“We’ve evolved and helped more families. I sleep well at night because we have effective outcomes.”
“We’ve been up and running for about a month,” said DuPrez of the new Back2Basics homebase. “This is a unique opportunity. It is the centerpiece of our program right now because of the layout and the aesthetics. It has seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms on 1.2 acres, offering more communal space inside and outside than we’ve had in the past.”
Through a combination of concentrated, hands-on therapy with both innovative and traditional counseling modalities, the teaching and building of life skills and its extensive outdoor adventure recovery program, Back2Basics has served about 500 men.
Mostly on weekends, clients visit locations across Arizona, including Sedona, the San Francisco Peaks, Oak Creek Canyon and elsewhere in the Coconino National Forest. They also travel a distance to places like the Grand Canyon National Park, Antelope Canyon, Tonto National Forest, White Mountains and Santa Catalina Mountains.
DuPrez says the benefits of vigorous activity in outdoor settings are many, including building self-awareness, participating in community service, creating a bond with nature and strengthening the mind-body-spirit connection.
Invigorated by these regular and strenuous outdoor activities, DuPrez says clients find their minds cleared of the troubles that have haunted them, as they learn to defeat old addictive thinking patterns through the various outdoor adventures. “In my opinion, young adults need to be more active and engaged. There needs to be some sort of carrot, not just another relapse prevention lecture.”
At Back2Basics, that carrot includes hiking, bicycling, kayaking and rafting in the warmer months, followed by skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing in the colder months.
A second arm of the Back2Basic treatment program includes Beyond the Basics, which focuses on transitioning clients from rehabilitation and recovery to the “real world” with long-term sobriety. Many graduates of the first program continue into the second.
Back2Basics also accepts most commercial and private insurance plans now, opening the treatment program to more people from all over the country. “There have been more from outside of Arizona, but because we take insurance now, we’re seeing more local clients.”
DuPrez, 50, came to Flagstaff in 1993 to attend Northern Arizona University. He moved into the field of recovery and mental health and started Back2Basics in 2010.
The program works directly with several nonprofit organizations that raise funds and create a network of partnerships that can provide resources for those in need.
“Our foundations have raised $200,000 worth of scholarships in the last two years,” DuPrez said, which help to subsidize some of the tuition for clients on the path to recovery.
DuPrez says he has been intentional about keeping the Back2Basics program small and intimate for more individualized care. “I feel so fortunate that we are still relevant and able to work in this capacity.”
In addition, a number of clients have come back to help others going through recovery. “In their own evolution, some of our guys return to work with us as counselors,” said DuPrez. “I have 10-year alumni who are therapists and have their own private practices.”
At the 15-year mark, DuPrez says he feels good about the program and the lives impacted. “We’ve evolved and helped more families. I sleep well at night because we have effective outcomes.” FBN
By Betsey Bruner, FBN
Courtesy Photo: Back2Basics has acquired this large seven-bedroom home as its new licensed residential facility.
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