Top of the Hill Counseling

Top of the Hill Counseling, based in Portland, ME, is one of the SAMHSA-registered treatment programs operating in ME. The facility's programming is outpatient (Outpatient), not residential. What this page can help with is the frame — what to ask, what to verify, what to compare against.

Care levels at Top of the Hill Counseling

On care levels specifically: Top of the Hill Counseling is an outpatient-focused program (Outpatient) — patients live at home or in sober living and attend treatment sessions. This level of care is clinically appropriate for mild-to-moderate substance use disorder, or for patients stepping down from residential. What that means in practice is that matching Top of the Hill Counseling to the right clinical situation depends on whether you or a loved one needs the level of care this facility actually offers — which is a clinician's judgment, not a facility's sales pitch.

Insurance and payment

Top of the Hill Counseling accepts both Medicaid and commercial insurance, which is the broadest payer profile and typically correlates with programs that operate at scale across the economic spectrum. What tends to produce post-admission financial surprise is not the facility being out of network — it is the verbal assurance that did not make it into writing. Ask for the written VOB before admission, save the email, and the rest of the financial conversation becomes a lot simpler.

Before you call

Before admission to Top of the Hill Counseling, three questions consistently produce the most useful information: (1) which ASAM level of care are you treating me at, and what is the clinical rationale; (2) can you send me a written Verification of Benefits for my specific insurance plan; (3) what is your policy on medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder — specifically, do you continue patients on buprenorphine or methadone during residential programming. If the clinical situation involves opioid use disorder, confirm explicitly whether Top of the Hill Counseling offers medication-assisted treatment — buprenorphine, methadone, or naltrexone. Programs that do not are operating outside the current standard of care.