and therapist, has been in practice since 2015.
  • Angelica Nel leads the counselling team, Kerry Dominie-Williams runs TRE, and Carin Goosen-Dawson and Mathew Kotze are peer and recovery support specialists.

People choose us for that mix: clinical training and lived experience in the same team.

After the first month

We plan in months because NIDA’s principles say treatment shorter than 90 days is of limited effectiveness (NIDA). Phase 1 makes a person safe and steady, with about three individual sessions a week; Phase 2 goes deeper into trauma, relationships and identity. Then come the Recovery Integration Programme, where you leave the house by day, and the Sober Living Programme, where you work or study and keep coming to groups. Every discharge includes a written relapse-prevention plan.

Location

10 Thaxter Road, Lakeside, Cape Town, 7945. The mountain ridge is behind the house and Muizenberg beach a few minutes’ drive away; rooms are private or shared, and our head chef cooks every meal.

Message us for directions if you want to see the house first.

People come to Cape Town for rehab from Johannesburg, Durban, the UK and Europe, and cost is one reason: 28 days of fully residential private rehab in the UK costs about £12,000 to £16,000, according to Abbington House’s price page in September 2026 (see our UK and Cape Town cost comparison), and the UK government’s own guidance lists “lower cost compared to the UK” among the reasons people choose South Africa. Distance is another: the usual people, bars and dealers stay behind, and mountain and sea are minutes from most of the houses in this list. For centres in other provinces, see rehab centres in South Africa.

Pricing information

The fee depends on the programme and the length of stay, and we send it in writing the same day as the free first call. It covers accommodation, meals, therapy and medical detox where needed; for international clients, airport transfers both ways too. You pay us directly, so no scheme cap decides when you go home. Ask us for the fee, or read how rehab costs compare across Cape Town.

Table Mountain's flat rock face rising above Cape Town under a clear blue sky
Table Mountain, seen from across Cape Town.

2. Akeso Kenilworth Clinic, Kenilworth, Cape Town

Akeso Kenilworth Clinic is a private psychiatric hospital in Kenilworth, in Cape Town’s Southern Suburbs, owned by the Akeso group, with an addiction unit inside the hospital. People looking for Kenilworth Clinic usually want psychiatric inpatient care, addiction treatment, or both.

What they treat

Mental health conditions in a psychiatric hospital setting, and addiction in the clinic’s addiction unit.

How they treat

Inpatient care in a hospital ward. Programme length, where detox happens and the therapies used were not available on the clinic pages when we checked in October 2026.

Team

Not listed by name in the sources we checked.

Location

Kenilworth, in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.

Pricing information

Akeso clinic fees were not available on the clinic pages when we checked in October 2026.

3. SANCA Western Cape, Athlone, Cape Town

SANCA Western Cape is the provincial branch of SANCA, a national non-profit that describes itself as having more than 100 service points and more than 30 treatment centres across South Africa. In Cape Town people usually mean the SANCA Athlone office when they search for a SANCA rehab centre.

What they treat

Alcohol, drug and gambling addiction.

How they treat

The provincial government lists SANCA Athlone for community-based treatment, early intervention, outpatient treatment, aftercare and reintegration, so the Athlone service is outpatient rather than residential. The same government facility list names other SANCA sites in the province, including Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Tygerberg, Paarl and George.

Team

A clinical psychologist is listed for SANCA Western Cape in a public directory of mental health providers; other staff are not named.

Location

S&H Centre, 1 Carnie Road, Rylands, Athlone, Cape Town.

Pricing information

Not published. SANCA is a non-profit, and its own Western Cape website was under construction when we checked.

4. Akeso Stepping Stones, Kommetjie, Cape Town

Akeso Stepping Stones, also listed as Netcare Akeso Stepping Stones, is an addiction centre in Kommetjie, on the Atlantic side of the Cape Peninsula. It describes itself as small to medium sized, with room for up to 36 clients in detox and primary care and 11 in extended care at The Beach House.

What they treat

Alcohol, drug and behavioural addictions such as gambling.

How they treat

In three stages: a detox programme, an inpatient primary care programme and an extended care programme. The site does not give the number of days for each.

Team

Listed by profession: psychiatrists, general practitioners, psychologists, occupational therapists, nursing professionals and recovery assistants.

Location

Kommetjie, in the Far South of the Cape Peninsula; people often search for it as Stepping Stones Kommetjie.

Pricing information

Not published on the centre’s site when we checked in October 2026.

5. Bloemendal Clinic, Paarl, Western Cape

Bloemendal Clinic is a residential clinic in Paarl, in the Cape Winelands, about an hour inland from central Cape Town.

What they treat

Drug, alcohol, prescription drug and medication abuse, dual diagnosis, depression and anxiety, trauma, co-dependency, sex and love addiction, and gambling, gaming and other behavioural addictions.

How they treat

Detox in a residential setting with medical oversight, then a core programme of three weeks that can be extended.

Team

Not listed by name on the home page.

Location

Paarl, Cape Winelands.

Pricing information

Not published.

6. The Cedars, Cape Manor House, Cape Town

Cape Manor House is the Cape Town centre of The Cedars, a small group of addiction treatment centres that also runs a South Coast Estate and a Midlands Estate in KwaZulu-Natal. People search for it as The Cedars or Cedars rehab.

What they treat

Across the group: alcohol, heroin, ketamine, cannabis and prescription opioid addiction, and gambling, shopping, sex, exercise and social media addiction.

How they treat

A 12-step programme in three phases, primary, secondary and tertiary, each of 28 days. Clients usually complete the first three steps in primary care, and three phases are the usual recommendation for the 12-step track.

Team

Described as qualified specialists, some of whom are in personal recovery.

Location

The Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.

Pricing information

On request. The directory recovery.com gives its own estimate of £7,000 for the first 28 days and £13,000 for three months, checked in October 2026.

7. Harmony Clinic, Hout Bay, Cape Town

Harmony Clinic is a private addiction and mental health clinic in Hout Bay, on the Atlantic side of the peninsula. People search for it as Harmony Clinic Cape Town, Harmony Clinic Hout Bay or Harmony rehab.

What they treat

The clinic lists addiction to alcohol, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis, tik and prescription drugs, and process addictions including food, sex and gambling. It also lists anxiety, mood, adjustment, personality, stress, trauma and psychotic disorders.

How they treat

Detox runs in the clinic’s own medically managed unit with 24-hour care. Residential programmes run between 21 and 63 days, with a secondary care programme for trauma for those who need it.

Team

Listed by profession: psychiatrists, detox GPs, psychologists, occupational therapists, social workers, addiction counsellors and nurses.

Location

7 Valley Road, Hout Bay, Cape Town.

Pricing information

In September 2026 the clinic’s site gave R25,000 to R45,000 a month for the residential programme; its programme pages in October showed no figure.

8. Diamond Recovery Centre, Cape Town

Diamond Recovery Centres is a private non-profit organisation with a branch in Cape Town and others in Johannesburg and Parys, built around a 12-step programme and aimed at people who can no longer afford mainstream private rehab.

What they treat

Addiction and co-occurring mental health disorders.

How they treat

A 12-step programme, six months recommended, with a 21-day primary module that includes medical detox; halfway housing and independent living follow.

Team

Not listed by name on the home page.

Location

Cape Town; the street address is not published on the home page.

Pricing information

No figures published. The organisation describes subsidised housing and cost-effective treatment.

9. Ixande, Kenilworth, Cape Town

Ixande is a 20-bed private hospital for addiction and psychiatric care in the Southern Suburbs.

What they treat

Drug and alcohol addiction, sex and gambling addiction and co-dependency, alongside depression, anxiety, PTSD and trauma-related disorders.

How they treat

Detox in the centre’s own medically managed unit, then programmes of 21 to 54 days.

Team

Not listed by name on the home page.

Location

25 Gibson Road, Kenilworth, Cape Town.

Pricing information

Not published.

10. Connection Mental Healthcare, St James, Cape Town

Connection Mental Healthcare is a private inpatient centre on the False Bay coast that publishes its prices in euros, pounds and rand.

What they treat

Alcohol and a long list of drugs, including cocaine, crystal meth, ketamine, GHB, opioids and prescription medicines such as tramadol and pregabalin; gambling and gaming; and burnout, stress, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, trauma and PTSD.

How they treat

Medical detox and a 28-day 12-step Minnesota Model programme with psychological therapies.

Team

Listed by profession: psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, medical doctors, nursing consultants, addiction specialists, aftercare coordinators and sports and lifestyle coaches.

Location

3 Rodwell Road, St James, Cape Town.

Pricing information

From €2,800, £2,380 or R52,500 per week, going by the centre’s cost page, checked in October 2026; a single room starts from €3,850. Private rooms cost more, and detox is one of the things that changes the total.

11. Anker Huis, Kenilworth, Cape Town

Anker Huis is a residential clinic in Kenilworth, in the Southern Suburbs with a broad list of conditions.

What they treat

Alcohol, drug and prescription medication addiction, gambling, codependency, sex and love addiction and other behavioural addictions, plus depression, anxiety, stress, burnout, phobias, ADHD, trauma, OCD and personality disorders.

How they treat

Inpatient individual and group therapy for 30 days to three months, starting without a waiting list.

Team

Listed by profession: psychologists, psychiatrists, medical doctors, social workers and addiction counsellors.

Location

36 Tennant Road, Kenilworth, Cape Town.

Pricing information

On request.

12. Rustenburg Addiction Care, Somerset West, Western Cape

Rustenburg Addiction Care is a residential centre in Somerset West, spread over five buildings set between lawns.

What they treat

Addiction, with work on the past experiences and mental health problems behind it.

How they treat

Individual and group therapy, expressive and music therapy, life skills and an aftercare group, with an outdoor fitness programme, a gym and weekend outings around the Cape Peninsula.

Team

Listed by profession: counsellors, psychologists, occupational therapists, nurses and drama therapists.

Location

Winery Road, Somerset West, 7130.

Pricing information

On request. The fee covers accommodation, meals and the programme; medical consultations not linked to the programme, laundry and some outings are charged on top.

Things to consider when choosing a rehabilitation centre in Cape Town

Choose the centre that will treat the reason for the drinking or using, with methods the international standards recommend, run by people with long experience in this field. Eight questions on the first call show whether a centre does that:

  1. What do you think is underneath the addiction, and how do you treat it? A good answer names trauma, anxiety, depression or old patterns, and a method for each.
  2. Which methods do you use, and why those? Listen for named methods such as CBT, DBT, schema therapy, EMDR, family therapy, relapse prevention and 12-step work, and a reason for each.
  3. Who will treat me, by name, and how long have they done this work? “An experienced team” is not an answer.
  4. How many one-to-one sessions a week? Groups matter, but the underlying problem is worked on one to one.
  5. Are depression, anxiety or trauma treated on the same plan, or referred out?
  6. What does an ordinary Tuesday look like, hour by hour?
  7. Where does detox happen, and who is with me during it?
  8. What happens after the first month? Later phases, sober living and aftercare with the same team, or a new provider?

At Renewed Life Center the answers are the cause worked on from week one, the named methods above, named people with decades between them, about three one-to-one sessions a week in Phase 1, one plan for addiction and mental health, and the same team after the first month.

How long the first programme runs, where detox happens and how soon you can start, centre by centre:

Rehab centres in Cape Town and the Western Cape, as each centre publishes it, September and October 2026
CentreAreaFirst programmeDetoxStartTeam
Renewed Life CenterLakesidePlanned in one-month phases, then a step-downIn the same house, 24-hour nursing during detoxImmediate, typically within 3 daysNamed, with experience
Akeso Kenilworth ClinicKenilworthNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedNot listed
SANCA Western CapeAthloneOutpatientNot publishedNot publishedNot listed
Akeso Stepping StonesKommetjieDetox, primary and extended careDetox programmeNot publishedBy profession
Bloemendal ClinicPaarl3 weeks, can be extendedWith medical oversightNot publishedNot listed
The Cedars, Cape Manor HouseSouthern SuburbsPhases of 28 daysNot publishedNot publishedBy description
Harmony ClinicHout Bay21 to 63 daysOwn detox unitNot publishedBy profession
Diamond Recovery CentresCape Town21 days; 6 months recommendedIn the 21-day moduleNot publishedNot listed
IxandeKenilworth21 to 54 daysOwn detox unitNot publishedNot listed
Connection Mental HealthcareSt James28 days, shorter on requestOffered, changes the costNot publishedBy profession
Anker HuisKenilworth30 days to 3 monthsNot publishedImmediate, no waiting listBy profession
Rustenburg Addiction CareSomerset WestNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedBy profession

Taken from what each centre publishes about itself, checked in September and October 2026. Prices, where a centre publishes them, are in its card above.

Nobody arrives with the right words. “I think my son needs help and he does not agree yet” is enough to start. We work on what sits under the drinking or using. That means CBT, which NICE recommends for alcohol problems, 12-step work, which a Cochrane review backs, and therapy for the trauma underneath. You will have met the people who do it, by name. That is why families choose Renewed Life Center. Put all eight questions to us before you decide: ask us the eight questions on WhatsApp.

The admissions process is quick and simple

Admission to Renewed Life Center can be immediate and typically happens within three days of first contact. This is how it goes:

  1. You message us on WhatsApp, any time; a partner or parent can write for the person. We reply the same day.
  2. A free first conversation follows. It is confidential and takes 20 to 40 minutes by WhatsApp, video or phone: what is used, how much, for how long, what was tried.
  3. A clinical assessment within three days tells us whether you need a medical detox first, which phase to start in and how long to plan for. We send the fee in writing the same day.
  4. You arrive at the house in Lakeside. If you are coming from abroad, we meet you at Cape Town airport and take you back when you leave, and we help with the visa paperwork.

If someone drinks every day or takes benzos, sleeping tablets, mandrax, GHB or opioids, do not let them stop on their own while you wait: withdrawal from these can be dangerous. Message us and we will tell you whether a medical detox is needed and arrange it. If someone is unconscious or fitting, call 10177 or 112 now.

Jesse remembers the arrival: “My counselor, where I did a lot of deep work with, was there on the airport to fetch me. I enter a very warm place, it’s a nice house here.”

About Nikki Edwards

Written by Nikki Edwards, Programme Director and Clinical Manager at Renewed Life Center, who has 11 years in recovery. The facts about each centre come from its own pages, checked in September and October 2026.

Is there free rehab in Cape Town?

Yes, free rehabilitation centres exist in Cape Town, but there are far fewer funded beds than people who need them. The Western Cape Department of Social Development funds six in-patient treatment centres in the province with 671 beds in total, and the City of Cape Town runs six outpatient centres. Admission is by self-referral or through a social worker or clinic.

The state’s Kensington Treatment Centre, which used to take 30 men and 30 women at a time, no longer takes adults. The same report quotes the non-profit U-Turn: there is a long waiting period for state-funded beds, and people may lose motivation while they wait. The funded centres, including De Novo Treatment Centre in Kraaifontein, are in our guide to free rehabs in Cape Town. If the wait is the problem, message us. Admission typically happens within three days of first contact.

Questions people ask about rehabilitation centres in Cape Town

Look for the centre that treats what sits under the addiction, uses methods the international standards recommend and is run by people you can name, then stays with you after the first month. Renewed Life Center in Lakeside does all four, with detox in the same house and admission that can be immediate. The eight questions above work on any centre you call.

Few centres in this list publish a figure. Connection Mental Healthcare’s cost page showed from R52,500 a week in October 2026, and in September 2026 Harmony Clinic listed R25,000 to R45,000 a month. What decides the real figure is what the fee includes: detox, nursing, individual therapy, family sessions. Our Cape Town cost guide goes through rehab prices in detail, and we send our own fee in writing the same day after a free call.

Government drug rehabilitation centres are the state-funded beds in the free section above, with a wait; SANCA is a non-profit. Among affordable rehab centres, Diamond Recovery Centres says it is built for people who can no longer afford mainstream private rehab. A cheap month that ends in a relapse costs more than a programme long enough to work. Tell us your budget, and we will tell you what it can cover with us.

Medical schemes cover hospital-based treatment for substance dependence as a prescribed minimum benefit of up to three weeks a year, at providers they choose. At Renewed Life Center you pay us directly, so no scheme cap decides when you go home.

Most centres in this list run a first programme of 21 to 63 days, and a few recommend three to six months. NIDA’s principles link treatment shorter than 90 days to limited effectiveness, so we plan in one-month phases: Phase 1, then Phase 2, then the Recovery Integration Programme or the Sober Living Programme.

The options are inpatient rehab, outpatient programmes, long term drug rehab of three months or more, and sober living afterwards. Rehabilitation centres in the Western Cape run from Paarl and Somerset West to Hout Bay and Kommetjie. Our house in Lakeside offers all four options with one team.

Drug rehabilitation and alcohol rehabilitation use the same residential structure, but detox differs: daily drinking, benzodiazepines and opioids need a medical detox first, while cocaine, tik and cannabis usually do not. Message us before stopping and we will tell you which applies and arrange it.

Inpatient rehab centres are the safer choice if you drink every day, take sedatives or opioids, have relapsed after outpatient help, or if home makes it hard to stay clean. Outpatient works when withdrawal is not a risk and home is steady. Our Outpatient Programme runs weekday groups from 09:00 to 16:00, with two individual sessions a week and daily tests, while you live at home.

Not if you drink every day or take benzos, sleeping tablets, mandrax, GHB or opioids: do not stop suddenly on your own. Message us first, and we will tell you whether you need a medical detox and arrange it. If it is cannabis, cocaine, tik or CAT, and not mixed with pills or drink, try a week without it. If the week is harder than you expected, write to us.

The rehab centres in this list sit in the Southern Suburbs (Lakeside, Kenilworth), the Far South and the False Bay side (Kommetjie, St James) and Hout Bay, with others in Athlone, Somerset West and Paarl. Free drug rehab centres in Cape Town are the state-funded beds in the section above, and they come with a wait. For a residential stay, distance counts for less than what the centre treats and how, and many people pick a house across town on purpose. The table shows which drug and alcohol treatment centers start without a wait; at Renewed Life Center admission can be immediate and typically happens within three days of first contact. Tell us where you are and we will say whether it fits.

Drug rehabilitation facilities in the Western Cape come in four kinds: a psychiatric hospital with an addiction unit (Akeso Kenilworth Clinic, Ixande), a residential addiction rehab centre (Harmony Clinic, Rustenburg Addiction Care, Renewed Life Center), a non-profit outpatient service (SANCA Western Cape) and a state-funded bed (see the free rehab section above). Drug abuse treatment centers and alcohol rehab centres in the Western Cape share the same residential structure; the difference is detox. Daily drinking, benzodiazepines and opioids need a medical detox first; in drug abuse rehabilitation for cocaine, tik or cannabis it is usually not needed.

No. A rehab hospital such as Ixande or Akeso Kenilworth Clinic is a psychiatric hospital with addiction care; a rehab clinic or centre such as Harmony Clinic, or our house in Lakeside, is built around the programme.

Yes. People who search for rehabs in Johannesburg or rehab centres in Durban often choose Cape Town to put the width of the country between themselves and their usual circle. We take clients from across South Africa and from abroad. For international clients we arrange the airport pickup and the return trip and help with the visa paperwork; British and American passport holders can stay in South Africa for up to 90 days without a visa. The practical side is in is rehab in South Africa safe.

No. Newlands Park Centre is in Newlands West, Durban, going by a University of KwaZulu-Natal study of its patients, not in the Newlands suburb of Cape Town. If you were looking for a Newlands rehab in Cape Town, the nearest centres are in Kenilworth and in Lakeside, where our house is.

Yes. Rehab for alcohol abuse and rehabilitation for drug addicts are offered by the same substance abuse rehabilitation centers in this list, and most name dual diagnosis. A mental rehabilitation center worth choosing works on the addiction and the depression, anxiety or trauma on one plan, with the same people. At Renewed Life Center that is Ruby Weber’s side of the work, with EMDR and TRE for trauma and a psychiatrist selecting medication where it is needed. Drug recovery centers and rehab places that send the mental health part elsewhere leave the cause for later.

Sources

  1. SACENDU Research Brief, South African Medical Research Council, volume 29(1), 2026
  2. UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, South Africa: rehabilitation, recovery and residential treatment
  3. NIDA, Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide, third edition
  4. NIDA, Co-occurring disorders and health conditions
  5. WHO and UNODC, International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders, 2020
  6. NICE CG115, Alcohol-use disorders: diagnosis, assessment and management of harmful drinking and alcohol dependence
  7. Kelly JF, Humphreys K, Ferri M. Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs for alcohol use disorder. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020
  8. Western Cape Government, facility listing: SANCA Athlone
  9. Western Cape Government, Department of Social Development, substance abuse treatment services
  10. GroundUp, Closure of one of few adult in-patient free rehab facilities in Cape Town
  11. Council for Medical Schemes, CMScript: focus on substance use disorders
  12. DIRCO, visa exemption list
  13. University of KwaZulu-Natal research repository, study of patients at Newlands Park Centre, 2018
  14. recovery.com, The Cedars Cape Town: estimated programme costs, checked October 2026
  15. Centre details: each centre’s own website and public directory listings, checked September and October 2026.

This article is general information, not medical advice.

Still comparing centres? Ask us the eight questions.

A free, confidential conversation of 20 to 40 minutes by WhatsApp, video or phone, and a reply the same day. We will tell you honestly whether Renewed Life Center fits your situation.

Calling about someone else? You do not need their permission to message us.

A garden veranda with a woven hammock, palm tree and pool corner under a checkerboard-tiled roof