Adolescent Substance Abuse Program Phoenix

ASAP is a 10-week Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) designed specifically for the treatment of substance use disorders in youth ages 12-18.  Group therapy is the primary treatment modality-- group therapy has long proven the most effective technique with teen substance use.  At ASAP the teens attend group therapy three nights per week for 10 weeks, for a total of 30 group therapy sessions, and their parents also get help when they attend one of those sessions each week with their teen, at Parent Night.  Urine drug testing is utilized as a critical tool to verify that teens are no longer using addictive substances.  In 2021 ASAP will proudly celebrate its 30th year.  All ASAP programming is based on evidence-based, "best practices" interventions.  Designed by three Phoenix-area psychologists, Dr. Phil Lett, Dr. Mark Rohde and Dr. Curtis Walling, the ASAP IOP Program pursues the "real-world" changes in home, family, peer, and school environments that yield lasting sobriety and a vastly improved quality of life for the entire family.  The goal of the ASAP IOP Program is to help teens and families re-establish a sober, safe, and mutually supportive relationship.  At ASAP we are proud of our long history of treatment success -- we invite the reader to click on the "Free Resources" page to view more than 100 powerful testimonials hand-written by former ASAP parents and teens. In the ASAP program active participation is required of both adolescents and their parents.  Treatment includes comprehensive admission evaluation, drug education, coping skills training, emotional processing, group therapy, multifamily therapy, and urine drug testing.  An eclectic treatment model and an eclectic staff are utilized to approach adolescents from many diverse angles.  The ASAP Handbook and FAQ's orient adolescents and their parents to the ASAP program.  The ASAP Curriculum is utilized as an effective teaching tool at all sites, and the ASAP Teen and Parent Homework handouts are utilized for growth-oriented homework assignments.  Parents are taught techniques for urine drug testing at home that can serve as the best deterrent of ongoing drug use.  Outcome studies and satisfaction surveys are conducted to measure treatment success and provide the feedback necessary for continuous quality improvement.  All ASAP treatment is evidence-based and follows "best practices".  No smoking is ever allowed at ASAP, and strict adherence to the highest ethical standards is maintained.  You will find our website easy to use-- we believe the simplest website is best.  ASAP is proudly committed to changing the lives of teens and families! ASAP contracts with all major private health insurance companies, including Aetna, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Cigna, United (Optum), Ambetter (MHN), HealthNet, Humana, Magellan, Beacon, ComPsych, Multiplan, AZ Foundation, Mines and Associates, Meritain, HMC, Value Options, AmeriBen, Coventry/First Health, and many more.  For more information, call (602) 434-0249.  Some of our contracts include: The ASAP Program was founded by the pioneering work of three psychologists in 1991:  Dr. Phil Lett, Dr. Mark Rohde, and Dr. Curtis Walling.  As of January 1, 2020, Dr.'s Lett and Rohde have retired from ASAP, while Dr. Walling remains as the Clinical Director.  The ASAP Program in 2021 remains proudly true to the original vision of these three men.   Here are the current key staff: Dr. Curtis Walling.  Curtis Walling, Ph.D. is a 4th-generation native Arizonan, proud to say he was born and raised in Phoenix.    Dr. Walling knows the Phoenix-area communities and the mental health community very well.  He earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Florida in 1987.  Dr Walling has worked in private practice as a licensed psychologist since 1987.   He completed an APA-accredited predoctoral internship at the Boston VA Outpatient Clinic, specializing in the treatment of substance use disorders, adolescents, and developmental disorders.  Dr Walling has held past appointments as Director of Psychology at Charter Hospital, Clinical Director at Devereux Arizona, and Director of Outpatient Chemical Dependency at Phoenix St. Luke's Hospital.  Dr Walling currently serves as a Clinical Director of the ASAP Program, he was an original founder of the ASAP Program in 1991 and remains the owner and Chief Executive Officer today in 2020.   Dr. Walling's clinical supervision and many years of clinical expertise helps to establish the core of the ASAP Program. Dr. Tyler Davis.  Tyler Davis, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist who currently provides key leadership at all three ASAP Program locations.  Dr. Davis originally came to ASAP to complete his predoctoral internship in 2009.  After earning his Psy.D. degree from the Arizona School of Professional Psychology, in 2012 Dr. Davis accepted the position of ASAP Program Clinical Coordinator.  He earned licensure in Arizona as a psychologist in 2014.  As the current Clinical Director at ASAP, Dr. Davis performs critical assessment, therapy, training, and leadership functions at all three ASAP Program locations.  Dr. Davis conducts the admission assessments to determine eligibility for admission to the ASAP Program.  He also serves as the Lead Therapist conducting the Parent Night group therapy at both the Paradise Valley and Glendale ASAP locations.  You will reach Dr. Davis when you call ASAP at (602) 434-0249.  Dr. Davis's ready availability, and the close partnership he forms with parents and close communication he maintains with parents, is certainly a key to the success of the Program.  Sue Yoder.   Sue Yoder, LPC, is a Licensed Professional Counselor who has been working with the ASAP Program almost since its inception.  ASAP was launched in 1991, Sue was one of our first interns and we have been blessed to keep her with us ever since she started as an intern in 1993.  Originally the Assessment Coordinator, Sue has held virtually every position and completed virtually every task at ASAP over the years.  Currently Sue conducts all utilization management for ASAP, as well as assisting with financial information with families and health insurance challenges.  She has also been a dynamic part of the team assisting with clinical supervision and program development over the years.  It is fair to say there is nothing about the ASAP Program that Sue does not know.   For the past 8 years, Sue has also provided clinical case management, group therapy, and utilization management at Banner Behavioral Health Hospital  --  she is very familiar with all levels of care.  Sue also has experience in private practice and PHP.   Count on Sue as well as Dr. Walling and Dr. Davis to answer any question about the ASAP Program. Stefanie Nader.   Stefanie Nader, M.S., started her service to the Phoenix community at age 18 as a Director of Preschools.  Stefanie has now spent the past 20 years working as a behavioral health case manager, the last four with the City of Phoenix.  She has been assigned most recently as a Case Worker III / Program Manager for the Landlord Tenant and VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program, providing supervision to 4 full time staff and up to 300 volunteers and 23 VITA sites.   She also provides on-scene crisis counseling for Phoenix Fire, and she is on call to provide resources, domestic violence, advocacy, and creative solutions for Circle the City, St Vincent De Paul, Family Advocacy Center and the VA Hotline.  Stefanie is a proud Vincentian, volunteering at the homeless clinic where she helped develop the Bridges out of Poverty Program.  Stefanie spent her first year with the ASAP Program as an intern, obtaining a Masters in Mental Health and Wellness degree and also a Masters of Science in Addiction Counseling degree from Grand Canyon University.  Stefanie is currently a Lead Therapist at the ASAP Mesa location with a LASAC, and she also serves as the ASAP Program Administrator, typically the first phone contact to answer questions and schedule ASAP admission interviews. Three psychologists, Dr. Curtis Walling, Dr. Mark Rohde, and Dr. Phil Lett, started the ASAP Organization in 1991 when no program of its kind existed in the Valley.   In 2020 Dr.'s Rohde and Lett retired from the Program, and the Program is still owned and operated to this day, nearly 30 years later, by Dr. Walling and his staff.  The ASAP Program is intensive group therapy, three evenings per week for 10 weeks.  Or, more precisely, 30 group therapy sessions.   The teens attend all three sessions per week, and the parents attend one night--  Parent Night -- with their teens each week.   1)  Understanding Adolescent Chemical Use and Dependency,  2) Feelings and Emotional Healing,  3) Communication and Conflict Resolution,  4)  Physical and Behavioral Effects of Use, 5)  Family Systems Part I, 6)  Relapse Prevention Process and Techniques, 7)  Understanding Anger,  8)  Family Systems Part II, 9)  Thoughts and Beliefs and their Role in Substance Use, and 10)  Grief and Loss. The three ASAP sites, located strategically in Mesa, Glendale, and Phoenix/Scottsdale, cover the entire Valley.  Teens and families from every community in the Valley, and from surrounding counties at times, enter the ASAP Substance Abuse IOP Program.  Consequences of Use/ Psychopharmacology of Chemical Use/ Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviors/ Conflict Resolution/ Communication Skills/ Relapse Prevention/ Peer Pressure/ Dealing with Relapse/ Family Systems/ Enjoying Sobriety/ Grief and Loss/ The Past and Future/ The Recovery Model/ Barriers to Recovery/ High Risk Situations/ Aftercare Planning/ Recovery Models/ Peer Selection/ Patterns of Use/ Relapse Mapping/ Dealing with Family Members/ Refusal Skills/ Recovery Programs Very Much so.  In fact, ASAP is the only Program of its kind to be successful in the Valley for the past 30 years.  Ample evidence of the quality of the ASAP Program is perhaps best present in the form of more than 100 hand-written testimonials that appear on the ASAP website at www.asapaz.com.

Willie Manns
5 Star
ASAP made a profound and transformational impact on our teenage son and family. In a time when drug use is increasingly normalized, the technology makes it hard to detect, and there is deliberate and targeted misinformation and marketing to young people who do not realize the harmful effects until their brains have become addicted, this type of program is essential for restoring the brain's ability to produce its own dopamine while digging into the science, communication and thinking patterns, and negative consequences that inevitably result from substance use in the adolescent years. We are forever grateful for the critical 10 weeks of the program. We have our son back with his intellectual, emotional, and spiritual potential intact and a future full of corresponding possibilities. We know how widespread drug and alcohol use is amongst the teenagers all around us. More families should know about ASAP as one option that can make a real different. They accept most major insurances, too, so the cost wasn't overwhelming for an outcome that is priceless.
Tuesday 16th November 2021

Maryanne Stich
5 Star
Words can not describe the gratitude I have for ASAP! I had the privilege of working as the lead therapist at the PV site location for seven years and witnessed the transformations of countless teens and their parents as they went through the 10 week program for substance abuse. This program works because of the collaborative type of approach with the therapists, teens and families working together for change. Drug and alcohol use by teenagers is a serious problem and ASAP meets the teen wherever they are and begins to help them address their needs and guides them in their journey to sobriety. Many times parents don't know where to turn when they discover their teen has a drug/alcohol problem. Picking up the phone and calling ASAP is the first step in getting help and support.
Sunday 18th April 2021

Tiffany Grigsby
5 Star
We are celebrating over 406 days of sobriety here! All thanks to Dr Walling, Dr Davis and the amazing staff. Not only did this program educate my son on his addiction it gave me tools as well. It’s an intensive program that addresses a lot of the underlying issues for abuse. I’m forever indebted to ASAP for giving me my son back! Thank you from the bottom of my heart .
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Jeanette Lau
5 Star
This program literally saved my daughter's life. She was going down a dark and dangerous life path and both my husband and I felt helpless to change her trajectory. This program gave her the ability to identify what happened and also gave us therapy as a family to help deal with her issues in a way that was caring but firm and finally to re-direct her to a better life path. As a family, we had a lot to work on but they gave us the necessary tools to work hard at them and to identify areas where we could do better to help our daughter get better and to work out our own family dynamics. Thank you so so much! Update: My daughter is still doing well! She is now doing her freshman year at UofA...dorming. I NEVER thought I would ever say that. She's still on her meds, she still sees a therapists when she needs to and she is still a young person learning to cope as a young adult but...her focus is more positive and drugs and alcohol doesn't drive her like it used to. Thank you so much ASAP!!
Thursday 10th October 2019

Emmanuel Bonilla
5 Star
I had the privilege of working with ASAP at the PV and WEST Location. Unfortunately, I can't say much due to confidentiality yet I can say that my experience at ASAP will be with me forever. The program was as challenging for me as it was for the teens. There were often times we laughed and cried, talked and were silent, learned from each other and taught each other. That was just with the teens. The staff are wonderful in their own ways to the point that I could easily write a page about the interactions of each individual that I was blessed to learn from during my time at ASAP. To the families considering ASAP in their pursuit of finding answers to their teen's substance use problems, many families were unsure if this is was what they needed. Many attended the program, some completed, some quiet, some graduated, some had to come through more than once and some did not live long enough to do any of the above. Substance use is a family problem, not an individual problem. The families who took the program seriously, went through and completed/graduated came to understand the meaning behind that statement very well. The families who were in as much denial as the children, who did not stay to complete the program and/or left early (whether it was because they believed their teen had their substance use under control or their teen did not need this level of care) never understood nor learned the meaning of this statement. I pray you learn the meaning of that statement.
Wednesday 17th July 2019