Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre

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AARC is a Calgary based, non-profit organization that operates a long-term treatment centre for chemically addicted adolescents and their families.

Success at AARC is a graduate who is clean and sober, back in school or working, and reunited with his or her family.

The program is often the treatment of last resort for young people who have been in jail, in front of the court, suicidal, violent, in psychiatric wards, living on the streets, in other treatment programs, and/or removed from their home.

Alberta Adolescent Recovery Centre
303 Forge Rd SE
Calgary AB T2H 0S9
Tel: 403 253-5250; 403 640-2520
E-mail: info@aarc.ab.ca

The AARC program offers comprehensive assessment, treatment and aftercare, based on the concepts of:
- Twelve Step Recovery models of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA);
- Positive peer influence;
- Group, family and individual therapy; and
- Use of Recovery Homes

The AARC program is based on the fundamental that addiction is a disease. Adolescent addiction is defined as a psycho-social, genetic, chronic, progressive and relapsing disease affecting every dimension of the adolescent and their family members' lives.

The AARC program provides progressive, structured stages of treatment from primary recovery through intermediate and advanced recovery. The stages of treatment correlate directly with the recovery steps of AA and NA. As the adolescents progress through the treatment process, they are assisted in developing and expected to present increasing levels of self-awareness, self-esteem, family cooperation, motivation and commitment towards recovery. Progression through treatment is dependent upon individual needs and the ability to acquire habilitative, non-chemical coping skills.

At the beginning of treatment, parents are often unable to provide the structure required for the care, control, and safety of their child during recovery. Therefore, the client resides in a Recovery Home during the first phase of treatment, which may last six months. Recovery Homes are the homes of families of clients who are further along in their recovery process.

The average length of treatment is 12 months. In addition, the adolescents and families are encouraged to commit to a six-month optional aftercare program.

Once a referral is made, the assessment process determines the extent of the adolescent's chemical dependency. Youth who meet the admission criteria receive a full diagnostic assessment to determine an appropriate treatment plan.

Treatment fees are assessed based on a family's ability to pay.

AARC is distinctly different in Canada

AARC is unlike any program in Canada. It is long-term (averaging about one year), built on a solid foundation of research augmented by clinical expertise. It is open to all, regardless of income level. AARC works because it blends dedication and compassion with no-nonsense, uncompromising, honest confrontation, expecting clients and parents to give as much as they get.

Here is why AARC is different and successful

Integrated family treatment; parents and siblings

Youth addiction damages families as well as addicts themselves. AARC treats the family as well as the individual, requiring parents and siblings to take part in recovery. AARC empowers parents who feel hopeless and stuck, helping the family as a whole. AARC is home for teen addicts - a place they take pride in and a place where they and their families recover.

Peer Counsellors have been there

Addicts are adept at manipulating and conning others. But they can't con a con and AARC's peer counselors are graduates of the program. They know all the lines and have heard all the excuses - they've used them. All peer counselors are required to furthering their education while working at AARC. Many have degrees, giving them a powerful blend of real like experience, clinical expertise and academic training.

Discipline through love

AARC is a tough program - but it's also caring and loving, totally centered on helping addicts and their families recover. The confrontational, therapeutic process looks at the past, accepts the present and prepares for the future.

Staying in recovery homes

AARC is not a residential facility. Adolescents do not live with their parents when entering treatment. Newcomers stay with families of clients further along in recovery and, as treatment progresses, will themselves host newcomers to AARC.

Taking 12 steps of recovery

The 12-step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Al-Anon help keep adolescents and their families on the path of recovery. These programs become the recovering addict's "owner's manuals" for life.

Total abstinence

Addiction is chronic. AARC believes addicts must refrain from using drugs and alcohol for the rest of their lives. AARC does not ascribe to philosophies of "harmful reduction" (what addicts call "marijuana maintenance").

AARC Learning Centre

Education is vital for job and career success. AARC's year-round, full-time, on-site classroom, with two teachers from the Calgary Board of Education who specialize in this clientele, helps teen addicts prepare to re-enter the formal education system (high school or post-secondary) after AARC.

Accessible to all in need

No-one is turned away from AARC because of an inability to pay. Families who cannot afford full AARC fees of $150/day pay are assessed fees based on their ability to pay. Remaining fees are covered through AARC fundraising activity and government support.

Continuing care

A six-month aftercare program provides ongoing support for graduates and enables them to help support clients who are still in treatment.

Stages of treatment

Treatment is comprised of three stages, each of which contains distinct levels. The "Structured Day Treatment Program Overview" is a graphic overview of the stages and corresponding levels, and what is accomplished at each point of treatment.

Within each of the stages of the treatment program are predetermined levels or steps that the adolescent must progress through in order to achieve higher levels of personal responsibility and recovery. Progression through the treatment levels is variable and flexible, depending on acquisition of habilitative, non-chemical coping skills and the individual's degree or intensity of concurrent psychopathology.

Adolescents in the AARC Program progress through four levels of treatment before graduating into the Aftercare Program:
- Primary Recovery Level 1 and Level 2
- Intermediate Recovery Level 3
- Advanced Recovery Level 4

Each level focuses on specific issues related to healthy adolescent development and recovery.

The level system co-relates directly with the recovery steps of Alcoholics Anonymous/ Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA). As clients progress through the level system, they achieve increasing privileges and responsibilities. They are expected to present increasing self-awareness, self-esteem, family cooperation, motivation and commitment to recovery. By the time the client graduates to the Advanced Recovery, he/she should have achieved an emotional acceptance, understanding and knowledge of the first nine steps of AA/NA and be actively working the remaining steps into his/her recovery program. By the time the client graduates from Advanced Recovery into Aftercare, he/she should have a firm foundation in AA/NA participation, involvement, understanding and commitment, thereby promoting a significantly higher chance of attaining and maintaining successful recovery.

Criteria for advancement to a higher level are based on assessment of behavioral stability, attitudinal reorientation and client and family commitment to ongoing daily recovery from the effects of the disease of addiction.

Success at AARC is not merely abstaining from drugs and alcohol, but developing a winning attitude. This includes facing reality, being responsible and disciplined and contributing to the welfare of others.