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An Alternative in Canada
Brother and Sister Team Up in a Union of Cutting Edge Modalities With Ace Internet Marketing
Not too long ago, a client
arrived at Clear Haven Center that
presented the center with a unique
set of challenges.
The client, a male, had a virtually
uncontrollable compulsion to wash
and bathe himself, a compulsion
that manifested itself through excess
washing and an anxious focus
on issues of his personal hygiene.
And, as is common in so many
cases like this, where strong issues
of control are involved, the client
self medicated his enormous anxiety
to the point where the primary
problem had now become one of
chronic substance abuse.
“We were sent the client by a psychiatrist
in Toronto who was at his
wits end trying to help this man,”
says Clear Haven co-founder Terry
Orsten, who runs the business side
of the treatment center, located in
the idyllic mountain countryside
north of Montreal near the famed
skiing resort of Mont Tremblant.
“Now he sends us his difficult
cases all the time, some of which
we have to turn away because their
problems are beyond our ability
to treat”
Of course, the reason for the continued
referrals of the Toronto doctor
is the great success Clear Haven had
in treating his client, Orsten says.
And behind that success, and hundreds
of others like it, are the efforts
of Orsten’s sister, the other Clear
Haven founder, Irene Clarkson.
 Unique Design
Orsten, a dentist with a strong entrepreneurial
bent whose practice has
emerged as one of Canada’s most successful,
became involved with Clear
Haven about five years ago, taking
over the business end when a
partner he backed in the venture proved unable to make a go of it.
And Orsten could not have found a
more qualified clinical partner than
his sister Irene, he says.
With experience in addictions and
mental health going back to the 1970s,
she says one of her many degrees is
in nursing, Clarkson says she was
ultimately given one of Canada’s top
behavioral health jobs, Executive
Director for Mental Health and
Addictions for British Columbia.
Politicized Report
During her tenure in the post, which
reported directly to the provincial
health minister - all powerful in Canada’s
government controlled health
system - Clarkson says she embarked
on an exhaustive study of the characteristics
of the province’s addicted
and mentally ill, as well as an equally
exhaustive survey of the effectiveness
of a wide range of addiction
addiction treatment modalities.
What Clarkson found was that the
province’s addicted and mentally ill
populations were virtually one and
the same - SAMHSA was at the time
coming to the identical conclusion in
its seminal report to Congress on dual
diagnosis - and that certain approaches
to addiction treatment worked
far better than others.
The report that came out of her study
ultimately became bogged down by
the ceaseless politicing of Canadian
health services delivery, and its recommendations
were hardly adopted. But
before she stepped down from her provincial
post, Clarkson says she asked
that the report be made public
domain, a request the health minister
readily acceded to, she says.
As Clarkson began designing the programs
for Clear Haven five years ago,
she drew heavily from the research contained
in the report. And what has emerged is a Skinnerian approach to treatment
that heavily emphasizes education, not
only of the disease itself, but also cognitive
behavioral type interventions that
educate clients in different patterns of
thinking. “Overwhelmingly, we are
dealing with clients that are anxious and
depressed, and our modalities are very
focused on teaching them how to manage
these,” says Clarkson.
Expensive Program
Clarkson warned Ortsen that developing
the program she wanted “would be expensive,”
and Orsten confirms she was
right, saying he has spent “millions” on
program development at Clear Haven.
That does not mean, however, that the
program itself is expensive for clients.
Clear Haven is, in fact, among the most
affordable private pay programs anywhere,
at $14,900 for 90 days.
And Clear Haven comes with a unique
guarantee - the only other center with a
treatment guarantee is George Joseph’s
The Right Step - that gives 30 days care
free if a client relapses within one year
of completing 90 days.
Behind Clear Haven’s success - the
center is rarely left with an open bed -
is Orsten’s self admitted “obsession”
with Internet marketing, a pursuit that
has made him among the most
successful addiction web players.
Orsten estimates he has spent $1.5 million
getting his sites where they are, a
big spend, no doubt, but also a hugely
efficient one that goes a long way
toward explaining his affordable rates.
ClearHavenCenter.com at press time
had an Alexa ranking of about 400K,
which was north of CRC’s 4therapy.com
- 300K Alexa ranking - but not by much.
Considering CRC CEO Barry Karlin
paid nearly $9 million to 4therapy founder
Howard Brown to buy his sites and
get that traffic - a quite savvy move in light
of CRC’s huge Internet needs - Orsten’s
spend looks very efficient indeed.
Given Orsten’s commanding position
on the Internet - Treatment Magazine could not find a center with a higher ranking - Orsten is now getting far more clients than his 75 bed center can currently handle. Thus, Orsten is now aggressively eying expansion, specifically into the Florida market. "I am looking at acquiring and existing Florida operation, or I will build from scratch, but i will definitely have Clear Haven Florida open by next spring," says Orsten, whi says he has already lined up "multi-million dollar" financing for the venture.
Of course, such an expansion is natural for Clear Haven, which gets hundreds of potential U.S. clients that, for one reason or another, do not with to go to Canada for treatment. And Clear Haven Florida will, according to Orsten, definitely have a high end element to it, seeking to tap into marketing in Canada now being undertaken by a newly hired team focused on bringing Canadian private pay clientele to the new center. "I love seeing my Internet strategies work, which when combined with seeing my sister's program help many people that come to Clear Haven, makes this quite a rewarding pursuit," Orsten says.
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