More Info

Located on 94 acres in Florida’s Ocala National Forest, The Refuge offers the highest quality of comprehensive treatment services to individuals have been struggling with trauma, addiction, and a host of additional mental and behavioral health concerns.

About Our Center

The approach to treatment at The Refuge – A Healing Place is a long-term, 12-step based program that treats each person as a unique individual. We believe trauma is centered in the nervous system and telling the story in a nature-setting helps the nervous system process the trauma. Processing the trauma reduces the need for maladaptive coping mechanisms including substance abuse or process addictions. Through our years of service, The Refuge understands that there is not a single approach to trauma work; each person’s nervous system is unique and the path to recovery is different for everyone. We offer a variety of treatment approaches and methods designed to heal the whole person. In today’s treatment centers, the awareness of the relationship between trauma and addiction is expanding. What’s been discovered is simple – certain life events have created negative responses in the sufferer’s body, mind, and spirit. This, in turn, can lead to poor choices and decisions. The ways in which we live depend on how we experience the world. Treating trauma and addiction in an integrated approach is what sets The Refuge apart; our approach addresses all aspects of recovery with highly effective results. Traumatic events may include sexual abuse, physical abuse, abandonment, neglect, divorce, separation from siblings, frequent changes in living situations, which often results in isolation. These stressors may change how we feel about ourselves and can lead to addiction and other self-destructive behaviors. At The Refuge, our primary task is to help our clients understand that their behaviors are a symptom of underlying conditions; from there the puzzle pieces fall into place. Through trauma work, our clients learn to understand that their behaviors do not define who they are; they are coping measures they have used to survive. Layers of shame and guilt begin to melt away as clients commit themselves to a different way of life. The Refuge understands the value of the 12-step model, which teaches us to ask for help, changes our view of the world and those around us, teaches us to take responsibility for our past and present actions, and helps us learn to focus on others. Treating trauma without treating addiction will leave the client with an understanding without practice. Conversely, treating only addiction will leave clients with a practice without understanding. Both equate to an incomplete solution and relapse. At The Refuge, we provide direction, guidance, and safety which allows our clients to make a full recovery and teaches clients the tools to maintain it. Recovery will grow throughout their lifetime, allowing those to understand the meaning and purpose of their lives needed to navigate the elements – joy, sadness, success, failure – while maintaining total well-being.