Our Treatment Approach
If you’re seeking help because your drinking or drug use have gotten out of control, you’ve come to the right place.

At Assisted Recovery, we understand what you’re going through. Your life is spinning out of control. You’re scared, and you’re tired. But you are not alone.

We have helped hundreds of people just like you get on the road to recovery and stay there by going beyond 12-step programs.

We offer the latest medications to minimize withdrawal symptoms and control cravings as you enter recovery. Combined with counseling and cognitive behavioral therapy, this is the most effective treatment approach available today.

Equally important, Assisted Recovery emphasizes outpatient programs, so you can continue your normal work and family activities.

Call Assisted Recovery's 24-Hour Help Line (314) 645-6840 for a free, confidential consultation.
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Indeed the rejection of medications was major reason Menzies decided to leave the pharmaceutical industry six years ago to devote his life to changing the treatment paradigm. The pivotal year was 1984 when the FDA approved a unique medication called naltrexone specifically developed to protect detoxified heroin patients from relapsing. It was unlike any other drug of the past. It was completely devoid of any addictive properties, abuse potential or street value.

This medication became the prototype of other medications to follow. The lack of positive reinforcement or ‘high’ when ingested and no negative effects like withdrawal when a dose was skipped made medication compliance exceedingly difficult. This problem has finally been overcome with the introduction of an extended-release formulation of naltrexone. Naltrexone was therefore, restricted to ‘motivated’ patients like physicians, nurses, pharmacists and attorneys. The medication languished and almost fell into disuse primarily due to the orthodoxy that substitution therapy with drugs like methadone was the best treatment for addiction to heroin.

But the story of naltrexone gets better... Researchers continued to test this molecule for a number of other addictive disorders ranging from eating disorders to alcoholism. The most astonishing finding was the effect of naltrexone to curb the cravings for alcohol. Scientists are now finding that most drug addictions and addictive behaviors have a common neurochemical pathway. The early studies were conducted at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University and the FDA expanded the indication of naltrexone to treat alcoholism in 1994.

Behavioral therapies were also making major strides. Behavioral therapies like Motivational Intervention and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy started gaining increasing acceptance at every stage of treatment and are particularly well-suited for pharmacotherapy-based treatments.

Menzies had the opportunity to travel extensively and visit treatment centers, meet with eminent researchers and clinician in the field of addiction medicine and observe first-hand treatment protocols that combined medications with counseling. He was quite perturbed at the increased division between professionals who enthusiastically embraced the newer treatment and groups that rejected these advances. Others attempted to use the medications without proper training and understanding the unique pharmacology of naltrexone and ended up frustrated and frustrating the patients who entered treatment with high hopes of getting well. It became clear that an entirely new treatment paradigm had to be created if medications like naltrexone and others to follow had to be used clinically.

Ambivalence is the hallmark of patients affected by addictive disorders. Most want to be better but don’t want to completely give up using drugs or alcohol. Unlike chronic medical diseases like asthma or diabetes patient with addictive disorders rarely seek treatment for the primary symptom of the disease – i.e. the ‘high’. The triggering event could be a DUI, family, marital or employment problems arising from drinking or drugging. Patients minimize the impact of alcohol and drugs and tend to place on others or factors ‘beyond their control. Deep down they harbor a desire to resume the use of drugs or alcohol, albeit in a ‘controlled’ manner when the crisis has abated.

By the time patients seek help there is an element of desperation and a constellation of issues impacting jobs, family, finance and mental and psychiatric health. Each of these issues has to be to be addressed and treated. Despite the dire situations some patients delay seeking help in the mistaken belief that somehow they will be able to beat the disease through their own will power. Few patients are aware of the power of compulsion. Other will put off seeking help out of fear of losing a job or family and having to go away to residential programs.

When Menzies began the ARCA program almost five years, he was determined to incorporate as many elements as possible to establish a new benchmark. The first critical element is the staff. The treatment is directed by Dr. Arturo Taca, a psychiatrist, trained at St. Louis University. He passionately believes in utilizing evidence-based treatments to successfully engage patients in treatment. John Crum, a psychologist with over 35 years experience in the field often likes to tell patients that when he was in school, they knew of about 3-4 neurotransmitters. Now we know of over twenty neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. Judy Menzies, the staff nurse and wife of Percy was called Florence Nightingale for her compassion and caring when she was a nursing student at the University of Missouri, Columbia. Her compassion and caring goes a long ways in soothing anxious patients.

Patients seeking treatment need help on an immediate basis. ARCA operates a 24-hour information line for patients to call. When the patient is ready, ARCA is ready too. Most patients are seen on the same day. This is important because the window of opportunity to help patients is very small. He they are not provided help immediately the window may close and not open for a long time.

Most patients seeking treatment especially opioid addicts are in severe withdrawal and need medical detoxification. Suboxone, one of the newer medication approved by the FDA is highly effective to relieve withdrawal symptoms and also for maintenance. Alcoholic patients too need medical detoxification to prevent seizures and other complications. The patients are administered medications to alleviate the withdrawal symptoms and after the appropriate blood tests, started on naltrexone.

Once the patients are stabilized they start attending individual, group and family counseling sessions. The counseling sessions are conveniently scheduled to accommodate who are working or in school. The treatment program is of six-month duration.

Most patients and their families are surprised to learn that they can return to work or school within 2-5 days and continue counseling in the daytime, evenings and Saturdays. “The days of treating patients in sanitariums for 1-3 months are over” says Menzies. Patients do not have to spend a fortune and spends weeks and months away from work and family. The availability of newer class of medications is making treatment more affordable and humane.

Menzies and his staff are often asked about success rates and how they compare with other programs. If patients faithfully take the medications, attend group and individual counseling sessions and have family support, the failure rates are negligible. The ARCA program creates the environment for successful treatment.

What does the future hold for the treatment of addictive disorders? “These are exciting time in our field” says Menzies. We expect 6-8 novel medications to be approved by the FDA within the next 12-24 months. The introduction of these medications allows treatment of multiple addictions at the same time. Just a few years ago experts suggested treating just one addiction at a time and increased smoking was seen as a small price to pay for getting patients off drugs or alcohol. The introduction of a novel medication to treat smoking makes it possible to help our patients get off drugs and or alcohol and quit smoking all the same time.

Indeed, plans are afoot for ARCA to offer free-standing programs for smoking cessation and eating disorders.

Holding fast to his mission to help people afflicted by addictions, Menzies and his staff are proud of the ‘miracles’ their patients and their families experience on a daily basis. The future belongs to the innovatively combine non-addicting medications and behavioral therapies to treat the ravages of drug and alcohol addiction. “ARCA has set a new benchmark in this field” says Menzies.

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