Important: This page provides general information, not medical or legal advice, a diagnosis, or a guarantee of services, coverage, cost, availability, or a particular privacy outcome. Policies and benefits can change. Consult a qualified professional for personal guidance and verify coverage and costs with the provider and health plan. Do not delay emergency help to check coverage.
Treatment
Suboxone Treatment in Southern WV: How to Get Started
Southern Highlands runs a Suboxone program serving Mercer, McDowell, and Wyoming counties. Here's who to call, what to bring, what it costs, and how to get to appointments.
Southern Highlands Community Mental Health Center runs a Suboxone program serving Mercer, McDowell, and Wyoming counties in southern West Virginia.
If you are trying to get into treatment, the hard part is usually not the medicine. It is knowing who to call, whether you can afford it, and how you are going to get there every time. This page covers that part.
What this page does not cover is how the medication works, whether it is the right fit for you, or anything to do with doses and timing. Those are questions for a clinician, not a website. For general information about medications used to treat opioid use disorder, see SAMHSA.
Who to call
Call SUD Services at (304) 818-2222 to ask about the Suboxone program. The main Southern Highlands number is (304) 425-9541.
You can call the program directly for yourself, and a family member can call to ask general questions. A health plan or particular service may still apply referral, authorization, eligibility, or medical-necessity rules.
If you are in crisis right now, do not wait on this page:
- 988 — Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call or text, 24 hours a day (988lifeline.org)
- 1-800-615-0122 — Southern Highlands’ 24-hour crisis line
- 911 — if someone is in immediate physical danger, including a suspected overdose
- You can also walk into our Crisis Stabilization Unit
What happens when you call
Staff ask some basic questions so they can get you scheduled with the right person:
- Your name, date of birth, and how to reach you
- What is going on and what kind of help you are looking for
- Your substance use history
- Whether you have insurance, and which kind
- Which county you live in
None of that is a test you can fail. It is intake paperwork. Answering it honestly is what lets staff schedule the right appointment instead of the wrong one.
This is also the point to ask anything you need to know before you come in, including what to do in the days before your first visit. Our staff will tell you. Do not try to work that out from a website or from what somebody told you at work.
What to bring
- Photo ID
- Your insurance card, if you have one
- A list of any medications you currently take
- The name and number of an emergency contact
- Any questions you want answered before you agree to anything
If you do not have an ID or an insurance card, come anyway and tell the front desk. Staff deal with that regularly and can walk you through what is needed.
What the first appointment is
The first visit is longer than the ones that follow it. Plan for that and try not to schedule it tight against a shift or a school pickup.
You will meet with a provider and go through your history, your health, and what you want out of treatment. You and the provider decide together what the plan looks like. If a medication is part of that plan, the provider explains it to you directly, in person, and answers your questions then.
You can bring someone with you. A lot of people bring a spouse, a parent, or a friend, and there is nothing unusual about it.
Counseling and the rest of the program
The program is not only a prescription. Counseling is part of what is offered alongside the medication side of care, individually and in groups.
Because Southern Highlands is a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, other services sit under the same roof. That includes mental health care, care coordination, and case management for the practical problems that come with all of this: housing, benefits, employment, court paperwork, getting to appointments.
You do not have to go to three different organizations in three different towns. Ask what is available at the location nearest you.
Ongoing appointments
After you start, you will have regular appointments. How often depends on you and your provider, and it usually changes over time. That is a conversation with your care team, not something to plan around numbers you read online.
If the schedule you are given does not work with your job, your childcare, or your drive, say so at the appointment. Staff would rather adjust the schedule than have you disappear.
What it costs
WV Medicaid. Medicaid covers many medically necessary substance use services, but eligibility, coverage, authorization, and cost-sharing vary by service and current policy. If you are not sure whether your Medicaid is active or what it covers, staff can verify it.
Medicare. Coverage depends on the service, provider eligibility, and your Medicare or supplemental plan. Deductibles, coinsurance, or copays may apply.
Private insurance. Coverage, network status, authorization, exclusions, medication benefits, and cost-sharing vary by plan and service. Billing staff can help verify benefits and submit required authorization paperwork, but the plan makes the coverage decision.
No insurance. Ask whether a household-income-based sliding fee applies to the specific services and medications, what documentation is required, and whether payment arrangements are available. Staff can direct you to Medicaid application resources but cannot determine eligibility.
If you want to know what you would owe before you commit to an appointment, call and ask. You are allowed to ask that.
Getting to appointments in a rural county
This is the part most guides skip. In McDowell and Wyoming counties, the drive is the treatment barrier. Add winter roads, one vehicle per household, and a job that does not give you a morning off, and a plan that looks fine on paper falls apart in February.
Things worth asking about:
- Telehealth. Some appointments can be done by phone or video. Ask which parts of your care qualify.
- Transportation. Ask whether your Medicaid plan includes non-emergency medical transportation. Staff can help you find out and set it up.
- Appointment timing. Ask for early or late slots, or for days that work around your shift.
- Location. Southern Highlands has clinics across the region. Ask which site nearest you can see you, so you are not driving to Princeton if you do not have to.
Southern Highlands serves Mercer, McDowell, and Wyoming counties. Call (304) 818-2222 to find out where you would be seen.
If you have tried treatment before
Plenty of people calling this number have been in treatment before, sometimes more than once. You will not be turned away or lectured for it, and you do not owe anyone an explanation of what happened last time before you can be scheduled.
If something about the last program did not work for you, the drive, the hours, the counselor, the cost, say that at intake. It is useful information for building a plan that holds up this time.
The stigma
You have probably heard some version of “you’re not really sober if you’re on medication,” or “you’re just trading one thing for another.” People in southern West Virginia hear it from neighbors, from family, sometimes from coworkers.
Your treatment records may be protected by HIPAA, state law, and 42 C.F.R. Part 2. Those rules allow or require some disclosures and may require authorization for others. Ask staff for the applicable privacy notices and how the rules apply to employment, court, custody, payment, or safety situations.
If you want to read about medication treatment for opioid use disorder from a neutral national source rather than take a stranger’s word for it, SAMHSA is a reasonable place to start.
If you are calling about someone else
You can call (304) 818-2222 and ask questions on behalf of a family member. Staff can explain what the program involves, what it costs, and what the person would need to bring.
What you cannot do is enroll another adult in treatment. They have to make the call or walk in themselves. What helps most is having the number written down, knowing the answer to “what will it cost,” and being able to offer a ride when they are ready.
If you are worried about someone’s immediate safety, call 988 or, if there is danger right now, 911.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a referral?
No. Call (304) 818-2222 directly.
Do I have to have insurance?
No. Southern Highlands uses a sliding fee scale based on household income for people without coverage, and staff can also help you find out whether you qualify for WV Medicaid.
Does Southern Highlands offer methadone?
No. Southern Highlands offers Suboxone and Vivitrol. Methadone is dispensed only through licensed opioid treatment programs, which is a different kind of facility.
Do I have to live in Mercer County?
No. The program serves Mercer, McDowell, and Wyoming counties. Call and tell staff where you live and they will tell you which location fits.
Can any of this be done by telehealth?
Some of it, depending on your situation and your plan. Ask when you call.
Can I bring my kids or a family member?
Ask when you schedule. Staff can tell you what works for that specific appointment.
What if I cannot get there for the appointment I was given?
Call and reschedule rather than not showing up. Tell them what got in the way, whether that was the drive, work, or a vehicle. That is fixable.
To start Suboxone treatment in southern West Virginia, call SUD Services at (304) 818-2222. The program serves Mercer, McDowell, and Wyoming counties. For the 24-hour crisis line, call 1-800-615-0122, or call or text 988.
This blog describes the services Southern Highlands provides. It is not medical advice. Questions about your own treatment belong with a licensed provider.