Internet Addiction Rehab Center Sets Up Shop in the U.S.   - 710 Views, 1 Comment

The Internet Addiction Recovery Program, offering “Treatment for internet, gaming, texting, and video game abuse,” was founded by second-year grad student Anna DiNoto, and Cosette Rae, a Latter Day Saints counsellor and massage therapist (none of which, although they may be very nice people, suggests any qualification to treat Internet addiction).

For a cool $17,000 (yes, you read that right, $17,000) you can spend 45 days detoxing in IARP’s “Heavensfield” - a 4500 square foot facility, situated on grounds that have been designated a Backyard Wildlife Habitat area. Heavensfield was originally Rae’s “Heavensfield Health and Wellness Center” before, apparently, being repurposed as the Internet Addiction Recovery Program. No surprise there - Rae’s advertised rate for personal coaching, life counselling, and massage therapy services was $75/hour - a mere drop in the bucket compared to $17,000.

It should be noted that Rae, the senior of the two primary personalities associated with IARP, to DiNoto’s more junior graduate student status, is an “associate social worker” licensed by the state of Washington. As an associate, she is not allowed to provide social work or counselling services without being overseen by someone more senior and who is licensed to work independently. That role appears to be filled by Hilarie Cash, Ph.D., LMHC, who appears listed as a “Founder”, but doesn’t seem to feature much elsewhere on IARP’s site; the blog is signed and written by Rae and DiNoto.

Interestingly, Cash herself appears to be amply qualified to help people deal with Internet addiction, which she does, and has been doing since 1994, through her own unassuming private practice. If only IARP presented more like Cash does through her own site and media appearances, it would be a bit more reassuring, and easier to sense that Rae and DiNoto have the expertise and qualifications to genuinely help people in the throes of Internet addiction, rather then thinking “Hey, let’s turn this campus into an Internet addiction treatment center, and we can charge a whole lot more for it.” Even assuming a genuine desire to help the afflicated and addicted - which, by the way, we do assume - one can’t help but wonder whether most of the staff will be learning on the job as they go, with the first few batches of clients as their practice runs.

So, what exactly do you get for your $17,000? According to the site, during your 45-day stay at Heavensfield’s “Residential home setting with live in professional staff,” on their “Expansive private setting which offers ample space for quiet reflection,” you’ll get to “Participate in daily household and outdoor activities” with “Active involvement in a family lifestyle.”

Of course, these are things which you can’t get anywhere else, and the lack of which most likely contributed to your Internet addiction.

But that’s not all. You also can avail yourself of:

- Clinically designed programs tailored to meet individual needs
- Individual counseling with professionally trained staff
- Group counseling and psychotherapy
- Life skills and vocational coaching
- Mindfulness based stress reduction programs and group-work
- 12-step meetings and spiritual recovery programs for interested participants
- Weekend adventure and recreational activities
- High adventure outings
- Wilderness awareness activities
- Health and fitness programs
- Volunteering and community service
- Nutritional education
- Psychiatric assessment, medication managment and maintenance
- Medical assessment, evaluation and treatment
- Orthodontic and dental care coordination
- Personalized fitness assessment and training
- Scholastic mentoring and tutoring
- Career guidance

Now, don’t get us wrong; many of these sound like very valuable services indeed.

But nothing that you can’t get in your own home town, for a whole heck of a lot less.

Or, even, through Dr. Cash’s office which, if you happen to be in the Redmond, Washington area, is located here.

Somewhat ironically - perhaps even perversely - Rae has not one, not two, but three Twitter accounts here, here, and here, on which she tweets nearly simultaneously, and, without a hint of irony, there is an IARP Twitter account here (which also appears to be manned by Rae judging by the tweet styles and identical Twitter client usage), an Internet Addiction Recovery Program Facebook page, and an Internet Recovery Addition Program YouTube channel (yes, really).

You can check out the Internet Addiction Recovery Program here.