Frequently Asked Questions

Getting started is quick and easy. Fill out this form or call us at (323) 522-2218 and a member of our care team will collect some necessary information and schedule you for a video intake appointment. We will contact you immediately and strive to get all new members an appointment within 48 hours.

Affect has built its programs on the latest science in treating addiction. By combining multiple evidence-based treatment approaches into a single program, we help our members stay in treatment and achieve reduction or elimination in drug and alcohol usage at twice the rate of traditional outpatient care. Our research is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Our members love us for our experienced and empathetic team, for the ease and accessibility of our all-digital program, and for a rewards system that helps keep them engaged when motivation is low. Over fifty percent of members stay in treatment and achieve full or substantial reduction in usage after just three months.

Your health insurer is bound by law to keep your personal health information confidential and is prohibited from sharing it with anyone, including your employer, without your consent. This is true even if you are on your employer’s health insurance. If you have health insurance, you should use it to pay for treatment and it will cover your costs according to your plan. We’ll verify your coverage, many people in our program have no out-of-pocket expenses.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is a federal law that protects sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge. Affect is also bound by this law. Your privacy is completely protected. This also includes reporting your treatment to the police, which is another common fear that keeps people from getting treatment. Treatment programs do not inform law enforcement about people in their programs.

While HIPAA protects your privacy, there are other employment laws that are relevant to getting treatment for substance use disorders. These include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The ADA provides certain protections for taking medication-assisted-treatment for a chronic condition. It does not offer protections for abuse of prescription medications. People can use FMLA to take time off their job for something like inpatient residential treatment for an extended period of time, and substance abuse treatment is covered in this law. However, if you choose to use ADA and FMLA, you will need to disclose that you are getting treatment but you do not need to disclose past substance abuse.

With this in mind, a treatment program that allows you to stay at your job and with your family, such as a digital program like Affect, is more discreet and private than going to a residential rehab clinic for an extended period of time or taking hours off during the week to go to an outpatient clinic.

While there are laws that protect your employment and your privacy for getting treatment, there are laws that allow employers to have policies like drug-free workplaces and random drug tests that can result in you being fired for abusing substances. If you are arrested and ordered into treatment or detox by a court, it will be on your record and show up in background checks, while getting voluntary treatment will not.

You can seek help for your substance use disorder with confidence and security in your privacy. You have more reasons to be concerned about losing your job while actively using substances and alcohol. Get the help you need so you can keep your job.

You’ll need a smartphone running iOS v10 or higher or Android v10 or higher. Much of our program occurs over secure video conference, so it’s helpful to have access to a Wifi connection or an unlimited data plan. If you don’t have a smartphone, you may be eligible for government assistance through the Lifeline program to get one. Lifeline also provides assistance with broadband Internet connectivity for your home.

During your intake appointment, you’ll download our smartphone app to engage in video conferencing calls with your counselor and doctor, and care advocates are available to help with setup as well as any ongoing technology questions or concerns. Telehealth for addiction services allows members to meet with their providers to check-in on their symptoms, medication management, and social conditions, and it allows you to connect with peers and be connected to our team any time, day or night.

Before the first video conferencing visit with your counselor, you will be educated on security best practices in order to ensure the highest level of privacy and security possible.

Contingency management is a type of behavioral therapy in which individuals are rewarded for evidence of positive behavior change. In our program, we pay cash rewards to members for successfully completing assigned tasks and appointments. We also reward abstinence, with increasing incentives for each consecutive negative drug or alcohol screen you complete. While the exact neurological systems aren’t fully understood, contingency management engages the brain’s reward system, providing a dopamine hit a little like what drugs provide.

Contingency management has been found to be the most successful method of treating stimulant addictions for substances like methamphetamine and cocaine. The Department of Veteran’s Affairs has used it to treat 5,600 vets over the last 10 years, and 92% tested negative. In California, 63% of people who took part in a Contingency Management program with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation stopped using meth entirely, and another 19% reduced their use. Contingency management has proven equally effective at helping address alcohol use disorder. When coupled with a robust therapy program and supportive medications, it helps meaningfully reduce usage and habituate new, healthy behaviors.

In contrast, over 60% of people who get standard addiction treatment in residential or outpatient clinics relapse within 30 days. 85% relapse within one year. Even worse, many people are discharged from those programs for relapsing. Affect built its program on science and compassion to stay with its members through relapses and motivate them towards reducing their use and find lasting recovery with rewards.