MARR emphasizes community living as an important aspect of treatment that blends adults across all age groups to promote healing

For more than 45 years, MARR has built its addiction treatment programs around three pertinent principles: 1) community life, 2) spiritual growth and 3) gender-specific treatment. We have seen remarkable success when these components of recovery are introduced early on. While programs for young adults are not uncommon in the world of addiction treatment, MARR purposely combines clients of all ages and from all walks of life.

We focus on community living as foundational for helping our clients to grow. When a group of individuals struggling with addiction lives together in a drug-free environment where they are bound to hold one another accountable, something magical takes place along the way. They face their fears, connect with peers, share responsibilities, learn how to ask for help, resolve conflict in a healthy manner, experience a structured daily routine, and become active participants — not only in their communities but in their own lives as well.

Each client who comes to MARR brings his or her family history to the community they’re living with in treatment. Let us explain. Addiction is a family disease. From an adult whose life revolves around the actions of the spouse, to a parent who wants to help even when the helping enables addict behavior, to an overachieving sibling, the addict’s relationships are intertwined with his or her substance abuse. At MARR, a client may reside with another community member who has similar traits to a family member. Various members of the family unit are represented in their treatment community.

Every family has its own system, and the individuals within that system relate to one another in learned ways. When an addicted loved one enters treatment at MARR and becomes a part of the community, he or she is likely to respond to situations in ways that parallel his or her family system. MARR’s goal is to help the client identify unproductive behaviors and take responsibility for the role he or she has played in the past, then learn healthier coping and communication skills.

In essence, we choose not to separate clients according to age groups simply because we trust in the natural chemistry that happens within everyday community life. We encourage clients to address the issues they’ve been avoiding during active addiction, in order that they may experience the true freedom and joy that emanates from life in recovery.