LegitScript is joining with our partners and community in celebration of National Recovery Month. Our Addiction Treatment Certification program is shining a spotlight on one of our certified organizations — Key Healthcare — and waiving application costs for all new addiction treatment certification applicants. Discover more about Key Healthcare and how you can take advantage of our Recovery Month discount.
Why We Need Addiction Treatment for Teens
“We have an epidemic of teens struggling with substance abuse in high schools around the country,” says Key Healthcare co-founder, Ryan Blivas.
The latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health produced by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) stated that an estimated 2.2 million people between the ages of 12 and 17 had a substance use disorder, with 265,000 having an opioid use disorder.
A troubling array of factors can lead this vulnerable population into the grip of substance use disorder, and according to the National Institute of Health, residential programs for teens are rare and costly.
Blivas listed many common influences including but not limited to:
- Mental health issues
- Trauma and stress
- The availability and accessibility of drugs and alcohol
- And low self-esteem
“These are kids and they all come in with a destroyed self-worth and self-esteem and feel like they aren’t worthy of love. Finding compassion and connection with themselves and using the group to reinforce the positive messaging is where the magic starts.”
Another aspect of the rapidly changing landscape of teen addiction includes the types of substances available.
“When I was in high school, the DARE program used fear-based tactics, suggesting that experimenting with drugs would likely result in death,” Blivas said. “Back then, this message seemed exaggerated, as the drugs available were mostly cannabis, psychedelics, and alcohol. However, the reality is starkly different today, primarily due to the widespread presence of fentanyl, which is often hidden in benzodiazepines and opioids.”
Blivas backed his statement with a recent article by UCLA Health, which found in 2023 that roughly 22 high school-aged teens died each week from drug overdoses in the US — predominantly due to fentanyl-laced prescription pills. The US lost five out of every 100,000 high school-aged teens to drug overdoses last year.
The Beginnings of Key Healthcare for Teens
“We were your kid.” said Key Healthcare Founders. “Based on our own experiences, we believe that everyone has the ability to change if given the proper structure and connection.” Both Ryan Blivas and his co-founder of Key Healthcare, Evan Powell, struggled with addiction as teens. They discovered purpose and fulfillment through treatment interventions during their teenage years, and this personal journey inspired Ryan and Evan to establish their organization.
Key Healthcare provides a 45-day residential treatment program dedicated to supporting teens struggling with dual diagnosis and substance abuse and includes a step-down outpatient program in West Los Angeles.
What Makes Key Healthcare Special
Key Healthcare is a mission-driven company developed from personal experience, specializing in clinical, psychiatric, and holistic treatment care for adolescents struggling with dual diagnosis. Blivas and Powell have been developing programs focused on helping adolescents for over 10 years. Blivas describes the heart of their program as a strong focus on family programming.
Key Healthcare strives to ensure that families are actively involved in the recovery process, fostering healing and understanding. “By providing a clinically comprehensive connection, we help teens navigate challenging times and guide families toward rediscovering joy and resilience,” he said.
“Our mission is to help teens and their parents view treatment as a valuable opportunity for growth, healing, and positive transformation, rather than a punishment. Everyone faces significant challenges at some point in their life, and teens in treatment are encountering these challenges at a young age. Our role as professionals is to help them understand and navigate these struggles with the right interventions and support. Additionally, we recognize that parents play a crucial role in ensuring long-term success for their teens.”
Key Healthcare and National Recovery Month: The Art of Recovery
SAMHSA’s theme for this year’s recovery month is the “art of recovery” centering on the transformative impact of art on mental health and substance use recovery. When LegitScript asked Blivas about some of his favorite moments in the process of addiction treatment and helping teens heal, he shared a highlight from their music therapy program:
“I love seeing teens in treatment get vulnerable and be able to have compassion for themselves. This typically happens in music therapy where they write a song about their struggle with the help of a therapist helping them identify how to put words to what they are suffering from, learn how to pair it to a beat, record, and then we play the song to the group. Hearing themselves sing or rap about their own struggles and pain they have been holding in for sometimes years, and find love, acceptance, and admiration from therapists and other clients is transformative.”
LegitScript’s Ongoing Commitment to Lifting Up Recovery Programs
LegitScript’s Addiction Treatment Certification is the only certification and monitoring solution recognized by Google, Meta, and Microsoft to vet addiction treatment advertisers. Our team's mission aims to uphold organizations that meet our rigorous standards, and to encourage the connection of those in recovery with trusted providers. It is our honor to lift up vital programs like Key Healthcare doing this whole-hearted work.
In support of Recovery Month and the addiction treatment community, LegitScript is pleased to offer 50% off the cost of all application fees for new Addiction Treatment Certification applicants who apply in September using the discount code RM-SEP2024.
To start your application and save with your National Recovery Month promotion, please click on the button below.
