The ARCast

Booda, Vance and Matt are this week’s hosts with an extremely special guest on this episode of the ARCast. ARC owner and founder Mike Zipprich has taken the time to come onto the show to share how his career and life goals culminated into one of the most successful rehab facilities in the country.

Vance wastes no time and jumps into how Mike was able to marry passion and purpose to turn his work into his life’s mission. Mike starts by talking about how he sees addiction as a mask people use to hide from reality or what’s going on in their minds. As he learned more about how addiction covers up the person beneath, he wanted to help people remove that mask and be who they truly are.

The program he’s created at ARC focuses on individualized treatment rather than requiring a strict set of steps that may not align with personal goals. One of his first experiences with helping someone remove their mask was with an attorney who had lost everything to severe alcoholism and addiction to painkillers. Mike, who had little personal experience with treating addiction at the time, went to this gentleman’s house and simply had a heart-to-heart conversation using logical reasons why he should at least come to ARC. He agreed to try for a week to appease his family.

What happened next was a moment of vulnerability as someone who was well-off and had an extremely successful career realized he was no different others receiving treatment for addiction. The mask fell off, and the attorney spent nearly four months completing treatment on his journey to recovery. Vance drew direct parallels to his story of being knocked off the pedestal his mask created for him.

We then learn about Mike’s relationship with alcohol, which ended in 2013 after he had lost over $15 million in the real estate industry, where he had spent decades creating his portfolio. Because this loss happened due to things outside of his control, he took this as a sign that maybe his aptitude for business should be used for something else. He opened ARC to put people before profits and provide treatment to those in need. In the first year alone, he was awarded $6.6 million in scholarships to get beds filled and start helping his community.

Mike dives into how much resistance he met when he quit drinking. Those around him either didn’t believe he could do it or acted as enablers by offering him small amounts of alcohol since he was “doing better,” but he stayed strong in his convictions. He told everyone from friends to bar owners that when he came back around, he wouldn’t be drinking. This is where he found his support, as establishments and peers offered to carry non-alcoholic beverages for him so that he could comfortably spend time at his favorite places.

His parting words are ones of encouragement for anyone listening that needs treatment. Don’t be embarrassed by addiction and talk to whoever you need to and tell them you need help. Mike and Vance both personally reach out to guests who may have relapsed or are struggling to get to treatment and invite others to call ARC and ask for them or anyone on the team they want to talk to. No matter what helps a guest recover, ARC is here to provide it.