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Filling a Niche: New treatment center in Winston caters to executives needing help fighting addiction
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
The Bridge at Brookstone has room for 30 inpatient clients and 15 outpatient clients.
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Published: January 11, 2009
The Bridge at Brookstown doesn't have a scenic oceanfront view or the celebrity cache of the Betty Ford Clinic.
But officials at the Winston-Salem substance-abuse center say that it offers licensed professionals and executives a more personalized choice in treatment for their addictions.
The center opened in December, a nearly $7 million project that is transforming the former Best Winston-Salem Inn at 235 S. Cherry St. into an oasis for recovering addicts ages 21 to 70. It has two clients, with room for as many as 30 inpatient and 15 outpatient clients.
"There are good treatment centers in the region, but this center fills a void between Richmond and Atlanta for this caliber of high-level treatment," said Don Angell, a local developer and the owner of the center.
The center's staff is comprised of six medical officials
with ties to Appalachian State or Wake Forest universities and with more than 120 years of collective expertise in the field. The medical doctor is Dr. Barry Williams, who has more than 25 years of local experience in psychiatric health-delivery systems.
The center expects to cater to health-care professionals, attorneys and high-level executives, primarily in the
baby-boomer generation, through either word-of-mouth or medical referrals.
Although they will be diligent about protecting clients' privacy, they don't expect to treat many celebrities.
"Celebrities tend to choose destinations for their treatment center," said Craig Arey, the clinical director of the center. He has 25 years of experience as a substance-abuse counselor and mental-health professional.
The center draws its niche from studies by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which indicates that "the best predictor of success in substance-abuse rehabilitation is client ability to choose their own treatment, rather than being forced into a pre-programmed treatment regimen."
"Although we offer the traditional 12-step treatment, we believe that the quality of our personalized service will be the top factor in attracting a client base," Arey said.
For example, before treatment begins, officials will conduct an entrance interview to determine what areas of the client's life they want to address. They allow clients to bring their electronic equipment if necessary for staying in touch with their professional life while at the center.
Arey said that the center "is not in the business of deflating a client's ego or helping them reach rock bottom. There is a correlation between putdowns in treatment and relapses."
The center offers targeted treatment tracts for executives and legal and medical professionals to help them better deal with stress in their lives.
"Independent and self-confident professionals are accustomed to being in positions of power and control," the center said in its brochure. "Professionals with addictions believe that asking for help involves admitting weakness and presumably losing control of their careers.
"They then face their addictions alone, with pride standing in the way of recovery."
That's particularly true of physicians and pharmacists, "who develop a belief that they know too much about drugs to become addicted."
There are four levels of treatment, three of which are provided on an outpatient basis and one on an inpatient basis that mirrors the 28-day programs at other substance-abuse centers. Clients can stay 90 days or more depending on their needs and finances.
Therapy options include adventure and fitness, art and music, massage, nutrition and yoga. There also are programs for families, relapse prevention, Neurofeedback -- which measures the client's brain function during treatment -- and detoxification.
"Unlike the Betty Ford clinic, clients are not in a lockdown facility," Arey said. "They are able to take a stroll through Old Salem and downtown.
"You can lock somebody up for 28 days, and they can stay sober. But then they go back into the real world and the first thing some of them do is look for a drink or a fix.
"Here, there is real-world application," he said. "Some may pass by an ABC store on the way to an AA meeting."
Although the focus is on alcohol and drug abuse, the center offers assistance for people dealing with "process addictions" that can include gambling, sex and work.
There's also an emphasis on treating disorders ranging from depression, bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, borderline personality and post-traumatic stress.
"Society tends to say that you can only treat one or other, and the patient loses out," said Margaret Arey, the wife of Craig and the center's health-care administrator. "We're trying to treat the chemical dependency and those disorders at the same time to give them a better chance at achieving sobriety."
Although officials declined to disclose the cost of their treatments, they said it is competitive with similar programs that can cost in the low hundreds of dollars to upward of tens of thousands of dollars depending on the services provided.
"We will work with them on the cost, including helping them file insurance," Margaret Arey said. "We also will help guide clients to other resources if cost is an issue."
The timing of the center's opening is fortuitous from a cost perspective.
Part of the economic-bailout bill approved by Congress last fall included a "mental-health parity" provision. It requires health-care plans to set similar co-pay and deductible costs and treatment coverage for mental-illness and addiction disorders as traditional medical and surgical procedures.
According to a recent article in The New York Times, federal officials said that the law would improve coverage for 113 million people, including 82 million in employer-sponsored plans that are not subject to state regulation. The effective date for most health plans will be Jan. 1, 2010.
"The change in coverage is relevant for those treating the individuals covered under a benefit program," said Steve Graybill, a senior health-care analyst for Mercer Human Resource Consulting in Charlotte. "It will be an interesting area to monitor, as employers will now have to cover substance abuse on the same basis as any other illness.
"From what I've seen on the Web site, the center appears to offer really high-end care, perhaps on the level with the Betty Ford Center and others.
"But I have no sense of the true demand for the concierge level of service," Graybill said.
Angell said that his inspiration for the center was "seeing a lot of family members and friends getting caught in prescription drug and alcohol addiction."
"I've seen people lose their families, everything they had, because of their addictions," Angell said. "I've seen people getting so caught up in their stress that it led to addictive behavior.
"I believe Winston-Salem is the best place for the center because it is an established, major medical center on the East Coast. It has the best combination of synergies and hospitality I would want."
■ Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.
■ For more information about the center, go to www.thebridgeatbrookstown.com.
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