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August 11, 2022 | AppenMedia.com | An Appen Media Group Publication | Ser ving the community since 1976
Recovery center rejects cookie-cutter approach to healing By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. – Devin Orrie has been director of admissions at Atlanta Recovery Place since the beginning of 2020. He coordinates everything from the initial phone call, where either the patient or a family member calls in. During that call, they will discuss what’s going on with the patient to make an informed decision on the best route to take. But, Orrie has seen the other side of Atlanta Recovery Place (ARP) as a patient himself, having sought help from the Dunwoody facility in 2019. At the time, he also began working at a sober living home. According to ARP’s website, sober living provides a safe living space filled with “like-minded individuals to encourage sobriety during the early stages of independence after substance abuse.” As an ARP client, Orrie said he got close with one of the owners who knew his job history and thought he would be a good fit. Once the opportunity arose, Orrie said he was eager to hop on board. “I really admired Atlanta Recovery Place staff, their ability to connect and really felt like they cared,” he said. The center offers different program options that are assigned based on need – partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient and outpatient. Apart from setting up long-term therapy and psychiatry for aftercare, staff can place patients in sober living upon request. For sober living, staff use corporate leases at a luxury apartment complex down the road from the facility. Atlanta Recovery Place is a private, for-profit organization, meaning its fund-
Although we are a for-profit facility, this is the only place I’ve ever heard of, or ever worked at, where people are first and finances are second.” JEFF TOBISH ARP Program Director
ATLANTA RECOVERY PLACE/PROVIDED
Atlanta Recovery Place, located on Mt. Vernon Road in Dunwoody, was founded five years ago. Its staff heralds its individualized approach to substance abuse treatment and recognizes the trauma that often underlies addiction. ing primarily comes from insurance and self-pay. There is no state funding. ARP Program Director Jeff Tobish, who’s also in recovery, said that ARP owners have a vested interest that lies outside of financial benefit – the owners are in recovery, too. “Although we are a for-profit facility, this is the only place I’ve ever heard of, or ever worked at, where people are first and finances are second,” Tobish said. The organization was founded around five years ago when a group of people with a lot of recovery time saw that Atlanta was in need of more treatment services, Director of Business Development Cody Davis
said. Davis started out as a clinician at ARP about three and a-half years ago. He left temporarily to start his own recovery program for men coming out of incarceration and was invited back to take on his current role. He said it was an easy sell because he really believes in ARP’s program. “I truly believe that we fully understand that we’re not really treating addiction, we’re treating the trauma,” Davis said. Individualized programming is ARP’s touchstone. Patients are expected to participate in one-on-one therapy. The center
recently added an LGBTQ+ track for those who identify within that community. Davis said this is an important feature for a diverse city like Atlanta. As of 2021, 4.6 percent of Atlanta’s overall population identifies as LGBTQ+, according to a report from UCLA’s Williams Institute. Both Orrie and Tobish said that ARP doesn’t take the “cookie-cutter approach” to treatment. “A lot of facilities are going to get you in, stick you in as many groups as possible because that’s how most places drive revenue – you know, attendance and stuff like that,” Orrie said. “Get in the groups, rinse and repeat the material they use. Whereas here, I felt like it was almost like a fresh, new approach.”