Malibu, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 09/22/2014 --Acadia Malibu Treatment Programs steps into the growing outpatient drug treatment field. Following trends set by some of the older, established treatment players, such as the newly merged Betty Ford/Hazelden Foundation, Acadia looks to establish roots in the community, to offer more flexibly with a more affordable, cost-effective model of treatment with its newly certified Malibu Outpatient Program.

The new Acadia Malibu Outpatient facility provides their clients with structure, accountability, and therapeutic support. But that’s not all. Acadia does this with the compassionate, innovative approach that it is becoming famous for, eschewing the classroom setting for experiential, hands-on therapies, providing opportunities for meditation, guided sweat lodges, music groups, animal-assisted therapy and ‘Vision Rides,’ and ‘eco-psychology’ in the exciting new organic farm project. Combined with affordable sober living, this becomes an entirely new, effective, and much more affordable model of treatment, one that’s particularly geared toward young people.

Co-Founder, Evan Haines, speaks to the importance of keeping it’s young clients engaged. “We need to make sure that we are always doing everything we can to capture their imaginations. The old treatment models aren’t working. We recognized that from the beginning, so do everything in our power to engage our younger clients, to connect from the heart, and excite and challenge them to explore this new life in recovery.” Unfortunately, for a lot of younger folks, this may not be their last time trying to get sober. “If that’s the case, we want to give them a little ‘taste of victory,’ to show them what a life in recovery can be. If we leave them with a bad taste in their mouths of what recovery too often is – controlling, serious, hypocritical, judgmental, and a general drag – we have potentially done them a grave harm, hindering them from trying it again.”

Bob Forrest, Program Director of Acadia Malibu, discovered a long time ago that traditional in-patient treatment was not working, and that it was time to try something new. He called the new approach “medical stabilization, followed by sober living, in conjunction with low-to-medium intensity out-patient treatment.” It saved clients money, and by giving them more freedom, by allowing them to live out in the world, they tended to flourish. “On a whole, the clients are more hopeful and easier to work with. It is obvious to me that this is because they feel they are really, finally accepting personal responsibility for their own recovery.” In this kind of freer setting, and with this kind of support, the Outpatient program is able to carry out its ultimate aim – to ‘launch’ its young clients into life, into jobs, school, and to help them build a community of like-minded young people who are also interested in becoming happy, healthy, and whole.

Insurance companies agree with this new model, as evidenced by their diminishing willingness to pay for the cumbersome, hugely expensive, often ineffective in-patient model, and simultaneous move toward funding the leaner, meaner outpatient and day treatment levels of care. Through its new Outpatient Program, Acadia Malibu is offering long-term care that is almost entirely covered by most PPO insurance policies. In combination, Acadia is offering its clients affordable sober living – in Malibu, overlooking the ocean! – starting at just $650 per month.