Practical Recovery Celebrating 30th Anniversary

SAN DIEGO, June 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Practical Recovery is celebrating 30 years of self-empowering addiction treatment in San Diego. What started as a one-man private practice working to provide quality addiction treatment, Dr. Tom Horvath has grown to an entire team of passionate and caring individuals who are seeking to lead a movement to change the country's perspective on addiction.

Horvath began specializing in addiction treatment in 1985. After a rotation at an inpatient addiction facility and three years as a Navy psychologist seeing sailors with alcohol problems, Horvath realized the 12-step and disease models do not work for everyone.

Horvath's self-empowering approach was first met with extreme resistance from addiction colleagues. In self-empowering recovery, the goal is to gain power, ability and capacity, in order to make better recovery and life decisions. It views addiction recovery as coming from within the individual. 

"The first 10 years were especially difficult. Some addiction colleagues met me with extreme resistance," says Horvath. "Repeatedly over the years, addiction professionals have had trouble understanding what I've been saying. The solid scientific evidence behind my positions has been ignored, often with no explanation at all, or with the comment that it is irrelevant," he adds.

However, clients were sharing with Horvath daily their frustrations in standard treatment and how happy they were to have found an alternative. And then in 1995, Horvath made significant progress with the addiction treatment community when he was hired for consulting positions at two local San Diego hospitals.

Over the next few years, Dr. Horvath spent as much time learning about addiction as his busy practice would allow. His clinical experience and observations inspired him to publish the first edition of Sex, Drugs, Gambling & Chocolate: A Workbook for Overcoming Addictions in 1999; a second edition followed in 2003.

During the first publication of his book, Horvath began using the name "Practical Recovery" (formerly New Horizons). The Practical Recovery website was also established, and Horvath started hiring professional staff. Clients began coming from around the United States and other countries.

"I could see that we were providing an approach that was meaningful to many people, and lives were being changed," says Horvath. "An appreciation for a self-empowering approach had taken root and would continue to grow."

Today, Practical Recovery is staffed by a 50-person team and provides individualized or group therapy sessions, intensive outpatient treatment and/or holistic healing. Practical Recovery also runs a co-ed sober living facility and co-ed residential treatment (alcohol and drug rehab). In 2014, Practical Recovery opened a women's-only rehab home that offers specialized treatment surrounding relationship abuse (including domestic violence, rape and childhood sexual abuse) and substance use disorders.

For more information about Practical Recovery, please visit www.practicalrecovery.com.

About Practical Recovery

Practical Recovery provides exemplary addiction treatment and recovery services in a compassionate environment, and facilitates positive, measurable changes in the lives of the individuals and families. Offering completely personalized, state-of-the-art care and quality client service, Practical Recovery features outpatient, inpatient and rehab alternative solutions.

Media Contact:
Christina Valle
Media Relations Manager
Alternative Strategies
(619) 858-0322
Email

SOURCE Practical Recovery

Related Links

http://www.practicalrecovery.com