By John Ingoldsby, Player Engagement Insider
Two years ago, Tennessee Titans tight end, 10-year NFL veteran Anthony Fasano, watched a family member hit rock bottom due to addiction.
Since then, that person has found sobriety, and Fasano became so familiar with recovery that he just opened an addiction treatment center.
“The addiction devastated our family, and after attending a facility for 60 days in Florida, my relative began working in the recovery field,” Fasano, who was raised in New Jersey and played college football for Notre Dame, recalled. “Since I also live in Florida, I learned a lot and felt comfortable in moving forward with our own center.”
Appropriately named the Next Chapter Addiction Treatment (www.nextchapteraddiction.com), Fasano chose Delray Beach, Florida for the facility location.
“We started the process last year and opened two months ago, and are already off to a great start in getting out there and helping people,” Fasano said.
Like any NFL player understands, it takes a strong team. Fasano and CEO/Clinical Director Abe Antine currently have a staff of 14 employees.
“We already have six clients in our 10-bed center, and can add up to 15 additional clients in our intensive outpatient program,” Antine said of the all-male program. “We follow a 12-step abstinence-based approach for our program, and believe the only way to treat addiction is to abstain from drugs and alcohol completely.
But, as Antine explained, the program goes well beyond that.
“Our major focus is treating the underlying childhood issues and other traumas that contribute to the addictive process and other dysfunctional behaviors,” he said. “We also extensively involve the family into the treatment process, both onsite and off, to provide them which much-needed support so they can contribute to the recovery process.”
It is a process where a typical day consists of group therapy, individual therapy, experiential therapy, 12-step meetings, yoga, meditation and fitness. The clients’ home is 5,000 square feet, situated on an acre of property which includes a pool.
“We also get them out of the house with weekend activities like going to the nearby beach, and showing them how to have fun in sobriety,” Antine said. “We also take our clients to the grocery store where they shop and later cook, and just generally learn how to live together.
These activities are made all the more important since, in addition to substance addiction, the center also treats other addictions such as sex, work, and gambling, as well as, among other areas like anxiety, depression, and (PTSD) post-traumatic stress disorder.
“We have a long-term plan that includes treating women, military veterans and athletes, and look forward to also growing in niche markets that could, for example, focus on first responders or different religions,” Fasano said.
But in the end, it all began with his personal experience and has quickly grown into a business that is about much more than just the bottom line.
“I don’t have an addictive personality, so I didn’t understand how real it is and the effect it can have,” Fasano said. “But I knew I wanted to do meaningful things after football, and when I was exposed to this, I knew it was the perfect fit to start helping people now.”