Client Testimonials & Reviews

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Testimonials

Donna Hendricks-Marx – Psychotherapist and a licensed mental health counselor

“When I refer to the Adaptive Center program, I literally can say, it’s a place I trust with my son. And being a mom, I don’t know of a better referral than that. “A fairly large percent of the population either are themselves addicts or come from families where there’s been addiction. I used to have a cartoon, and it’s a thousand seats; it’s for the ‘Convention of Functional Families.’ There’s one guy in the audience. I think we all come from dysfunctional families. Therapists are also represented in that. “I am the child of an alcoholic. That is certainly one of the reasons I chose this profession and was able to do the work I needed to do to be able to do what I adore doing, which is being a psychotherapist. “In the role of karma, my son has an addiction. And I had a wonderful gift of the universe to have Juan from Adaptive Center come into his life. He has been involved in treatment individually, and then did an internship there. He also has the wonderful benefit of being part of the group therapy process. “I think if I were to sum up what the Adaptive Center is for me, it’s a time out to be able to regroup and re-center and really come to develop what we need to exist, not only to exist but to live and make choices, but to deal with consequences. I believe that the consequence of being involved with the Adaptive Center is my life is enriched, my son’s life is enriched, and my clients’ lives are enriched. And my son is getting help and becoming the man he was meant to be.”

Antonio from Philadelphia, PA.

Though he never completed on, he had been in rehab three times for a Xanax addiction prior to his time at Adaptive Center. He has been here for three months and was referred by a friend. “I’ve experienced a lot of good things at Adaptive Center. It’s totally different from any other treatment programs that I’ve been through. “Each person has their own individual therapy here. No person is the same. Juan Lesende, the founder, takes into account your needs and frustrations. For one, I haven’t had a smooth life, and I wasn’t used to being told good things about myself and Juan helped me build character. I’ve never met a therapist like Juan, not in any other treatment center. He just lets me be me and it’s been working. “He helped me build back my relationship with my mother. It was affected by things I was doing, my lifestyle. There was an emotional disconnect between us. He’s helped me restore that and helped me figure out what I’m going to do when I get out of here. “I always knew how to set boundaries, but now I’ve learned how to set them in the correct way. When I’ve gotten frustrated, he’s taught me how to get my opinion across and be heard without being disrespectful. Something I couldn’t do before. I didn’t like feelings, I didn’t like the way I felt. I felt out of control, and I have a lot of anxiety problems. I’m working through those problems here. I might get frustrated, get anxiety, but I’m learning to let it pass. “Most psychologists, they have set guidelines, they tell you what’s going to work for you, and what to do. Juan doesn’t do that, he lets you know what areas you can work on, but mostly he lets you move in your own time. He lets you wait for the frustration to pass, and you can figure it out yourself. Then he’ll let you know what he thinks about it. He’s not in the business of rescuing you when you’re at the height of frustration. Juan’s always doing therapy though, even when he’s not talking to you. “What’s next for me? I’m planning on going to go back to Philly to work with my dad, doing mortuary science. I’m going to enroll in school to study business and management and transfer to Temple University.”

Scott first time in treatment for addiction to prescription pills.

He’s been using for six years. Though not a local, Scott is currently planning on staying in Miami. “I was riding the roller-coaster of using, and trying not to use. It wasn’t working out. I’ve gone through five years of college with nothing to show for it. I was given an ultimatum, where either I got clean, or I lose everything I have. “I thought I was going to come and work strictly on issues with drugs. But I learned at Adaptive Center that that’s just one piece of the pie. There were actually a whole lot of different things that I needed to work on. I’ve been here 45 days, and this place has really helped me figure out what all my character defects are, my behaviors that need changing, and the way I thought about things and the way I dealt with anxiety. This place has given me tools. You can’t predict everything that’s going to happen in your life, the only thing you can do is be prepared for it. I’m feeling stronger in all aspects, including emotionally. I’m dealing with my emotions instead of turning to some kind of numbing agent. “Adaptive Center helped me realize that there were issues much greater at hand than just drugs. That drugs were just what I used to cope with them. I was dealing with tons of internal conflict. I can say it has successfully made me realize and come to grips with reality. I was living with this facade, where I foolishly thought everything was going to be alright no matter what I was doing. Now I know: This is what I’ve done, this is what I’m doing, and this is what’s going to happen if I continue to use drugs. I’ll have a wall in front of me. If I do these other things, use the knowledge I got at Adaptive Center, it’s going to help me through anything and get me to wherever I want to be in my life. “I’m a pretty active guy, and was before I started using. Physical fitness is huge here. It gets you out of your head a little bit. It’s not like you’re not thinking about things, but it allows you to get tired in a way that’s not detrimental. We do a lot of meditation here, something I never really did in the past. As soon as we did it, I was immediately open to it. When meditate, it gets me in touch with my spirituality, not necessarily my religion. When I come out of it, I’m feeling 1,000 times better and getting waves of energy. As our instructor says, it helps you start your day over. It has done that for me, It’s almost like my second wind of the day. I try to incorporate it in my life, to help me get centered. “I’m trying to take what this place taught me with me after I leave. And it has taught me how to go about my life in a positive way, to get myself centered. It made me realize there’s a way out of it. That you don’t have to do what your craving is telling you to do. “After I leave here, I don’t see myself as someone who’ll go to a halfway house. I want to continue to do what I’m doing now. I just got a job, one that keeps me active. I want to get myself an apartment. I want to stay involved in AA, which is something I got involved with through Adaptive Center, something I never thought would be helpful to me. I want to use these tools I learned here.”

Fritz This is his fourth time in treatment for alcohol and now heroin.

He’s been at Adaptive Center for three weeks. “The sad thing is, I actually got introduced to heroin in rehab. I originally went to rehab because of alcohol, you know, DUIs, the courts, and I had a drinking problem. And then I ended up getting introduced to heroin by one of my roommates. “Juan was my father’s student. Juan’s always been a friend. He saw that I needed help, so invited me to come here. Juan is an amazing therapist. He’s a great psychologist. He really knows what’s going on. He doesn’t have the most traditional take on everything, but I think it’s the most accurate. “A lot of the other rehabs I’ve been to were a lot bigger, they’re more like social gatherings. They’re run like businesses. This is more centered around group therapy. Juan is more out to help people than some of the bigger rehabs I’ve been to. Adaptive Center is also smaller; it’s more individual. It’s not one of those places where there’s 60 people. It’s not like a high school. It’s more about the work. Instead of being told what to do, it’s more about learning what to do.” “You have to come to a decision about whether or not you really want to quit. It’s about taking responsibility for that. I feel more like I’m challenged here to do this for myself, or what’s the opposite? Using drugs and never becoming successful, never doing anything with my life. Going after the next high. I do understand, and Juan preaches it, nobody is going to do it for you. They say it in AA. Juan blends more traditional therapies with existential, Taoist, Zen teachings. All that stuff together, you can take a step back and look at everything as a whole, and decide what you want to do yourself. “I’m clear that I laugh more when I’m sober, I’m clear that I’m happier when I’m sober. It’s a control thing. When I’m in a bad mood, I want to be able to control it with a drink or a drug. Before you can change that, you have to be able to see it. You gotta get clear, and then you can do the work. “I like getting healthy; I like doing yoga. Mind, body, spirit: You’ve got to work on all aspects of it. With the meditation and yoga and working out, once you stop doing drugs — something that you spent all your time doing everyday — you’ve got to fill that space with something. You have to add new meaning. If you don’t replace it with something, you’re just going to leave it empty. Then you’re going to go back to using drugs again. Here, there’s a huge focus on getting right with yourself on a personal level. You’re not told to stop using drugs because of consequences. It’s about leading a better life.” “It’s not a radical place, but it’s different from any rehab center I’ve been to in the past. It’s a very safe environment where you can work on your character. You can get clear and then start to work on it. There’s nothing wrong with having problems. Everybody has problems. You just have to come to terms with them and work on them. “I’m very positive about staying sober after my stay here at the Adaptive Center. I want to go back to school. I’m applying at University of Miami. I have decided that it’s time for me to move forward with my life. I could spend more time doing drugs, wasting my life, going in circles, or I can really take some positive steps forward. Everyone here has my best interest at heart, but ultimately I have to do it myself.”

Edward has been in rehab 18 times for heroin and cocaine.

He’s been using since he was 14. He’s been at Adaptive Center for three weeks. “What I found to be the most helpful is the group therapy. I’ve spoken about stuff that I’ve kept secret my whole life. This is the first time through therapy that I was able to get it out of me. I needed to get it out and talk about it in group, and feel better about it afterward. I see the difference, and I feel free. I’ve been through so many different places, and I never found anyone to talk to about this. And this place, I feel more comfortable. It’s just very different. I’ve never been to a place like this in my entire life, and I’ve been to many treatment centers. I’m hoping this will be my last.” “I’m not confined here. I go home and have my own apartment, from there I walk to the facility. It’s a combination of things that make me feel more comfortable at Adaptive Center. People open up, and you want to open up too. It makes me want to talk about my emotions and feelings, and feel stuff that I’ve been keeping all inside. “Other centers would try to tear me down. I already was broken, I needed to be built. Here, they don’t do that. They build you up. That’s the big difference. That’s why I think it never worked for me.”