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Calgary, Alberta · the honest, compassionate guide
Drug and alcohol rehab in Calgary: every option, honestly compared
Free Alberta Health Services helplines, public detox, publicly funded recovery communities, private residential addiction treatment, and one clearly marked option abroad. We are a residential centre in Málaga, Spain, not in Calgary, so we start with what is on your doorstep and what is already helping people in recovery here.
Checked for accuracy on 28 July 2026. Next review due July 2027. This page is general information about our programme and is not a substitute for advice about your own situation.
Stopping alcohol or benzodiazepines abruptly can be dangerous if you are physically dependent, and severe withdrawal can cause seizures. Get medical advice before you cut down. In a life-threatening emergency call 911. For 24-hour advice call Health Link 811 or the Alberta Addiction Helpline on 1-866-332-2322, and for a medically supported detox in the city, Renfrew Recovery Centre can help.
You do not have to pay for treatment in Calgary. Alberta Health Services runs free, confidential helplines and assessment, Renfrew Recovery Centre provides public medically supported detox, and Alberta removed the daily user fee for publicly funded residential addiction treatment in 2020, so recovery communities are now free to eligible Albertans. Private residential care and treatment abroad are faster or more private for some people, but for most, a free local addiction recovery service is the right first step.
Who publishes this, and why it matters. This guide is published by Sierra Recovery. We are not based in Calgary. We are a licensed residential centre in Málaga, Spain, and we appear once below, clearly marked, as one option among the local ones for people who would consider treatment away from home. Unlike a directory, nothing here is influenced by anyone paying for placement, and where a local service is better for you than we are, we say so.
Speak to a clinician about treatment from Calgary
Confidential, no obligation, and no referral fee is paid to anyone for sending you here.
Free drug and alcohol services in Calgary
Start here, before you consider paying for anything. These services are free, they are local, and for a great many people they are enough on their own. We publish them because a centre that only tells you about its own programme is not giving you the full picture.
| Where to go | What they do, and how to reach them |
|---|---|
| Alberta Health Services the commissioning authority | Free drug and alcohol treatment for Calgary is commissioned by Alberta Health Services. Their page lists the current provider, which changes when contracts are retendered, so we link the authority rather than a service name that may be out of date. |
| Your GP, or NHS 111 | The NHS advises starting with your GP, who can assess you, advise on safe options and refer you into local treatment. Call NHS 111 for urgent advice that is not an emergency. |
| Talk to FRANK | Free, confidential drugs advice 24 hours a day on 0300 123 6600, or text 82111. Its find-support tool lists local services for any postcode. |
| Drinkline | The free national alcohol helpline on 0300 123 1110, weekdays 9am to 8pm and weekends 11am to 4pm, for you or for someone you are worried about. |
| We Are With You | Free, confidential support for drug, alcohol and mental health problems, in person in many areas and by webchat everywhere. |
| Adfam | Support and information for families and friends affected by someone else’s drug or alcohol use. |
Checked 28 July 2026. Commissioned services are retendered periodically, so confirm the current provider with the authority before you travel to an appointment.
AA and NA meetings in Calgary
Mutual aid meetings are free, they run most days, and there is no waiting list, no referral and no assessment. You can walk into one this week. They work alongside whatever else you choose rather than instead of it, and plenty of people use them and nothing else.
| Fellowship | How to find a meeting near Calgary |
|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous | Search your town or postcode on the Alcoholics Anonymous, Calgary site to see every meeting near Calgary, in person and online, with days and times. |
| Narcotics Anonymous | If drugs are part of the picture, search the the Narcotics Anonymous meeting finder for meetings near Calgary. |
What actually happens at a first meeting
You do not have to speak, and you do not have to give your surname. Most meetings open with a reading, someone shares for a while, and others speak if they want to. It lasts about an hour, and it is free, though a basket goes round for the room hire. Nobody takes a register and nobody will ask you to commit to anything.
An open meeting can be attended by anyone, including family. A closed meeting is for people who think they may have a problem themselves. If the first group does not suit you, the next one along will feel different, because each has its own character. The usual advice is to try three before deciding it is not for you.
We link the official finders rather than print a timetable, because meeting times and venues change and a stale listing sends someone to a locked door. Checked 28 July 2026.
Private and residential rehab in and around Calgary
Calgary is comparatively well served. Unlike some towns, you do not have to leave the city to find residential addiction treatment. There is public detox at Renfrew, publicly funded recovery communities across Alberta, and a number of private residential treatment centres in and around Calgary, licensed with the Alberta government, including women-only provision for women and their families that has operated in the city for decades. Between them, these alcohol addiction treatment and drug addiction treatment options cover most substance use disorders, from a single course of counselling to a full residential stay. The Alberta.ca residential treatment provider list, cited below, lets you compare private rehab centres yourself.
The trade-off between free and private care is usually speed, privacy and choice of setting rather than the quality of the clinical work. Publicly funded services can involve a wait and are allocated by need; private residential care can start sooner, offer more individualised treatment planning and a private room, and you pay for that. Most private treatment centres offer both inpatient and outpatient addiction treatment, and many take a holistic view of mental health issues alongside the addiction itself, so it is worth asking which structure suits your substance use and your circumstances at home.
What treatment in Calgary costs
Publicly funded detox and residential addiction treatment through Alberta Health Services and the recovery communities are free to eligible Albertans. For private residential care, published directories indicate a broad range of roughly CA$5,000–CA$35,000 per month, rising towards CA$60,000 for a 60–90 day stay at the higher end, with outpatient addiction treatment programmes around CA$6,000–CA$15,000 per month for people who need to keep living at home while they get support. These are indicative ranges drawn from public directories, not quotations, and every centre sets its own fees.
Cost ranges checked 25 July 2026. Confirm any figure directly with the provider before you rely on it.
Considering residential treatment abroad?
Sierra Recovery, Málaga, Spain
Most people who look abroad are not chasing sunshine. They are trying to get far enough away from the people, the places and the routine that keep the drinking or the using going, because they have already discovered that stopping while all of that is still fifteen minutes away does not hold. That distance is the whole point, and it is the one thing a clinic near Calgary cannot give you.
Sierra Recovery is a working farmhouse on forty hectares of olive groves in the Málaga countryside, about forty five minutes from the airport and roughly three hours from most UK airports. It is small, the team is English-speaking, and the same clinicians treat you from the first day to the last. What follows is what that actually buys, stated plainly enough that you can compare it with anything else you are considering.
| What matters when comparing | Sierra Recovery |
|---|---|
| Is it actually licensed | A registered health centre entered in the Registro Andaluz de Centros, Servicios y Establecimientos Sanitarios (the Andalusian register of health centres, services and establishments) under N.I.C.A. 67331, authorised by the Junta de Andalucía. You can look it up yourself on the public register. |
| What it costs, in full | £9,900 for the 28-day residential programme, published on the site up front. All rooms are individual. You get an itemised written quotation before admission. |
| Who pays whom | No referral fees are paid or accepted, in either direction. Nobody earns a commission for sending you here, which is worth checking about any centre you are comparing. |
| What the clinical work is | Three group sessions a day five days a week, individual therapy three times a week, and a seventeen-module psychoeducation curriculum. The approach adapts the method of PROMIS Clinics, treating addiction in the United Kingdom since 1986. |
| Where the limits are | It is not a hospital and not a detox unit. Where a medically supervised detox is clinically needed it is completed in an appropriate medical setting before admission and billed separately. Qualified nurses are part of the team throughout the stay. |
| Who you speak to first | Our admissions team, all of them clinicians, working to the standards set by our clinical director. The assessment is free, and if a service closer to home suits you better, we will say so. |
| What happens afterwards | Aftercare is agreed before you leave: a session every week for a full year, online or in person at the PROMIS clinics in London, which is more than 48 sessions in the twelve months after discharge. A written handover goes to your GP so nothing has to be explained from scratch. |
Every figure above is published elsewhere on this site and can be checked. See pricing, regulation and licensing and the programme.
Which option is right for you
Start with the free Alberta Health Services front door, the Addiction Helpline or Access Addiction & Mental Health, if you are unsure, if cost is the barrier, or if you want to stay near family, keep working, and live at home while you get help. Renfrew Recovery Centre if you are physically dependent and need a medically supported detox first. A publicly funded recovery community for longer residential addiction treatment and structured recovery at no cost. A private residential rehab centre in or near Calgary if you want to start sooner or need more privacy and can meet the fees, whether that is alcohol treatment, drug and alcohol addiction treatment, or support for a co-occurring mental health concern. Treatment abroad only if distance from home would genuinely help your recovery journey, you can travel, and you do not need an immediate hospital detox. And use AA, NA or CA alongside whatever you choose, twelve-step support and professional treatment and support work well together, not as alternatives. If you would like to talk through whether treatment abroad fits your situation, read how admission works and we will tell you honestly if a local service is the better route.
Sources and verification
- Alberta Health Services, Addiction Helpline (1-866-332-2322, 24/7)
- Alberta Health Services, Access Mental Health / Access Addiction & Mental Health (1-888-594-0211)
- Alberta Health Services, Renfrew Recovery Centre, Calgary (403-297-3337)
- Alberta.ca, recovery communities, and the residential addiction treatment provider list
- Alcoholics Anonymous, Calgary (403-777-1212) · Cocaine Anonymous, Southern Alberta · Al-Anon Alberta
- Private residential price ranges compiled from published provider and directory figures (not endorsements)
- Junta de Andalucía register, Sierra Recovery, N.I.C.A. 67331 · Sierra pricing
All figures dated 25 July 2026. Confirm each number and price on the provider’s own page before you rely on it.
Questions people ask
Is drug and alcohol rehab free in Calgary?
For many people, yes. The Alberta Addiction Helpline and Access Addiction & Mental Health cost nothing, Renfrew Recovery Centre detox is covered under Alberta Health Care, and Alberta removed daily user fees for publicly funded residential treatment in 2020, so recovery communities are now free to eligible Albertans.
Where should I start if I need help in Calgary?
Call the Alberta Addiction Helpline on 1-866-332-2322, which is free and confidential 24 hours a day, or Access Addiction & Mental Health on 1-888-594-0211 during weekday hours. In a life-threatening emergency call 911, and for 24-hour advice you can also call Health Link on 811.
Is there residential rehab in Calgary itself?
Yes. Renfrew Recovery Centre provides public, medically supported detox in the city, publicly funded recovery communities across Alberta offer longer residential care free of charge, and a number of private residential centres operate in and around Calgary, including long-established women-only provision.
How much does private rehab cost in Calgary?
Published directories indicate roughly CA$5,000 to CA$35,000 per month for private residential care, rising towards CA$60,000 for a 60 to 90 day stay at the higher end, with outpatient programmes around CA$6,000 to CA$15,000 per month. These are indicative ranges, not quotes, and publicly funded residential treatment is free to eligible Albertans.
Why is a rehab in Spain listed on a Calgary page?
Sierra Recovery is a licensed residential centre in Malaga, Spain, not in Calgary. We include ourselves once, clearly marked, only for people who would consider treatment abroad. For most people in Calgary a free local service is the right first step, and we will say so if it fits you better than we do.
From Calgary, admission can happen within days
Where no medical detox is needed first, the usual sequence is a free assessment, an itemised written quotation, and a flight. Málaga is around three hours from most UK airports. Where a detox is needed it is arranged first and that changes the timing, and we will tell you so at assessment, before you book anything.
Still not sure which option fits you in Calgary?
Tell a clinician what is going on and they will talk it through with you, including the free routes above, before anything is booked.
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Talk to a clinician today
You will speak to our admissions team, English-speaking clinicians who know the programme and the people in it. Callback within 24 hours.
Registered health centre. Authorised by the Junta de Andalucía, N.I.C.A. 67331.
Other areas we cover
See every location in our local treatment guides, or compare what treatment costs in Canada.
