Dillon Holsonback has witnessed the vital role trauma work plays in the road to recovery.
“When you’re talking about healing, working with a family unit and seeing how that can impact multiple generations … that’s really what we see in our daily work here,” he says.
Holsonback is the director of marketing and brand development at Capstone Treatment Center, a residential treatment program for teens and adults from ages 14-26. It is a powerful life changer for men and boys struggling with addiction, trauma and co-occurring disorders.
Capstone was founded just over 20 years ago by Adrian Hickmon, Ph.D. During his time as a successful high school football coach, Dr. Hickmon found his best work was centered not simply around tossing a ball but properly building relationships that helped young men grow into healthy adults. That realization led him to pursue a doctorate in marriage and family therapy and eventually move on from coaching to creating Capstone.
Holsonback is part of a team that’s helped over 1,800 families find treatment for young men battling mental health, trauma, substance use, sexual addiction and more. Dozens of those families have been from the Ohio and Kentucky region. Many others travel from around the country to experience the life-saving care at Capstone.
“We’re located in small-town Arkansas,” Holsonback says, “but we’ve still assisted families from a wide variety of backgrounds. It’s amazing for us to serve on our mission without being limited to just our small corner of the world.”
Today, Capstone employs over a hundred therapists and staff. It also makes use of more than a few eager pups.
“Every young man who enters our program receives an AKC-registered puppy, and that dog accompanies them throughout the treatment program,” Holsonback says. “Then, when they graduate, they take it home with them.”
Incorporating dogs into therapy isn’t new, but Capstone isn’t your typical treatment facility.
“Traditional canine therapy might mean there’s a dog or two around, and maybe a few patients get a limited amount of time with that animal,” Holsonback says. “At Capstone, however — this is their dog. It’s a responsibility to go outside of yourself to care for something, but there’s also an attachment to this animal.”
Capstone admissions director and licensed therapist Jimmy Shaw adds that working with a puppy is fundamental in helping patients build better relationships.
“The dog becomes a reliable sober companion in the aftermath of their treatment,” he says. “What we’re doing is not just emotional work. We’re also using the physiology and historical relationship between dogs and humans to build a resource that will be valuable to them.”
The most important relationships that patients can rebuild are those with family. Capstone incorporates that into its treatment, with over 70 hours of family therapy included on any individual’s path to wellness. That path allows Capstone Treatment Center to get to the core of whatever issues might be driving addictive or otherwise harmful behavior.
“We’re not just treating the symptom or external actions,” Shaw stresses. “We’re trying to heal the core of this person, to trace the vines to the root, if you will. What’s causing the hurt, and what’s causing them to act out this way or cope with things this way? We’re trying to help the individual make sense of what’s going on underneath the surface.”
Much of the focus in addiction treatment is on adults using models designed to address adult addicts. “However, about nine out of ten adults with addictions actually started using substances during their teen years,” Shaw says.
Adolescence is a crucial moment for intervention, and treatment in young adulthood is a key opportunity to disrupt addictive behavior. “What we know about the physiology of addiction is that the brain in adolescence is much more malleable, with a plasticity in the neurobiology, which gives them an opportunity to make significant changes before they even get down that path of full-blown addiction,” Shaw says.
Over the last three years, exit survey data at Capstone rates satisfaction rates at a 4.8 on a scale of 1-5.
“At a high level,” Holsonback says, “that’s a testament to the work we do here. These young men are at a vulnerable point in their lives, and we’re here for them.”
And it works. As one alumnus put it, “Came for the dog, stayed for the therapy, left with a better life.”
Do you know someone who would benefit from treatment at Capstone Treatment Center? Visit capstonetreatmentcenter.com for more information.