Welcome from Dave Johnson, Owner/CEO

Thank you for your interest in San Cristobal Academy. This is the program I wish was available when I needed help in the depths of my own addiction. It's a "life" rehabilitation center for young adult men, ages 17 to 26, struggling with substance abuse and other co-occurring disorders. I call it a "life" rehabilitation center because it deals with the whole person and all the complex issues that often accompany dually diagnosed young adult men. A dual diagnosis is given to an individual who has both a mental disorder and an alcohol or drug abuse problem. Trying to manage just one of these problems can be extremely stressful. When multiple symptoms overlap and mask the ability to make an accurate diagnosis, accurate treatment assessment and planning becomes extremely difficult. Through my own journey with addiction and mental illness, I learned that positive outcomes improve dramatically when both disorders are treated simultaneously.

San Cristobal Academy started close to ten years ago as a Transitional Learning Center focused primarily on helping young adult men develop the life skills necessary to live successfully as independent adults. Its philosophy came from the work of a noted educator, philosopher and historian--Dr. David Hawkins. Dr. Hawkins founded and directed the University of Colorado based Mountain View Center for Environmental Education. Both Dr. Hawkins and his wife, Frances, pioneered the Environmental Education movement centered on the importance of using students daily experiences and the local environment as powerful tools in creating meaningful learning opportunities. This approach allows teachers to learn about students unique learning styles and engages students actively and personally in the learning process. Due to the overwhelming success of SCA's life skills curriculum using environmental and experiential methods, we now incorporate these active learning methods into our substance abuse treatment programs, therapy and academic programs. Young men learn best when they relate personally to the material being taught. It works!

As the years passed, it became evident that the young men enrolling at SCA were showing up with increasingly complex issues requiring higher levels of both therapeutic and chemical dependency support. The percentages of dually diagnosed young men continued to rise year after year calling for significant expansion of our overall curriculum with special focus on the clinical and substance abuse aspects of our programming. We've hired a clinical psychologist and insisted on standards requiring all therapists to have Master's Degrees and prior experience working in the field, preferably with young adult men.

Each staff member is required to attend both in-service and external training to stay abreast of new treatment methods, safety procedures, advances in the pharmaceutical arena. Additionally, we look to hire new staff with recovery experience either personally and/or professionally. Recovery is never easy, but made so much more difficult when dealing with co-occurring disorders. My personal mission is to deliver truly integrated treatment that works, giving young men and their families a second chance at the life they'd always hoped for.

Finally, I'll close by offering my pledge to do what it takes, and never give up. We're not a big corporation, we're a specialized small community of dedicated and caring professionals that understand the specialized needs of the young adult men we serve. Rediscovering human potential is why we exist.

Hope is a phone call away. Call our Admissions Counselors at 866-918-8383 to learn more about the SCA difference. We can make a difference.

--Dave Johnson, Owner and CEO