Our Philosophy

Our core philosophy is grounded in 3 main ideas. We believe that:

• Mental illness must be addressed from a variety of angles initially, with those most effective angles given more attention over time
• Treating the family system is not a “nice-to-have” – it’s essential
• Addiction is a mental illness and must be treated as such

Underpinning this philosophy is the belief that everyone has a right to be comfortable in their skin and experience mental wellness. Too many are paralyzed and don’t seek the help they need and deserve. Mental health treatment can be the missing piece to improving one’s quality of life.

With this in mind, our goal is to establish a custom-tailored ‘wellness package’ consisting of different ratios of these 5 elements:

1. Clinical: Modalities like CBT, DBT, and EMDR provide coping mechanisms and greater insight into one’s psyche and behaviors
2. Medical: Ensuring the body is well-functioning and healthy through primary medicine
3. Psychiatric: Optimizing brain chemistry through medication as needed and other mechanisms.
4. Spiritual: Inspiring a shift in outlooks and attitudes to provide a greater sense of connection
5. Vocational: Nurturing our external life to maximize potential and provide a fulfilling career or education

Addiction Is a Mental Illness

Addiction falls under the umbrella of mental illness. The caveat is that, unlike some other diagnoses, it requires the addition of an especially pronounced spiritual element to one’s “wellness package.”

Our view on addiction can be summarized by the following ideas:

• Addiction is often accompanied by anxiety and depression and correlated with trauma and obsessive-compulsive thinking
• Addicts and alcoholics need to drastically shift their outlooks and attitudes by developing a spiritual connection that combats the separateness, loneliness, and victimhood inherent in any addict’s mindset
• Particularly in early sobriety, addicts and alcoholics still need the clinical, psychiatric, medical, and physical elements to help them get on track initially – with spirituality being a tailwind that will carry them into long-term, sustained recovery