Alcohol Addiction Treatment in Minnesota
From safe withdrawal to a sober housing pathway, NorthStar Regional delivers alcohol addiction treatment in Minnesota inside one connected system. Alcohol withdrawal can be a medical danger, so care often begins with detox (withdrawal management) and 24-hour nursing in Eden Prairie. Most clients then step into residential treatment and outpatient care on campuses near Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Depression and anxiety often come with drinking, so one team treats them in the same plan. We accept Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and most major insurers, and the family often sees the problem first.
Alcohol treatment at a glance
3 to 7 days
Medical detox with 24-hour nurses at our withdrawal management center in Eden Prairie. For when withdrawal is a risk
35 to 50 days
Inpatient rehab, including detox, on separate campuses
A year to 18 months
The full continuum through sober living, for those who complete it
Treated together
The depression and anxiety underneath, in the same plan
Licensed Treatment Programs
Founded 2015
Addiction and mental health care in one system
Multiple Campuses
Across the Twin Cities metro
MN Department of Health: Licensed
MN Department of Human Services: Licensed
When drinking stops being a choice
Alcohol Addiction Is a Medical Condition
Alcohol use disorder is a substance use disorder, a medical condition and not a moral failure. It means drinking that goes on despite the damage, needing more to feel the same effect, and withdrawal symptoms when you stop. Because alcohol is legal, social, and everywhere, the shift from drinking like everyone else to being unable to stop often goes unnoticed. The family usually sees it first. Alcohol is a drug like other drugs. Being legal changes where it is sold, not what it does to the brain.
Two things make alcohol different from most other drugs. First, withdrawal can be a medical danger, which is why stopping safely often needs medical detox, not willpower. Safety comes before everything else we do.
Second, drinking is part of so many everyday settings that lasting recovery needs more than just stopping. It needs treatment for what the drinking was covering up, plus a strong base of skills and support. And it needs a plan for the daily life the drinking used to fill. That is what a real treatment center in MN should offer, and treatment that only helps you stop drinking is not enough.
What It Looks Like
Signs of an Alcohol Abuse Problem
These are the patterns we hear at assessment, in the words people actually use.
You Can’t Stop At One
One drink reliably becomes many. You plan on two and end up at eight, and it feels like you never actually decided to keep going.
Mornings Need Repair
Shaking hands, sweating, a drink to feel level before work. Needing alcohol to feel normal is withdrawal, and it’s a medical sign, not a habit.
You’re Hiding How Much You Drink
Bottles in the garage, mouthwash before dinner, receipts that don’t match the story. Secrecy arrives when some part of you already knows.
Tolerance Keeps Climbing
What used to be enough isn’t. The body adapts, the doses climb, and the effect you’re chasing keeps moving.
Drinking Is Taking Over Your Schedule
Plans scheduled around drinking or recovering from it. Hobbies, friendships, and mornings given up one at a time.
You've Tried to Stop
Dry Januaries, rules about only weekends, promises after bad nights. Repeated failed attempts to cut down are symptoms, not a verdict on you.
You don’t need to check every box, and you don’t need to diagnose yourself. If several of these sound familiar, a comprehensive assessment tells you whether this is a substance use disorder, clearly, in about an hour. Reading this for someone you love? Start with our guide for parents or our guide for spouses and partners.
Treating Drinking and the Mental Health Issues Underneath It
Naming what is really going on is the first step of recovery, and it usually has two parts: the alcohol, and the depression, anxiety, or trauma the alcohol was covering. Having both is the rule, not the exception. Co-occurring disorders, a mental health condition and a substance use problem at the same time, come back if only half treated. The reason is simple: the substance use disorder and the depression or anxiety behind it make each other worse. Treating both is what makes recovery last. At NorthStar Regional, both are treated in one plan, by one team, with equal weight. Explore both sides of our services below.
Alcohol, Drugs, and Every Substance We Treat
Mental Health Services by Condition
How We Treat It
How NorthStar Regional Treats Alcohol Addiction in Minnesota
Treatment starts with a comprehensive assessment. It answers the medical question first: is withdrawal a risk? We settle that on the first call. If it is a risk, care begins with medical detox at our withdrawal management center in Eden Prairie. There you get 24-hour nursing, with medication managed for safety and comfort. From there, most clients step straight into high-intensity residential treatment, then move down through the levels of care as they regain independence. That path is residential care, intensive outpatient treatment, relapse prevention, and sober living.
At every stage, the clinical work uses therapies proven by research. CBT works on the thinking patterns that lead to drinking, while DBT-informed skills help with the feelings drinking used to manage.
EMDR helps when trauma is part of the problem. Family therapy is built in too, because alcohol changes how a whole family works and families heal best together. We treat co-occurring depression and anxiety in the same plan, not by sending you elsewhere. Designated programs include co-occurring mental health care. A typical day includes groups, one-on-one sessions, movement, meals, and rest.
Am I ready?
Do I Need Alcohol Treatment? Next Steps
Here is how to tell, without the drama.
You’re Already Wondering If It’s A Problem
People who aren’t worried about their drinking don’t research rehab options. They don’t compare treatment services in Minnesota. You are here, reading this, and that is worth taking seriously.
You’ve Tried To Quit On Your Own
If cutting back worked, it would have worked by now. Needing structure is not weakness. It is a realistic response to a substance use disorder.
You Don’t Have To Feel Ready
Nobody feels ready. The moment you’re willing is enough. One call, and our program team handles everything else, the same day whenever we can.
You don’t have to wait until you feel ready. Make the call while you are willing. Here is how admissions works, and how the assessment turns “maybe” into a program and a plan with clear next steps.
Where you can get help
Alcohol Addiction Treatment at Every NorthStar Regional Location
There is no wrong place to start. However you got here, you are in the right place. Alcohol addiction is treated at every NorthStar Regional location, and designated programs include co-occurring care for the depression, anxiety, or trauma that comes with it. Standalone mental health care is also available at our outpatient clinic in Shakopee. Your comprehensive assessment matches you to the right campus and level of care. From there, your treatment plan is built around your needs, not around a set program.
Eden Prairie, MN
Where many Minneapolis-area clients start. It is our only site with medical detox, with nurses on site 24 hours a day.
Men's Treatment Center | Chaska
An intensive outpatient program with a place to stay. You can start recovery before housing is sorted out.
Women's Treatment Center | Chaska
A fully separate women’s campus in Chaska, MN. The Klein Mansion lets women move from residential into IOP with lodging.
Men's Treatment Center | Otsego
32 wooded acres on the river outside the city. Outdoor groups and a workout space. Serves the northwest Minneapolis metro.
Men's Treatment Center | Shakopee
A residential home on an ordinary residential street, not a hospital wing. Minutes from our outpatient center.
Outpatient Mental Health Clinic | Shakopee
Counseling, assessments, and standalone mental health care, about 35 minutes from downtown Minneapolis. Come in person, or use telehealth, video or phone sessions, from anywhere in MN. No established diagnosis is needed to contact us.
Where treatment happens
The Programs That Treat Drug and Alcohol Addiction
One continuum of programs, from residential beds to weekly outpatient hours, with each stage handing off to the next. You enter at whatever stage your assessment says fits.
About 3 to 7 days
Alcohol Detox
The program where safety comes first. Medical staff watch over withdrawal, with 24-hour nursing at our withdrawal management center in Eden Prairie.
About 35 to 50 days
Inpatient Rehabilitation
The flagship program. You live in for 35 to 50 days of residential treatment, on separate men’s and women’s campuses.
85 to 105 connected days
Low-Intensity Residential Treatment
A home with recovery support while you build back your own life.
With or without lodging
Intensive Outpatient
Outpatient treatment that fits around work and family, with a place to stay if needed.
6 to 8 months or longer
Relapse Prevention
A weekly outpatient program, six to eight months of support for when life starts moving again.
The rest of the way
Sober Living
The program where sober routines take root. Substance-free housing in a recovery community.
Who's behind the work
About NorthStar Regional
NorthStar Regional is Minnesota’s treatment system built around access: alcohol and drug treatment centers and mental health care across multiple Twin Cities metro locations. Founded in 2015, we provide one connected continuum: detox (withdrawal management), residential, outpatient, mental health, and a sober housing pathway. Separate men’s and women’s campuses, co-occurring care at designated programs, and no faith requirement set us apart. We accept Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and most major insurers, and if you are uninsured, our admissions team helps you through enrollment. A person can walk in with nothing and leave with everything they need to build a life.
Paying for Care
Insurance and Payment Options
Our team helps review your benefits and handles the paperwork with you. If you have no insurance, we help walk you through enrolling for benefits. County case managers, probation officers, hospitals, and crisis teams send clients to us because, in their words, we just get it done.
Insurance and State Funding
Commercial plans, Medical Assistance (Medicaid), county placements, and private pay. We verify benefits and handle the paperwork with you.
We Are Here to Help
We help review your benefits, find your right starting point, and schedule you for the same day or the next whenever possible. Then we pick you up anywhere in the Twin Cities metro.
How Admission Works
What Happens From Your First Call to Your First Night
You did the hard part when you picked up the phone. Here is exactly what happens next, so nothing about day one is a mystery.
You Call and a Real Person Answers
A real person answers, usually within seconds, and asks one short question: substance use, or mental health? There is no phone tree, and you don’t have to tell your life story. We ask only what we need and handle the rest.
We Help with the Details
Our team helps review your benefits, and a short screening covers withdrawal risk, medical needs, and mental health, so you land at the right level of care. Then we schedule you, same day or next day whenever possible.
We Pick You Up
You get reminder calls and texts. Before pickup, your admissions coordinator and your driver call you together, so you know the name, the car, and the timing before it’s in your driveway. In the car: water, Gatorade, snacks, and a bagged lunch. Your driver, most often someone in long-term recovery, helps with your bags.
A Real Person Meets You When You Arrive
Your driver walks you inside and hands you off by name to the team member waiting for you. Your intake team completes your application with you. If you’re hungry, there’s a meal waiting. Treatment starts, and you never carried the logistics.
“The client has done the hard work by picking up the phone. We will carry them the rest of the way.”
Sarah Roy, Executive Vice President
Reviews from Google
Why Clients Choose NorthStar Regional
Don’t just take our word for it. Here is what alumni say about their time in treatment.
Keep reading
Related Articles and Resources
Resources
Before You Call
How admissions works, guides for families, and the forms you can complete early. More resources are linked throughout the site, or contact admissions and we’ll send anything by email.
Questions we hear every day
Common Questions About Alcohol Addiction Treatment
How do I know if I'm an alcoholic or just a heavy drinker?
The label matters less than the pattern: loss of control, going on despite harm, needing more, and withdrawal when you stop. That pattern is a substance use disorder. A comprehensive assessment helps find the answer in about an hour, in private, and you commit to nothing. And “alcoholic” is a word you never have to use about yourself here.
Do I need medical detox to stop drinking?
Possibly, yes. If you drink daily or heavily, alcohol withdrawal can be a medical danger. Shaking, sweating, or morning drinking are signs to stop with medical support, not alone, for your safety. Our assessment screens for withdrawal risk when you call.
What happens in alcohol rehab at NorthStar Regional?
Days have structure and a real clinical focus. That means group and individual therapy, co-occurring mental health care, family work, and whole-person services. It most often means 35 to 50 days at the inpatient and residential level. Then you step down through outpatient care, relapse prevention, and sober living. Families from the Minneapolis area can visit as the plan allows, because fixing family bonds is part of recovery. That work does not wait until after you leave.
Is Alcoholics Anonymous part of treatment?
It’s offered, but never required. For many of our clients, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and other peer support groups add to the clinical program. Many of these groups are run by nonprofit networks and are free to attend in almost any city across the Minneapolis and Saint Paul metro. If AA isn’t a good fit, SMART Recovery and other options are available. If you do go to AA, your higher power is yours to define.
What about medications for alcohol cravings?
Yes, we can help with that. Medications like naltrexone, acamprosate, and disulfiram reduce cravings or make drinking less appealing, and for some people they make early recovery a lot more manageable. Our medical partner looks at your history and your goals and talks through whether one of these makes sense for you. It’s a case by case decision, never something we assume everyone needs or pressure anyone into. If you’re curious, ask on the first call. You’ll get a straight answer about how it works here.
What if it's alcohol plus drug use or other drugs?
We treat it all together, and it’s very common. Many people who come to us use alcohol along with other drugs. Your assessment looks at everything you’re using, and detox manages the medical risks of withdrawing from more than one substance. Then one plan treats all of it, because substance use rarely involves just one thing.
Can you treat my depression or anxiety at the same time?
Yes, that’s the design of the whole treatment center. Most people we treat for alcohol and drugs also carry depression, anxiety, or trauma. Both are treated in the same plan by the same team, and designated programs include co-occurring mental health care. Physical health gets care too: real meals, sleep, movement, and medical care where it’s needed.
How long does alcohol addiction treatment take?
High-intensity residential treatment usually runs 35 to 50 days, including detox. The residential and outpatient path through sober living runs a year to 18 months for those who complete it. There is no set length, because it depends on the person. Time in treatment is one of the strongest predictors that people recover for good. Each program along the way gives you more independence.
Does insurance cover alcohol treatment?
Coverage depends on your plan, the service, eligibility, and authorization requirements. Our team helps review your benefits and available payment options. Benefits verification is not a guarantee of payment.
How do I get help for a loved one who drinks?
You can start before they say yes. Our guides for parents and for spouses and partners cover the conversation, boundaries, and the difference between helping and enabling, whether the person drinking is your spouse, your parent, or your adult child. Support for families exists before treatment ever starts, and when a loved one won’t hear it yet, the guides are where to begin. Family therapy is part of treatment itself. Hospitals, counties, courts, and providers refer patients and clients to us every week, so you won’t be the first Minneapolis family to call with concerns and no plan. That is what the call is for. We help families explore the services and options.
Admissions
Make the First Call and We'll Take It from There
Confidential, no obligation, and answered by someone who knows what you’re facing and cares to listen.