Defeating Addiction: A treatment center in Connecticut has revolutionized the approach to fighting addiction.
As the U.S. faces a growing prescription pill and heroin epidemic, and overdoses reach historic levels, a beacon of hope called Mountainside sits at the foot of the Berkshires in Canaan, Connecticut. This serene facility that treats drug and alcohol abuse was one of the first to look beyond the traditional twelve-step program to provide highly personalized and holistic care aimed at healing an individual’s mind, body, and spirit. By integrating alternative therapies with traditional approaches, Mountainside has become a nationally acclaimed treatment center since opening in 1998, measuring its success not through the industry it has changed but the lives it has shaped.
“When I drive up there, and I go up every couple weeks, I always cry because it’s just so beautiful. There’s something really magical about that place,” said Jason Arsenault, who chose Mountainside two years ago for its tranquil location and its holistic programming. He’s been sober ever since.
After having left behind his drug-fueled, fast-paced fashion career at Stella McCartney, Arsenault now works as an outreach support specialist in New York City, helping Mountainside alumni like himself. Before checking himself into treatment, he’d abused alcohol for more than a decade after discovering he’d become HIV-positive, and in his last month of substance abuse started routinely shooting up crystal meth. “I was trying to kill myself,” he realized in treatment.
“Getting out of the city and disconnecting, and just getting back to nature and quieting my mind by doing a lot of the meditation, Qi Gong, and yoga, I think that was what really made me successful in getting sober. I continue these practices, still, in my daily life,” said Arsenault.
Like all drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, Mountainside provides traditional clinical care, such as addiction education, anger management, group and individual therapy, family counseling, relapse prevention, and a twelve-step program through its team of addiction therapists and psychiatrists. With a high therapist-to-client ratio and numerous one-on-one counseling sessions, clients are ensured intensive clinical care. However, the center pushes clients further by encouraging them to achieve “total wellness,” a connection between their mental, physical, and spiritual well-being.
“Mountainside is a place where miracles happen; a place where people and families are made whole again.” – Jose P.
At Mountainside, every facet of an individual’s health is cared for. “Everyone who comes here receives an individualized wellness plan,” said Sheree Surdam, a trained wilderness therapist who heads Mountainside’s Wellness team. “For us, we care about not just the person and their physical addictions. We care about how they’re eating, sleeping, feeling, whether they’re in control of their lives. We think about the whole individual.”
Mountainside
Every day clients have access to a wide range of complementary therapeutic activities, many of which deliver multiple benefits. Its popular Mind Body Spirit (MBS) activities—like meditation and yoga—help cultivate mental clarity and promote inner peace. Other MBS activities include Qi Gong, a traditional Chinese practice that combines movement, meditation, and breathing to improve blood circulation and stimulate immune function; kneading recovery, hands-on bread-making to relieve stress and ease depression; and the labyrinth, a circular walking path that facilitates self-reflection.
The facility also integrates acupuncture, Thai body massage, and positional therapy to open joints, increase blood flow, relieve acute and chronic body pain, and improve the lymphatic symptoms of clients, especially during detox. All of these complementary therapies are evidence-based practices, rooted in scientific study, and in some cases, have hundreds of years of practical application behind them.
Not only is Mountainside a leader in incorporating alternative therapies, it is also a pioneer in adventure-based treatment, which grows clients’ self-esteem, as well as communication and trust-building skills, while clients learn to have fun without substances. Its Adventure Based Counseling activities have proven to be so positive in recovery that the center strongly encourages each client to participate in the activities to the best of his or her ability. A trained experiential therapy counselor leads a group of five to ten people through each adventure, making sure to relate each adventure back to individual challenges a client may be facing. The adventures include wilderness camping, hikes, high and low ropes courses, and rock climbing. When clients finish an experience, many of them describe a feeling of enlightenment and rebirth.
“Mountainside taught me to smile again. I was exposed to so many different new and exciting things and learned to have faith. Yoga, qigong, high ropes, so much more all on that magical mountain. Every day, I am grateful.” – Amy D.
“When you are on the high ropes course, where you’re basically rappelling up these huge trees, you’re overcoming fear, getting an adrenaline rush. It made me remember how to get a thrill naturally, like when I was a kid. That was really cool,” said Arsenault.
Mountainside’s overall strategy is working. Last year, almost 85 percent of its clients completed treatment, compared with the national average of 54 percent. In addition, 95 percent of clients would recommend Mountainside, and almost 90 percent would come back if needed.
“Mountainside is on the cutting edge of addiction treatment. People leave here feeling much more whole, with a large basket of knowledge on how to make their life work and connections with like-minded people who will help them stay in recovery,” said Surdam.
After finishing treatment, clients leave with a detailed aftercare plan, access to essential resources, and a strong support network. There is also an extensive alumni program with community meetings, recovery meetings that host weekly twelve-step speakers, and volunteer opportunities. Outreach support specialists like Arsenault organize bowling parties, sober yacht cruises, and 5k runs throughout the Northeast, including Boston; New York; Hartford, Connecticut; and Portland, Maine.
Arsenault describes the Mountainside program as “amazing,” but what he appreciates most is the epiphany Mountainside led him to about his life and being HIV-positive: “I realized I could live. I still had a reason to live.”