Recovery Fusion Succeeds Outside the Box

By Jon Vreeland   |   April 12, 2018
Robbin O’Neill-Gregory, owner of Recovery Fusion, asserts the facility promotes “open-minded philosophy” and unmatched knowledge

For thousands of years, the world has endured a swelling procession of thriving “addictions” that a majority of our population has yet to understand entirely. People with common dependencies involving substances such as alcohol, narcotics, even everyday necessities which humanity could never exist without – such as food and sex – are often branded with labels that elude the initial problem which may well be the cause of their lust for an overindulgence that strives to mask the sly demon with abilities that could temporarily, and even permanently, sabotage the human soul.

For example, in today’s society, a person who gets drunk on the weekends may easily be classified, alcoholic, a common perspective that stems from the lack of knowledge of not only “addiction and alcoholism,” and the extensive variety of methods that may be conducive to a person’s recovery, but this person’s daily life and overall situation as well. 

This is precisely the reason Robbin O’Neill-Gregory’s, Recovery Support Specialist Agency, Recovery Fusion, “implements a thorough assessment and aspires an honest connection with the client on a deep and personal level” before society has the opportunity to brand a scarlet letter (such as A for alcoholic) on their personality, then send them off to a $90,000 a month treatment center across the United States before returning home to the same locale where these plausible and examined “addictions” flourish without a shred of remorse or understanding for the sufferer.

“Our job is to listen, advocate, encourage, and moderate, and send you in the right direction,” says Robbin.

In other words, when someone calls Recovery Fusion with his or her own assessment already solidified – “I’m an alcoholic, and I need a residential treatment program” – knowing the U.S. contains more than 14,000 treatment facilities, Robbin and her team first ask the person (who may or may not be stable enough to decide their destiny with this traditional solution), “Well, how do you know?” And the answer, usually, is that said individual doesn’t know, and the traditional treatment facilities that practice the conventional treatment methods are the only option the future client knows to exist.

“Recovery Fusion offers options, and there is a need in the community to provide other pathways,” says the 32-year advocate of Santa Barbara recovery. “Recovery is different today.”

Recovery Fusion regularly takes on clients who’ve exhausted themselves from multiple failed attempts at the general rehab facility, residential treatment program, sober living, often traumatized from the slew of new traumatic events and near-death experiences. Clients who insist that “traditional” doesn’t work for me,” and who desire the path of medicine when treating a life-threatening addiction, such as opioids.

“What is addiction, really? It is a sign. A signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us about a plight that must be understood,” author Alice Miller states in Dr. Gabor Maté’s Canadian best seller, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, a book that shares the torturous experiences that occur in the world of faux euphoria and utter oblivion. Furthermore, Peter A. Levine Ph.D., who is the clinical consultant for the Meadows Treatment Centers in Wickenburg, Arizona, explains how the United States spends an estimated $15 billion per year and $5 billion per year insuring some 4 million people for treatment services that “specialize” in the cessation of substance abuse.

“There are so many treatment centers that are completely biased, and there are so many unethical places out there,” says Robbin. This commonality, this single path solution where individuals have already spun themselves dizzy from the revolving door have not always – but often – experienced four or five treatment centers. For some reason, this person keeps falling face-first into the open arms of his or her reoccurring and unanswered dissipation. 

“Assessment, placement, stabilization, then aftercare” is Recovery Fusion’s method of recovery with an approach that is “one-hundred percent unbiased.” Their ultimate agenda is to always listen and to strongly connect with the client and the client’s situation to better plan the most-effective one-on-one recovery – accompanied by a dedicated Recovery Coach who promises never to leave the client stranded at any time.

Which brings us to Emily Flood, 22.

She is Robbin’s administrative assistant at Recovery Fusion, and her story consists of a chain of events that begins at an outdoor wilderness program for teens where she quickly earned the label of a drug addict. This decision, of course, was not made by Emily herself, and followed a brief experimentation with marijuana that she had used “five times at the most.” Immediately after the completion of this first rehab, Emily found herself in Boarding School. Then another rehab, followed by a series of one-path treatment centers that all preached the same method of recovery that may work for some but didn’t for Emily.

“That is what I ultimately love about Robbin and Recovery Fusion; they’re the only recovery source that did not label me,” says Emily, who believes a strong connection is vital to a person’s recovery. “Robbin was the first person I trusted in a long time.”

Robbin and Recovery Fusion assisted Emily in her own customized path that continues to work for her. Within eight months of working with Robbin, Emily rekindled a relationship with her sister, with whom she hadn’t spoken with in four years: family therapy sessions where Robbin is present to ensure the support and solace for her client. Today, Emily has a 4.0 at UCSB, and her relationship with her family continues to remain healthy and productive.

Recovery Fusion believes physical and mental stability is detrimental before delving into the clients’ customized aftercare. The initial pain and-or illness that is much more complex is thoroughly examined and thought of with a recovery plan that fits the client’s overall needs and endeavors. No matter what this entails: a driver’s license, enrollment in school, dance classes, therapy, family therapy, a job – some need everyday motivation: a grown man or woman who plays video games and nothing else is, nowadays, common.

For a person with the daily struggle of alcoholism, a detox may take up to a full week. But for someone whose body endured a continuous flow of opioids, one that might have started prior to when the doctor prescribed painkillers for an injury or surgery, this detox tends to cause a vicious and never-ending stretch of insomnia, while battling acute withdrawal symptoms for up to an entire year, depending on the person and the amount and length of abuse.

Recovery Fusion is “not affiliated with any other recovery support resource or institution.” They do not own detox and treatment facilities or even sober livings. However, for the last 12 years, Robbin and her team at Recovery Fusion, after a psychologist performs the client’s “confidential assessment,” offers an array of “unbiased pathways to recovery” that best suits the client, using only licensed professionals and “recovery support services rooted in Santa Barbara.” Also, Recovery Fusion is one of the first Recovery Support Specialist Agencies in California. In 2017, Recovery advocated in Europe and Asia, promoting their “open-minded philosophy” and offering what Robbin describes as their unparalleled knowledge and teaming up with ethical practitioners and treatment centers that specialize in addiction. 

So, before you spend your life savings on a traditional treatment center that only helps you survive while living at the facility, give Robbin and her 12-person staff a call at (805) 689-1256 for your confidential and potentially life-changing assessment.

 

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