Donny Sutton Brown, Director of Business Development at Ambrosia Treatment Center, is taking the facility’s world-class addiction care to the next level as a Certified ARISE® Interventionist. The ARISE® website describes the philosophy behind their approach as “an Evidence-Based, Best Practice method for treating addicted individuals and their families.” The groundbreaking ARISE® method presents the intervention in an invitational, non-confrontational way that is more likely to result in an easier transition from active addiction into recovery. It works, Donny explains, “by utilizing integral family strengths to motivate the individual in choosing a path to recovery.” By skipping the clichéd surprise meeting, this technique avoids ambushing the struggling person with ultimatums and startling consequences.
ARISE® Continuing Care with Intervention always sends the message ‘We love you, and we are concerned about you.’ The whole family is on board with long-term recovery, and that’s when we see success. Family involvement is a huge part of the process. ARISE® seeks to restore not only the loved one to health but the rest of the family as well.
Donny continues, “Before the intervention even occurs, an assessment is made to formulate an effective recovery plan for the person of concern. At any point in the process, they may decide they want to accept the help, so we need to have a variety of options ready that best accommodate the individual and their family.”
The key focus of the ARISE® method is to be non-confrontational while maintaining an appropriate level of concern and reinforcing action. While traditional interventions gather family and friends to confront the individual about their escalating use and plead them to go into a treatment facility, ARISE® gathers family and loved ones and invites the person who is struggling to join in on the conversation. The meeting’s objective is to create a path for healing the whole family. At no point is the person of concern forced into anything. Instead, the individual agrees to the intervention and is involved every step of the way. This non-threatening method may seem like a soft approach at first, but this method has seen a tremendous amount of success. In fact, ARISE® gets over 83% of affected individuals to agree to seek help in the first phase of the intervention.
Donny will also offer continuous family support through each step of this process and even after the intervention is complete. It is important for family and friends to continue their involvement in the recovery process before and after the intervention occurs. Support is also essential for family and friends when their loved one is seeking help. While the person of concern is focused on their sobriety, the family has time to heal with the help of someone who has been there and lead many people through the process.
Donny Sutton Brown has been working in the addiction field for over 16 years specializing in assessment, placement, and guidance of the family unit through the treatment process. During this time, he has earned his stripes working in both detox and residential treatment before settling into his current position. Donny witnesses firsthand the difficulties of mixing drug addiction and families. Communication is lacking, unbalanced or nonexistent between the addicted individual and those around them. Over the years, he has developed invaluable skills to guide parents, siblings and spouses through the trials and tribulations of getting their substance dependent loved one the help they need.
When a network of people are active in the recovery process, everyone involved has a much better chance of healing and rebuilding meaningful relationships. Donny has seen this process in action through his training and is looking forward to facilitating the miracle of recovery as a Certified ARISE® Interventionist (CAI II) for Ambrosia’s rehabs in Florida and California.
