What happens in rehab, day by day?
Days at our centre in Lakeside, Cape Town, run from 06:30 to 22:30. Here is what fills them, how the first week and the months after it go, and where family fits in.
In short
- A day in rehab runs from 06:30 to 22:30.At Renewed Life Center in Lakeside, Cape Town, that means three to five clinical sessions, meals from our head chef and free time.
- The first week is about arriving safely.Our resident GP carries out a medical assessment, and detox with 24-hour nursing starts where it is needed. The NHS says alcohol withdrawal symptoms begin within 6 to 12 hours of the last drink and usually last 3 to 7 days.
- Two months is our recommended standard.We send our fee, and the list of what it covers, after a free first call. UK clinical guidelines from 2025 link programmes of 3 months or more with better outcomes.
Want to know what your own first week would look like? Book a free, confidential call with our team in Cape Town. We reply the same day.
People about to start residential treatment, and the families behind them, tend to ask the same first question: what will the days be like? Below is the week as it runs at our centre in Cape Town.
Before admission: get medical advice before you stop if you
- drink heavily every day
- have had shakes, seizures or hallucinations when you stopped before
- take benzodiazepines, opioids or other sedatives, with or without alcohol
Mention these in the pre-admission assessment. Our medical team assesses the risk before withdrawal begins.
Emergency: call 112 in South Africa, 999 in the UK or 911 in the US if someone is
- having a seizure
- confused, hallucinating or very agitated after stopping drinking
- unresponsive or breathing slowly after using drugs
- talking about ending their life, or has tried to
In Cape Town, the City’s toll-free emergency number is 021 480 7700.
If suicide is on your mind but nobody is in immediate danger, talk to someone today. In South Africa, the SADAG Suicide Crisis Helpline is free on 0800 567 567, 24 hours a day. In the UK, call NHS 111 and choose the mental health option or Samaritans on 116 123. In the US, call or text 988.
What does a typical day in rehab look like?
A typical day in residential rehab at Renewed Life Center begins with wake-up at 06:30 and ends with quiet hours at 22:30. Between the two come three to five clinical sessions, such as individual or group therapy, plus three meals and some time of your own.
A weekday at our centre in Lakeside
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06:30, wake-up
Time to wash, dress and eat breakfast before the first session.
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Morning sessions
Over a week in the first month, you have group therapy at least five times and, typically, three individual sessions with your therapist.
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Lunch
Carin Goosen-Dawson, our head chef, cooks every meal. Carin is also a certified peer recovery specialist with 20 years in recovery herself.
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Afternoon
More sessions, depending on your plan: EMDR for trauma, equine therapy, somatic work or yoga.
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Evening and quiet hours
Dinner, then time to read, write or rest. Quiet hours begin at 22:30.
The 2025 UK clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment say intensive programmes “usually provide daily structure and a focus on health, personal and social functioning”.
What is rehab like?
Rehab at our centre means full, structured days in a house, with other clients in the same position and a team you see daily. Staff are on site 24 hours, and several of the team are in long-term recovery themselves. The days are demanding, and rarely dull.
John Roberts, our operations manager, has 39 years of personal recovery. Craig Duke, an addiction counsellor who led treatment centres in the UK and Switzerland, has more than 20. Dr Ruby Weber heads psychology at the centre and has worked in the addictions field for over two decades, with international and South African clients.
With three to five sessions a day, there is little empty time. Talking in a group can feel strange at first, but group therapy runs at least five times a week, so it soon becomes familiar. In the group, people often hear their own story in someone else’s words.
Hard days happen, often when therapy touches something old. Staff are on site through the night.
What happens on your first day in rehab?
On the first day in rehab, you arrive, settle into your room and meet the team. Clients flying in land at Cape Town International Airport, and the transfer to Lakeside is included in the fee. A medical assessment by our resident GP follows early in the stay.
Dr John Wulz, the centre’s GP, has a background in mental health and emergency medicine. Where detox is clinically indicated, the medical team assesses the risk before withdrawal begins. You also meet your therapist for the first of the individual sessions that run through the month.
The fee does not cover flights: a return ticket from London Heathrow typically costs £600 to £900. For the whole trip from the UK, step by step, see our guide to private rehab abroad from the UK.
What happens during detox in the first week?
Detox in the first week means getting through withdrawal safely while alcohol or drugs leave the body. At our centre, medical detox takes place where it is clinically indicated, with 24-hour nursing supervision. Staff monitor symptoms, manage them and help sleep and daily routine settle. Medication is given only when clinically indicated and prescribed by a medical professional.
Symptoms start within6 to 12h
and usually last3 to 7 days
Alcohol withdrawal, counted from the last drink. After heavy drinking, some symptoms can last for a few months.
The NHS lists anxiety, poor sleep, nausea, a racing heartbeat, sweating, shaking, hallucinations, confusion and seizures among the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. The same page warns that “it can be very dangerous to stop drinking suddenly” for someone who is dependent.
Other drugs follow their own timelines. Withdrawal from benzodiazepines or opioids needs a separate plan, which the medical team sets for each person. Individual and group therapy run alongside detox from the first week. Read more about medical detox at our centre in Cape Town.
What therapy happens in rehab?
Therapy in rehab combines one-to-one sessions, group work and specialist methods. In the first month at our centre, that means individual psychotherapy, typically three times a week, and group therapy at least five times a week. Methods include cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), schema work, EMDR, somatic techniques and family therapy.
Cognitive behavioural therapy works on the thoughts that lead to drinking or drug use. The US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) says CBT can help a person “gain control of stressful emotions and thoughts”. According to NIDA, CBT also strengthens resolve when cues from past use appear, such as people, places and moods.
Where trauma is part of the picture, EMDR (eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing) is one of the options. In England, NICE guideline NG116 (2018) recommends offering EMDR to adults with PTSD who seek help more than 3 months after a non-combat trauma. At our centre, trauma-informed care includes EMDR, and depression, anxiety and PTSD are treated on the same plan as the addiction. Read more about dual diagnosis treatment in Cape Town and why treating both together matters.
Leila Bolland, our social worker and therapist, combines talk therapy with somatic techniques in her work on trauma and addiction. Holistic work at the centre includes yoga, acupuncture and nutrition.
For most people coming off alcohol, withdrawal has eased by the second week. Therapy can then go deeper, into the beliefs behind the drinking or drug use and the situations that set it off.
How long does rehab last?
Residential rehab usually lasts from a few weeks to a few months, according to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse. At Renewed Life Center, treatment runs in one-month phases, and two months is the recommended standard. UK clinical guidelines published in 2025 link programmes of 3 months or more with better outcomes.
Phase 1 is the first month of residential treatment at Renewed Life Center. Phase 1 combines medical detox where indicated, intensive individual and group therapy, and a firm daily structure. Phase 2 is the second month, with deeper therapy, an Internal Family Systems (IFS) group, identity rebuilding and a recovery community.
| Phase 1, month one | Phase 2, month two |
|---|---|
| Main aim | |
| Detox where indicated and a steady daily structure | Rebuilding identity and a recovery community |
| Individual therapy | |
| Intensive, typically three sessions a week | Continues, with a deeper focus |
| Group work | |
| Group therapy five or more times a week | Group therapy continues, plus an IFS group |
| What comes next | |
| Phase 2, the recommended standard | Discharge with a written relapse-prevention plan, or a third month |
| Fee | |
| Fee sent on request, after a free first call | Quoted for the second month or for both months together |
We send the fee and what it covers after a free first call, usually the same day. Flights and visa costs are not included.
The fee covers private or shared accommodation, all meals, therapy and the GP’s medical assessment. Detox with 24-hour nursing where needed, EMDR, equine therapy, family sessions, aftercare coordination and the airport transfer are included too. Treatment is private pay, without insurers or medical schemes. Compare rehab costs in the UK and South Africa, or what rehab costs for US families.
The UK guidelines say a stay should allow time to “build trust with the staff”, “work on individual change” and “get ready for reintegration”. Some clients stay for a third month; we quote that on request.
How does family take part while someone is in rehab?
Family takes part through family therapy sessions, which are included in the fee and can take place by video. Relatives in the UK, Europe or the US join from home. Cape Town runs on South African Standard Time all year, so a session can be set for an hour that suits both sides.
South African Standard Time “is defined as UTC + 2 hours”, according to the National Metrology Institute of South Africa, the official timekeeper. Cape Town is one hour ahead of London in the British summer and two hours ahead in winter. Amsterdam shares Cape Town’s time in summer. A 15:00 session in Cape Town starts at 09:00 in New York during US daylight saving time, and at 08:00 in the northern winter.
Families from the Netherlands can speak with Dutch-speaking staff. Read more about family therapy and support in Cape Town. If someone you love has not agreed to treatment yet, start with how to talk to them about rehab.
What is it like to do rehab in Cape Town?
Rehab in Cape Town, at our centre, means a gated property in Lakeside, just west of Muizenberg, with staff on site 24 hours. International clients are a primary focus of our practice, with families from the UK, the US, Ireland, the Netherlands and the rest of Europe.
The seasons run opposite to Europe’s and North America’s. Cape Town Tourism describes a Mediterranean climate. From December to February, daytime temperatures run from about 20 to 26°C (68 to 78°F). From June to August they run from about 12 to 17°C (54 to 62°F), with frequent rain and nights of 4 to 8°C.
What Cape Town adds to treatment
- Distance from home routines and triggers during the first weeks.
- A gated house with staff on site around the clock, below the mountain ridge.
- One or two hours’ difference from London, so family sessions fit a working day.
- A transfer from Cape Town International Airport, included in the fee.
For questions about crime and personal safety, our guide is rehab in South Africa safe? answers what UK and US relatives usually ask.
What happens at the end of rehab?
At the end of rehab, the team prepares your return home. Every discharge from Renewed Life Center includes a written relapse-prevention plan built specifically for your home environment. Our staff also coordinate the structured aftercare that follows, so the support continues once the residential months are over.
Going home is part of the treatment, so the last weeks are planned around it. Craig Duke, our addiction counsellor, specialises in relapse prevention and uses the Gorski relapse prevention model.
NIDA notes that residential programmes may provide “referrals to continuing care upon discharge”. Mutual help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and SMART Recovery are, in NIDA’s words, “free, not time-limited”. Clients who want more structure in Cape Town after treatment can read about sober living and aftercare.
Book a free, confidential call: 20 to 40 minutes by WhatsApp, video or phone, with no obligation.
Questions people ask
Pack comfortable clothes for full days and shoes you can walk in. Between June and August, add a warm layer, because Cape Town nights drop to 4 to 8°C, and in summer bring sunscreen. Check your passport as well. The UK Foreign Office says it must be valid for at least 30 days after you leave South Africa, with at least 2 blank pages.
Bring your medicines with you, and list every one of them in the pre-admission assessment. Our resident GP goes through them at the medical assessment. Where psychiatric medication is needed, a psychiatrist selects it, and medication is used only when clinically indicated and prescribed by a medical professional.
Mostly, yes. Renewed Life Center treats alcohol, drug and behavioural addictions, including gambling, gaming and sex and love addiction. All of them follow the same residential programme of individual and group therapy, and medical detox applies only where alcohol or drugs are involved.
No. Detox deals with withdrawal and usually takes days, sometimes a few weeks. Rehab is the whole residential programme around it: therapy, groups, family sessions and planning for home. Stopping at detox leaves out the part of treatment that works on why the drinking or drug use started.
This article is general information, not medical advice.
Sources
- NHS: alcohol-use disorder (reviewed 24 April 2026)
- City of Cape Town: emergency contact numbers
- South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG): 24-hour helplines
- NHS: where to get urgent help for mental health
- Department of Health and Social Care: UK clinical guidelines for alcohol treatment, residential treatment and intensive structured day programmes (published 28 November 2025, updated 17 April 2026)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): treatment (updated 4 September 2025)
- NICE guideline NG116: post-traumatic stress disorder, recommendations (2018)
- National Metrology Institute of South Africa (NMISA): South African Standard Time
- Cape Town Tourism: weather in Cape Town
- UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: South Africa travel advice, entry requirements
Wondering what your first week in Cape Town would look like? Ask us.
A free first conversation, a clinical assessment within three days, and admission that can be immediate and typically happens within three days of first contact.
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