Opioid Addiction Recovery

Amity Circle Tree Ranch is a CARF certified opioid treatment center.  Circle Tree Ranch Services are directed at reducing and eliminating the use of illicit drugs, prescribed drugs and criminal activity. We offer monitoring and reduction of individuals prescribed Methadone & Suboxone® and will gently ease you or your loved one off of all medical assisted treatment. SAMHSA describes this as the monitored use of medications in combination with counseling and behavioral therapies. Circle Tree ranch offers this as part of our commitment to a whole person approach to the treatment of substance use disorders.

Our successful treatment for opioid addictions follow rehabilitation stages of a sufficient duration in treatment to meet the needs of the person overcoming Opioid addiction.

Typically, there is no “one size fits all” approach and everyone seeking to overcome Opioid Addiction. Circle Tree Ranch’s decades of expertise will assess the needs of you or your loved one in conjunction with your goals to find the best track to help you succeed.

75% of heroin users in treatment that started with Dr. prescribed painkillers, according to a 2014 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

63,600 lives lost in 2016 due to Opioid related overdoses

Mindfulness

Evidence based Mindfulness practices are designed to increase moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness, and develop self-compassion. Mindfulness is integrated through all activities at Circle Tree Ranch, each and every day.

Mindfulness courses help students cultivate an open and accepting orientation toward personal experiences, experiences of others, interpersonal relationships improve. They develop core skills of concentration and acceptance, decreased reactivity and increased response flexibility which facilitate healing of  traumatic abuse, and promote personal and spiritual growth.

Mindfulness Promotes

  • Accepting orientation toward personal experiences  experiences of others
  • Interpersonal relationships
  • Concentration
  • Creativity
  • Acceptance
  • Decreased reactivity
  • Increase response flexibility
  • Healing of traumatic abuse
  • Accepting orientation toward personal experiences
  • Interpersonal relationships improve
  • Emotional Growth
  • Spiritual Growth

Curriculum

Amity Foundation uses innovative, evidence-based approaches and is recognized as one of the few formal curriculum-based teaching & therapeutic communities in the United States. (see CARF survey 2016).

he Circle Tree Ranch curriculum includes topics on issues which may contribute to substance abuse and co-occurring disorders such as childhood experiences, family dynamics, gender accountability, violence, prejudice, trauma and relationships. The Circle Tree Ranch curriculum fosters emotional intelligence and encourages the development of authentic friendships. Students learn and work together on a 60 acre ranch in a variety of settings including group circles, vocational work readiness experiences, team-building, seminars, parenting classes, as well as weekly family/parents gatherings and family weekend workshops.

          

See Curriculum
Continue to Full Curriculum & Course Descriptions

Origins

Circles

Assumptions

Beginnings

Perseverance

Vocabularies

Emergence

HeartsGarden

Wellness, Health & Nutrition

There is now a large body of evidence collected that correlates poor nutrition and eating habits, which become deeply ingrained by our fast food culture, to depression, anxiety and addictions of all kinds.

Amity Foundation Circle Tree Ranch, (and all of our campuses for that matter) are committed to good, clean GMO-free nutrition and health.

Amity Circle Tree Ranch features a Wellness center with nurse, full gym, pool, walking trails. Our culinary arts department is committed to organic, GMO-free meal preparation.

Below are just a few excerpts from a vast number of articles and studies available on the links of nutrition to addiction, depression, anxiety and trauma and successful recovery.

excerpt from the Harvard Medical School’s – Harvard Health Publishing article Nutritional Psychiatry

Unfortunately, just like an expensive car, your brain can be damaged if you ingest anything other than premium fuel. If substances from “low-premium” fuel (such as what you get from processed or refined foods) get to the brain, it has little ability to get rid of them. Diets high in refined sugars, for example, are harmful to the brain. In addition to worsening your body’s regulation of insulin, they also promote inflammation and oxidative stress. Multiple studies have found a correlation between a diet high in refined sugars and impaired brain function — and even a worsening of symptoms of mood disorders, such as depression.

“Let food be thy medicine
and medicine be thy food.”

- Hippocates

Why an Amity Circle Tree Ranch Wellness initiative?

There is now a large body of evidence collected that correlates poor nutrition and eating habits, which become deeply ingrained by our fast food culture, to depression, anxiety and addictions of all kinds. Proper nutrition and hydration are key to the substance abuse healing process because they help restore physical and mental health and improve the chance of recovery. Macro- and micronutrient deficiencies can lead to symptoms of depression, anxiety, and low energy, all of which can lead someone to start using drugs or alcohol or trigger a relapse.

Did you know… In the United States …

  • 5% of world’s population is in the US and consumes 50% of all prescription pills worldwide
  • 99% of all Vicodin produced worldwide is consumed by Americans
  • 63% Americans overweight or obese
  • 20% children are obese by 2008
  • The number of adults with diabetes has tripled in the last 25 years
  • 33% increase of diabetes in children
  • 79 million Americans are pre-diabetic
  • 40% of every dollar spent on food is food prepared outside home
  • Average child spends 7.5 hours per day watching media

Excerpts from Experts on Nutrition, and Recovery from Addiction

Excerpt from Psychology Today’s article Nutrition in Recovery Addiction, What you eat in Recovery is so Important.

From a public health perspective, the addiction problem appears to be relentless with substances of abuse increasing in potency. Meanwhile highly accessible and highly palatable food is a significant contributor to the changing human brain and addiction epidemic. There is increasing evidence to suggest that contemporary food (high in fat and sugar, low in fiber) is stimulating an evolution of the human microbiome, leading to a “Western gut.” (4) Some researchers believe that the conflict created by resource competition between humans and microbes creates an ongoing evolutionary arms race, and is a driver of metabolic disease (5). There is also evidence of the microbiome influencing anxiety and depression (6) via the gut-brain axis, potentially due to mediators that travel to the amygdala (7).

The concept of food addiction is no longer controversial. There is sufficient data in animals and humans to support this statement. What remains controversial is the nutritional approach to treatment. Based on what we know about addiction, it makes sense to work towards reducing exposure to addictive substances. Meanwhile, many of us who specialize in nutrition counseling for eating disorders can attest to the fact that attempts to restrict certain foods can lead to bingeing and the subsequent guilt, shame, and remorse. Individuals seeking addiction treatment should routinely be screened for an eating disorder and treated appropriately.

Let us assume a teenager consumes a diet largely comprised of highly processed convenience food (typically designed for maximum profit margins). These include snack foods such as chips and fruit snacks, frozen foods such as burritos and ice cream, delivery food such as pizza and Chinese, and fast food restaurant fare. The teenager has limited or no experience buying groceries and preparing food. Without even realizing it, most food choices are made based on taste, convenience, and familiarity. The gut will not be primed for digestion of fibrous fruits and vegetables, and there exists a strong preference for food that is salty (chips) or sweet and easily digestible (sweetened cereal with milk). Although there are no apparent weight problems, this can represent a form of food addiction, because the teen rejects foods that do not stimulate the reward system. This relationship to food is increasingly common in our society, and represents a systemic issue rather than an individual problem.

Fast forward: our teenager is now 23 years old, strung out on heroin, xanax, crystal meth, and alcohol. The patient presents to an addiction treatment center in Southern California 15 pounds underweight. The primary source of dopamine stimulation (drugs) is gone and the anhedonia sets in. Post detoxification we can predict an increase in substance-seeking behavior, predictable caffeine, nicotine, and sugar. The patient has progressed to coffee with creamer and sugar several times per day in addition to energy drinks. The patient is likely to smoke a half a pack of cigarettes before eating any food each day. Highly palatable food may feel like the sole source of pleasure that is left, yet there is no interest in cooking, particularly since there is a chef to prepare delicious meals such as tacos, spaghetti and meatballs, and teriyaki chicken.

The patient claims to be interested in recovering from addiction, getting out of their withdrawal-related depression, and eventually reducing some of their medications. In their first month of treatment they often regain their lost weight and develop patterns of night eating and a new habit of sour candy throughout the afternoon. Old wisdom from the recovery community would suggest that a liberalized approach to sweets, nicotine, and caffeine is favorable to help the individual get past the immediate crisis. New wisdom suggests that this behavior is a form of cross addiction that should be addressed early in recovery.

Excerpt from Harvard Medical School’s ……

From a public health perspective, the addiction problem appears to be relentless with substances of abuse increasing in potency. Meanwhile highly accessible and highly palatable food is a significant contributor to the changing human brain and addiction epidemic. There is increasing evidence to suggest that contemporary food (high in fat and sugar, low in fiber) is stimulating an evolution of the human microbiome, leading to a “Western gut.” (4) Some researchers believe that the conflict created by resource competition between humans and microbes creates an ongoing evolutionary arms race, and is a driver of metabolic disease (5). There is also evidence of the microbiome influencing anxiety and depression (6) via the gut-brain axis, potentially due to mediators that travel to the amygdala (7).

The concept of food addiction is no longer controversial. There is sufficient data in animals and humans to support this statement. What remains controversial is the nutritional approach to treatment. Based on what we know about addiction, it makes sense to work towards reducing exposure to addictive substances. Meanwhile, many of us who specialize in nutrition counseling for eating disorders can attest to the fact that attempts to restrict certain foods can lead to bingeing and the subsequent guilt, shame, and remorse. Individuals seeking addiction treatment should routinely be screened for an eating disorder and treated appropriately.

Let us assume a teenager consumes a diet largely comprised of highly processed convenience food (typically designed for maximum profit margins). These include snack foods such as chips and fruit snacks, frozen foods such as burritos and ice cream, delivery food such as pizza and Chinese, and fast food restaurant fare. The teenager has limited or no experience buying groceries and preparing food. Without even realizing it, most food choices are made based on taste, convenience, and familiarity. The gut will not be primed for digestion of fibrous fruits and vegetables, and there exists a strong preference for food that is salty (chips) or sweet and easily digestible (sweetened cereal with milk). Although there are no apparent weight problems, this can represent a form of food addiction, because the teen rejects foods that do not stimulate the reward system. This relationship to food is increasingly common in our society, and represents a systemic issue rather than an individual problem.

Fast forward: our teenager is now 23 years old, strung out on heroin, xanax, crystal meth, and alcohol. The patient presents to an addiction treatment center in Southern California 15 pounds underweight. The primary source of dopamine stimulation (drugs) is gone and the anhedonia sets in. Post detoxification we can predict an increase in substance-seeking behavior, predictable caffeine, nicotine, and sugar. The patient has progressed to coffee with creamer and sugar several times per day in addition to energy drinks. The patient is likely to smoke a half a pack of cigarettes before eating any food each day. Highly palatable food may feel like the sole source of pleasure that is left, yet there is no interest in cooking, particularly since there is a chef to prepare delicious meals such as tacos, spaghetti and meatballs, and teriyaki chicken.

The patient claims to be interested in recovering from addiction, getting out of their withdrawal-related depression, and eventually reducing some of their medications. In their first month of treatment they often regain their lost weight and develop patterns of night eating and a new habit of sour candy throughout the afternoon. Old wisdom from the recovery community would suggest that a liberalized approach to sweets, nicotine, and caffeine is favorable to help the individual get past the immediate crisis. New wisdom suggests that this behavior is a form of cross addiction that should be addressed early in recovery.

Family Services

At Circle Tree Ranch, family involvement is encouraged. A strong correlation has been established between family involvement in substance abuse treatment and long-term positive recovery outcomes for the student. Drug abuse , alcoholism and trauma affects the entire family. Often family members do not recognize how deeply they have been affected by chemical dependency and trauma.

Circle Tree Ranch faculty invites the families of our students to participate in a wide variety of family activities including workshops, retreats, group therapy sessions, picnics and recreational activities. Family involvement in drug and alcohol recovery and relapse prevention is available both while the student is enrolled and after discharge. These addiction treatment services are designed to help those in recovery and their families re-establish, or establish, emotional bonds of love, trust and respect. Participation in family activities is completely voluntary; however, these services provide a very effective “bridge” from substance abuse treatment to day-to-day life in the community, and an effective tool in preventing relapse.

Circle Tree Ranch recognizes the important role of families and friends as part of the addiction recovery process. It is not unusual for the family to play a crucial role in the decision of an addicted person to get help. Families that experience the pain resulting from chemical dependency or other compulsive or self destructive behavior develop certain patterns of interaction to manage and survive the problem. Families who come to us have already reached a turning point in their lives with the presence of a family member in our community. Through our family services at Circle Tree Ranch you will be given many tools and much support at this critical time. No matter how supportive the family is, or how powerful the substance abuse treatment intervention, ultimately the individual must make their own decision to move towards dignity, responsibility and growth.

Family Services Commitments:

  • To liberate the family from the causes of substance abuse
  • To evaluate and challenge values, concepts and myths
  • To fulfill our commitment by acceptance of accountability
  • To develop positive responses rather than reactive behavior
  • To develop positive traditions toward community building,
    rather than negative individuality and dependency
  • To empower individuals to recognize and cope with:
  • Resistance
  • Loneliness
  • Changing roles
  • Surrender
  • Affirmation
  • Forgiveness
  • Solving problems and making responsible decisions

Students with Children

What if I have Children and Need Rehab?  What Circle Tree Ranch Offers Parents.

Our substance abuse rehabilitation centers and alcohol addiction treatment facilities were first established in 1969 in Tucson, Arizona. In the years to follow our teaching and therapeutic communities developed the largest federally funded array of drug and alcohol treatment services for women and children in the United States. Circle Tree Ranch provides residential addiction rehabilitation services for men and women over the age of 18, including pregnant women, and parents undergoing drug and alcohol treatment whose children reside with them on our campus. Circle Tree Ranch is unique among alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers as one of the first to adapt addiction treatment to meet the needs of women and their children, and on occasion men or families with their children, and we are fully licensed to provide these services. Individuals who bring their children with them into treatment are often found to have greater success in achieving long term addiction recovery.

Parents may bring up to two children with them to our residential drug and alcohol treatment community. The cost for children residing with a parent in treatment is $1,200 per child, per month. We accept children ranging in ages from newborn to eight (8) years of age. Circle Tree Ranch also accepts pregnant mothers into our substance abuse treatment program. The children at Circle Tree Ranch either attend daycare during the day or attend the nearby elementary school which provides busing service from our facility. Separate dormitory housing is provided for mothers or fathers with children (in addition to families). Circle Tree Ranch sometimes offers special family events at night or on the weekends. We also interface with other providers to assist in finding ancillary services for children in the care of their parents at Circle Tree Ranch.

The course “Parenting with Love and Logic” is offered in six week rotations for individuals receiving addiction treatment at Circle Tree Ranch. Students are awarded a certificate upon successful completion of the course.

Recovery & First Nations Traditions
at Circle Tree Ranch

Native American traditions have symbolically been a part of the Circle Tree Ranch culture, ceremony and curriculum for over two decades. Amity’s Circle Tree Ranch residential alcohol and drug rehabilitation center has provided extremely successful addiction treatment options for Native Americans in Arizona and throughout the Southwest for twenty years. Circle Tree Ranch provides Arizona alcohol rehabilitation and drug treatment services to traditionally underserved populations in our community. Our alcoholism and addiction treatment services integrate a tapestry of cultural traditions with therapeutic community principles and evidenced-based practices. Together these methods promote healing and awaken a desire and commitment to improve our quality of life.

At the core of all of our alcohol and substance abuse treatment programs is the belief that recovery is a holistic healing process inclusive of the mind, body, and spirit. Our “whole person recovery” is designed to promote healthy living and recovery from alcoholism or chemical dependency for all students at Circle Tree Ranch. Learning and healing experiences essential to personal growth and the alcoholism and addiction recovery process unfold within the community. Circle Tree Ranch residential rehabilitation services offer culturally relevant treatment honoring the values, traditions, and strengths exemplified by Native American traditions. Specifically, our curriculum includes the diverse cultural expressions of Native American tribal communities, and the shared concepts of earth medicine, the four directions of the medicine wheel, wellness, balance, respect, honor, and re-gaining of personal dignity. Our enchanting 50 acre wilderness ranch facility provides a peaceful environment which fosters a regard for Mother Earth, and facilitates addiction recovery. Circle Tree Ranch is nestled in the Tanque Verde Valley located near the edge of the Saguaro National Park and a short drive from the fabulous Mount Lemmon recreational area.

Circle Tree Ranch residential alcohol and substance abuse rehabilitation center has contracts within a circle of Native American community support agencies, including various tribal and urban Native entities. An ongoing goal of our community is to strengthen these relationships, and continue to provide Arizona alcohol and drug rehabilitation services, and quality addiction treatment for Native Americans throughout the country.

Our various alcohol and substance abuse treatment programs and curriculum for all students include the following:

  • Native American spiritual focus with the use of ceremony including Talking Circles and a weekly traditional Sweat Lodge on site at our facility.
  • Curriculum and group therapy that addresses substance abuse, anger, domestic violence, self-esteem, depression, trauma, family dynamics, and relational issues.
  • Lodge circles, use of the Medicine Wheel, music, arts, and storytelling.
  • An emphasis on cultural strengths of Native Americans, Native Spirituality, nature, balance, wellness, cultural identity, strengthening families, and the shared history of trauma, oppression, and discrimination.
  • For students from tribal communities we offer culturally appropriate placement and referrals for after care services.