Key takeaway
You need a program you can call, not a map you are afraid to trust. FindTreatment.gov lists facilities a state agency approved that also answered a federal survey. Search by city or ZIP, then filter by type. A listing is the facility's own report. It is not an open bed and not a personal endorsement.
Last updated: Mon Oct 05 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
You can open a map and still not know who would actually take you tonight. FindTreatment.gov is a directory, not a ranking and not a bed board. SAMHSA runs it as a confidential, anonymous way to locate mental health and substance use treatment facilities in the United States and its territories. You can search it without creating an account. The result is a set of listings to call. It is not a statement that any pin is the right program for you, and SmarterRecovery does not endorse the pins.
If someone is unresponsive or struggling to breathe, call 911. For a mental health crisis, call or text 988. Searching a map can wait.
The level-of-care guide covers matching outpatient, inpatient, and residential care to the substance and the person's health. The steps below are how to work the locator, and how to read what "licensed" means on it.
What gets a facility onto the list
SAMHSA's treatment page says the locator provides information on state-licensed providers that specialize in substance use disorders and mental illness. The National Directory of Drug and Alcohol Use Treatment Facilities, which draws on the same survey, states the rules more tightly. A facility is included when a state substance use agency has licensed, certified, or otherwise approved it for the directory, and when the facility responded to the National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey. SAMHSA conducts that survey every year. The information printed for each facility is what the facility itself reported.
The national directory says each facility supplied its own details in response to that annual survey. A service line can change before the next survey. Treat the listing as a place to call, then confirm the phone number, the services, and whether anyone is being admitted.
That is the licensed filter. You are not looking for a secret checkbox that means excellent. You are looking at a list that already dropped facilities the state agency did not approve for inclusion. Approval for a federal directory is still not a clinical assessment of your situation. Ask the program for its current state license number and the board that issued it. The choosing guide gives the longer version of that check.
How to run the search
Open FindTreatment.gov and enter an address, a city, a ZIP code, or a facility name. The locator tells you to pick a value from the suggestions that appear. Searches are confidential.
Then narrow the map. The locator says you can limit results by state, county, or distance. SAMHSA's step card says a map shows where services are, and that if nothing appears you should zoom out. Use that before you conclude there is no care in the region. A tight radius in a rural county often looks empty. A wider radius often does not.
The left side of the results page is labeled as filters. The locator names facility name and facility type, and says more filters sit in that same area and apply as soon as you select them. Facility types on the current locator include substance use, health care centers, and opioid treatment programs. Opioid treatment programs, the home page says, are programs that provide methadone for opioid addiction. Use the labels you see. The tool changes.
One change is already dated on the site. As of June 1, 2026, SAMHSA removed the ability to search for individual buprenorphine practitioners. The old federal waiver to prescribe buprenorphine ended in December 2022, so that practitioner list was retired. Facilities that provide buprenorphine and other medications for opioid use disorder are still listed. If an older screenshot tells you to filter for "buprenorphine practitioners," ignore that step and filter for facilities instead.
SAMHSA's step card says you can filter by the type of treatment you want, then open a listing for the address, the phone number, the facility type, and information about services and payment. More Info is the detail view. You can download or print from the results page. Read the payment lines the facility reported. Do not assume a payer is accepted because a neighboring listing accepts it.
What to do with a listing
Write down three things before you trust a program's own website: the legal name, the city, and the phone number on the federal listing. Then call and ask whether that phone number is still admissions, whether they are admitting, what level of care they are offering, and which medicines they will start or continue. The admissions guide offers a script. The detox-versus-rehab guide helps when the listing says both "detox" and "residential" and you need to know which bed is actually open.
Compare two or three listings when you can. SAMHSA's quality checklist, linked from the choosing guide, is license, evidence-based therapies, and FDA-approved medicines only where those medicines exist. A glossy photo is not on that checklist.
A city-by-city facility list goes stale, and a private site should not pretend to be the directory SAMHSA already publishes. If you are choosing care in West Virginia, the West Virginia choosing guide adds the state helpline and the public Medicaid description. The state page holds the hub for that state. Other states use the same federal locator with the state filter changed.
A listing you can call for a date this week is the this-week guide. The map itself is not a start date. Call or text (800) 653-9376 if you want help turning a map pin into questions about level of care, medication, and payment.
Additional Resources
Sources cited on this page:
- SAMHSA FindTreatment.gov
- FindTreatment.gov locator
- SAMHSA: Find substance use disorder treatment
- SAMHSA: N-SUMHSS national directories
- FindTreatment.gov: How to use the treatment locator (steps)
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Common Questions
Does FindTreatment.gov list only licensed programs?
SAMHSA says the locator gives information on state-licensed providers that treat substance use disorders and mental illness. The national directory adds two rules: a state substance use agency licensed, certified, or otherwise approved the facility for inclusion, and the facility answered the National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey. Approval for the directory is not a personal recommendation, and it is not proof a bed is open today.
Why is there no search for an individual buprenorphine prescriber?
The locator page says that as of June 1, 2026, SAMHSA removed the search for individual buprenorphine practitioners, because the old federal waiver to prescribe buprenorphine is gone. Facilities that provide buprenorphine and other medications for opioid use disorder are still on the site. Opioid treatment programs, which provide methadone, remain a facility type you can filter for.
If a program is on the map, is it recommended?
No. SAMHSA says the details in the national directory were provided by the facility in its survey answers. The survey is annual. Services can change before the next one. Call the program, ask for the current state license, and ask whether they are admitting. SmarterRecovery does not rank the pins on that map.
What if the search shows nothing nearby?
The locator lets you limit results by state, county, or distance. Widen the distance or the map before you decide care does not exist. SAMHSA's printed locator steps say that if no results appear, zoom out. A longer drive is sometimes the true answer. An empty map at 10 miles is not.
Is a listing the same thing as a start date?
No. The listing is a place to call. Ask whether the phone number is still admissions, whether they are admitting, what level of care they offer, and which medicines they will start or continue. A pin on a map is not a reserved bed and not a clinical exam.