Editorial policy

Our purpose

Addict Outreach publishes educational content for people who are trying to understand addiction, find treatment, pay for it, or stay safe. Everything we publish is written for the person seeking help rather than for professionals, facilities, or industry audiences.

Language

We use person-first language: a person struggling with addiction, a person with a substance use disorder, a person seeking recovery. We do not use labels like “addict” or “junkie” to describe a person, or terms like “clean” and “dirty” to describe a person or a test result.

We do not shame readers for relapse, for continuing to use, for using medication as part of treatment, or for previous attempts that did not last. Those are common parts of the picture, and describing them as failures would make this site less useful.

Fact-checking and medical review

Medical and safety-related claims are checked against primary sources such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Safety-sensitive content is scheduled for review by an appropriately qualified reviewer before or shortly after publication, and each article states its review status. Until a piece has been through that review, it is labelled as editorially reviewed only. We would rather show you that status than imply a credential we do not have.

Authors and reviewers

Articles carry an author and a review date. Where an article names a reviewer, that person has reviewed the content for accuracy and safety. We do not invent authors, credentials, awards, or organizational history, and we do not publish fabricated testimonials or invented recovery stories.

Statistics and claims

We do not publish success rates, ranking claims, or outcome guarantees we cannot support with a cited source. If we use a statistic, we name where it comes from.

Resource listings

A resource appears in our directory only after we confirm that the organization exists, what it says it provides, and where it says it operates. Each listing shows the month we last checked it. Where possible we link to the specific service page rather than an organization’s homepage.

We do not fabricate organizations, phone numbers, service availability, eligibility rules, or costs. If we cannot verify a resource, we do not publish it as an established resource. A national organization does not necessarily offer every service in every state, and we do not present them as if it does.

Corrections

If something here is wrong, tell us through the contact form and we will re-verify it. Corrections to medical content are reviewed the same way the original content was.

Commercial relationships and referrals

Addict Outreach directs people who are ready to arrange treatment to Find Your Recovery, a free national treatment matching service, as our primary treatment resource. We disclose that relationship here rather than presenting the referral as a neutral editorial choice, and any commercial terms of it will be stated on this page.

We do not accept payment for a listing to appear in the resource directory, and no organization pays to be described favorably there. A referral never changes our crisis guidance, and it never removes the official public locators we list, such as FindTreatment.gov and the SAMHSA National Helpline.

Independent judgment about treatment

We describe options rather than promoting one model of care. We do not tell readers that a particular program, medication, or pathway is right for them, because that is a decision that belongs with a qualified assessment and the person making it.