Testimonials

I am so happy that Sean and Andria Firtel and Ian Depew have opened West Coast Recovery in Oceanside, Ca. North Coastal San Diego has long had a paucity of treatment and WCRC is a welcome and much needed addition . Having worked with Sean, I know WCRC offers clients and their families top notch substance abuse care. Their emphasis on mind, body and spirit gives their clients and families opportunities to experience first hand innovative approaches to treatment.

West Coast Recovery Centers is my premier choice in men?s addiction treatment. Founders Sean Firtel and Ian Depew worked diligently to create the absolute highest standard of care for the most affordable price-point. When choosing a provider, I consider an exhaustive list of criteria, and West Coast Recovery Centers meets every single one. Where other providers jam as many clients as possible under one license, WCRC is small and intimate, serving no more than six men at a time in their residential facility. Where other providers give only one therapy session each week, WCRC provides multiple one-on-one sessions, capitalizing on the residential milieu to give clients the immersion they need. Where other providers use a cookie-cutter approach to each client?s treatment plan, WCRC embraces a multidisciplinary style of treatment, acknowledging that each person is a unique individual who connects with and relates to unique approaches. Where other providers often adhere to a somewhat shaming form of behavioral modification, WCRC is compassionate and person-centered, treating each client with dignity and respect. Where other providers might offer a single ?family weekend? to engage loved ones in the treatment process in a rote way, WCRC understands the importance of the family, and they encourage and facilitate family work and family healing in a way that is deeply personal. If I designed a treatment center, it would look just like WCRC ? designed so that a loved one in crisis has the greatest possibility of sustained, successful recovery. More providers should follow their blueprint. I?m grateful to have them as a resource.

I cannot even explain with words the West Coast Recovery experience. After calling almost every rehab in San Diego homeless on the streets once again West Coast stood alone with the owner driving into the night to pick up a kid reaching his hand out in desperate need of help, that kid was me. I?ve underwent profound spiritual and psychological breakthroughs now truly seeing my purpose here on this earth. The feelings of fear and alienation have completely vanished and been filled with passion and understanding. The works being done here are that of the shaman, the healer. From a homeless addict to a college student all in the course of a few months with the help of some lending hands that know what it?s like to be caught in the vicious cycle. All I can say about the staff is that they are men and women of true compassion and character nothing short of divine. The boundary between teacher and student dissolves and we rejoice, we make music, we hang out, we all go out together as a family and for the first time in my life sobriety is actually fun, it?s amazing, it?s freedom! I do hold value as a human being, and I can do anything! Life is unlimited possibilities and no one and no thing can stop me except for myself, sometimes we just need a little help to see the light that?s been shining within the whole time. You see the addict views the world in a different way, were creative, intelligent, thinkers, idealists, and dreamers. Alienated and uneducated on how to use our abilities the result can be devastating, but with the guidance and wisdom of a teacher who knows this realm all too well, we truly can manifest our dreams into a reality. West Coast Recovery somehow managed to assemble that teacher, and reveal those teachings. You see I?ve had a gift all along I just didn?t know how to use it! If I am to leave you with one message it is this, come and check it out it?s been a pretty far out ride?

West Coast Recovery Centers?are what I look for in a treatment center because they truly embody what it means to advocate for the client AND just as importantly the family of the client. How does that manifest? They ask a lot of questions as opposed to making a lot of declarative statements about how it is and how it works because that?s how it worked for them. They connect with the clients on a deeper level than just what they know to be true but rather by really trying to find out what it is that the client connects to and where their ownership lies in the process of addressing their health issues and implementing the solutions to those issues. The really big piece, for me, is their willingness to comprehensively take on the family and empower them to actually become their loved one?s best chance at sustainable recovery. How do they do this? By providing them with long term education, transformational skills and support over an entire year. It?s a game changer and it will make the ultimate difference to their clients. West Coast is in it to win it. They are true warriors in the battle against the status quo of addiction treatment.

My name is Lucas. Today as I write this I?m 36 years old and I have been clean and sober for 1 year and 2 days. WCRC asked me for my feedback last year after I completed 90 days at their inpatient facility, and I told them I would love to, but I wasn?t ready to at the time. I still didn?t know what it meant to me, I was still confused, unsure (of myself). Today I have an understanding of my experience with them and of myself that I feel confident in the words I?m writing. I?ve been an addict my entire adult life, and the end of my childhood as well. I lost my mother at 17 and just gave up on myself and others. That?s not to say I didn?t pretend to have my stuff together. I owned a house in the bay area. I had a good job making $40 hr with great benefits. I was married to a beautiful woman that I met in high school. My addiction mandated that I keep these things to make what I did ?On the side? ok; That as long as I had the job, the house, the wife, doing a little drugs for a few weeks every now and again was ok. It wasn?t. After 20 years of dipping into the dark side of myself, It benefits sunk its hooks in.?Within 2 years?I lost my house, my wife, my job. Not understanding what happened to me, I tried to take my own life.
Enter WCRC, from a mental ward in Northern California my friend drove me to WCRC inpatient. I had never been in treatment before. This was my first experience with recovery. I?ve heard a lot of horror stories from many different people as to their experiences with different treatment facilities and I?m extremely grateful and blessed to have had only this one. I know for a fact that WCRC is different, evolved treatment. I know If my experience would have been ?run of the mill? I would not be able to write this today. I also understand that they?re?offering?a better life and new ways of being are?only available to those souls that want a better life for themselves. They are not magicians, they cannot create a clean and sober human from someone who is unwilling, but they are patient, understanding, loving people that understand that addiction isn?t just about the drugs or alcohol. It?s about fear, depression, perception, and perspective. Anyone willing to try to understand this and listen, even if it doesn?t make sense at first, has a good chance. The counselors and staff are second to none. I consider many of them close personal friends and trust them implicitly. I?ve seen many patients come in, each with own unique needs and beliefs. It really astonished me how well each person integrated with the group as a whole. I fully contribute this ?inclusion? to the staff and their unwavering ability to understand, allow and support all walks of life. I know that each member that works for WCRC is there because they care, because I FEEL it. When talking to them, when listening to them, it?s an undeniable compassion. It?s truly inspiring. Something amazing happens when you put people first? it?s visceral. Thank you Sean, for letting me stick around when you guys weren?t sure if I could. Thank you for taking a chance on me. I?m truly grateful and feel blessed I fell into your life. Please feel free to cut this up any way you wish and use any or all of it. I could never repay you for what you?ve given me. With all the love in my heart, thank you.