The 10 Best Rehabilitation Centers to Watch in 2019 The 10 Best Rehabilitation Centers to Watch in 201 | Page 28

A World-class Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment Center Providing High-level Individual Care Darren Lockie CEO B ased on the beautiful island of Koh Chang in the Gulf of Thailand, Dara Thailand is a boutique rehabilitation center that treats clients with substance abuse and mental health issues. The center accepts 30 clients at once and is fully licensed by the Thailand Ministry of Public Health and staffed by International Therapists from around the world. Dara Thailand provides treatment for most substance abuse, including drugs, alcohol and prescription medication. It also offers a dual diagnosis for co-occurring disorders and works with most mental health conditions as well. Dynamic Pillars of Dara Dara was started by the two founders, Darren Lockie and Martin Peters. Today, Darren Lockie is the CEO and runs the business side of Dara while Martin Peters, another helm of Dara, is the Program Director and manages the clinical focus of the center. 26 |April 2019| Darren has been managing rehabs for the past 10 years. But, prior to that, he worked in a variety of roles for Microsoft in South Asia. The skills and discipline in working for Microsoft highly assisted him in running the business of rehabilitation and marketing for Dara. Martin started his career as a Registered Nurse and Certified Substance Abuse Therapist working in the mental health field where he worked since 1994. He has also worked in Thailand for the past 14 years developing the clinical and operational side of rehabilitation. Dara’s Journey While asking what influenced them to start the treatment program, Darren and Martin said, “With Dara, we set to create a world class International treatment program in an inspiring and beautiful location at an affordable price. We always liked the idea of staying small and focusing on the individual and providing a high level of individual care. To this day, we answer every phone call and inquiry ourselves. It highlights how important customer care and attention is to our vision.” The center accepts only those clients that want to join Dara, and do not accept clients that are forced by family or the court system. The center considers the client community as a very important part of its success. Dara creates a very optimistic community and environment. Even the most challenging clients understand that Dara professionals are here to help every client on 24*7 which is a very powerful part of Dara’s success. Distinctiveness at Its Best The clinical program at Dara has a lot of content on relapse prevention which is handled within the group therapy portion and individual therapy. The center strives very hard on discharge planning with each individual, discussing the changes they intend to make when they go home to reduce the