Birmingham Recovery Center leverages the Recovery Capital Index to better client lives 

“When we started this program, our objective was to do better as a program and to help elevate the services and the perceptions throughout the field. And the RCI is one of those things that just helps us to be better.”

Ian Henyon, Executive Director at Birmingham Recovery Center

To truly understand the ethos of Birmingham Recovery Center (BRC), you need to look no further than its Executive Director, Ian Henyon. With 15 years in the field and a background in licensed professional counseling, Ian brings a clinical and personal perspective to the outpatient addiction treatment program. This Alabama-based center provides a broad range of services, with emphasis on a holistic approach to recovery.

Beyond Standard Treatment

As a forward-thinking recovery center, BRC provides its clients with more than just standard addiction treatment. The center also aims to measure and improve the overall wellness of its clients. It was this objective that led them to seek out innovative solutions in the industry and eventually brought them to partner with Commonly Well, a human-centered intelligence company that developed the Recovery Capital Index® (RCI).

Ian first discovered the RCI in trade publications a few years ago and was impressed by the concept. The RCI focuses on a wide array of recovery elements and seeks to encapsulate the whole person rather than solely their substance use disorder. This attracted Ian’s attention and ignited his desire to integrate RCI into their program.

More Than Intuition

Ian identified the need for a data-driven approach to understanding client wellness beyond the traditional clinical intuition. With the RCI, Birmingham Recovery Center could quantify the progress of their clients during treatment and beyond, providing a new depth to their treatment process. The Index offered an efficient way to administer, provided immediate, meaningful results, and allowed for long-term monitoring.

Moreover, RCI also challenged some preconceptions and assumptions about clients with addiction. As Ian remarked, “I was surprised people coming in and having scores in the high 80s or 90s. You can have people that are functioning at a fairly high level, but obviously, substance use is creating some problems.” This underscored the need to view each client in a holistic manner and tailor treatments to their unique situations.

Worth the Effort

Implementing the RCI and leveraging the data it provides wasn’t without its challenges. The process of data collection, cleaning, and analysis is complex and can be cumbersome. However, the unique insight the RCI offers on its face more than makes up for the upfront effort.

On Mission

According to Ian, the answer lies in their pursuit of improvement. The center was founded with the goal of elevating the services in the field of recovery. This ethos drives them to innovate and continually search for ways to enhance their client’s treatment journey. The RCI is a tool that fits perfectly into this vision. By offering immediate, meaningful results in an efficient manner, it empowers their clients with actionable insights, thus enhancing the recovery process.