The average length of stay for people with problem gambling is twenty-six days. An important component of treatment at Sierra Tucson is Family Week. Occurring usually during the third week of the patient's stay, it is an intensive five-day program included in the cost of treatment. Family members attend lectures, videos and shared therapy experiences. They are able to focus on their own issues as they relate to the patient's compulsive gambling or other dysfunctional issues .
Addiction is treated as a family disease, including working with children during the family program.
Children's needs are addressed using age-appropriate experiential activities, games and art to help them understand and process the emotional turmoil they have experienced. Upon admission each patient is assigned to the medical assessment and stabilization unit. During this initial portion of treatment a patient receives a complete history and physical exam, a series of psychological assessments and an initial treatment plan is developed . All patients are assigned a primary physician and therapist at this time. Many of the patients enter treatment with other co-existing problems.