Matt Bradley had been addicted to opiates for 12 years in January 2017, when — nodding in and out of a heroin overdose — he flipped his car and landed in jail.
Facing DUI and drug possession charges, he went to court and the judge ordered him to long-term drug treatment.
Bradley, then 30 and a native of Grant County, Kentucky, had started smoking marijuana at the age of 18. He progressed to oxycodone, a powerful opioid painkiller, and then heroin, a highly addictive drug derived from morphine.
He lived day to day, with no real thought of the future, and he was always looking for his next high. He couldn’t hold a job, his relationships didn’t last and most of the time, he didn’t even know what day it was.
“All I was thinking about was how I could make money off dope, sell dope, do dope. I was running around, ripping and running. That’s how you think,” he said.
No matter how badly he behaved or how many times he stole money from them, his parents always supported him, Bradley said. Over the years, they helped get him into addiction treatment programs, and he went through seven or eight of them.
“They were 30-day programs, so I was kind of in and out,” he said. “It was good enough to get me clean, get me clear-headed. But I’d come right back out and make the same stupid decisions a week later.”
After his arrest in 2017, he soon found out that when the judge ordered long-term treatment, that meant a year of his life. It also meant that he wound up in an Addiction Recovery Care facility in Kentucky, because it was one of the few programs with a residential, 12-month comprehensive program.
The length and depth of the ARC program is precisely what Dickenson County officials believe sets it apart from most other treatment programs, many of which offer just 30 days of treatment. And it’s why they’ve chosen the Kentucky company to operate the two residential addiction treatment centers they are opening as part of a plan to combine treatment with job training to bring economic growth to the county. It’s a combination that has proven to be successful at other ARC facilities in Kentucky.
Dickenson County has one of the highest drug overdose rates in the state as well as one of the lowest labor force participation rates. (It’s the second lowest in the state, ahead only of Buchanan County.)
The county has completed construction of its first drug treatment facility, Wildwood Recovery Center near Clintwood. The 112-bed facility is for men. ARC has applied for a state license to operate and is awaiting a decision. The plan is to open it after the first of the year.
A second center, Primrose Recovery Center, will be for women, and it will be developed in an old school building in the community of Nora. Developer Greg May has retrofitted school buildings into addiction treatment facilities in Kentucky. 
May, of Pikeville, Kentucky, opened his first facility in that state as a tribute to his brother, who died from a drug overdose. Once that facility for men was completed, he said his wife asked him when he was going to build one for women, who need it just as much, so he built one there. A facility for women is just as needed in Southwest Virginia, he said.
May, ARC CEO Tim Robinson and others with the county say that 30 days is simply not long enough for people to heal physically and mentally or to make the changes to their lives needed to remain clean. Most return to the same situation, the same job, the same friends, and they fail in their effort to remain sober, they said.
From detox to employment
The ARC program involves substance abuse disorder treatment, primary care, counseling and peer support combined with education and job and life skills training.
The program is a holistic, faith-based approach that focuses on treating the mind, body and spirit. ARC’s Crisis to Career training and treatment is a four-phase program that takes clients from detox through completing a job internship with the company.
The first phase is stabilization, with the focus on getting the substances out of a client’s system, helping them understand how substance abuse affects mind, body and spirit, and then developing a personalized recovery plan. It involves supervised detoxification, counseling, addiction specialist support around the clock, and Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Celebrate Recovery meetings.
Phase two focuses on recovery and life skills and includes intensive outpatient care, personalized case management, spiritual life options, continued individual and group counseling, peer support in a sober living environment and recovery meetings.
Taking action is the third phase, and it involves ways to give back, educational programming, case management and peer support.
The final phase concentrates on job skills and education, and clients will be able to get real job experience through internships with ARC and hopefully, other businesses. There will also be required educational programming, specialized job training and continued rehabilitation and counseling.
The Crisis to Career program sets up clients for long-term success, said John Wilson, ARC’s vice president of external affairs.
“In Dickenson County, we’re working already to build relationships with workforce development partners, educational institutions and local employers in that Southwest Virginia region,” he said. 
One of those who is looking forward to the opening of the two treatment centers is Kevin Mullins, executive director of Dickenson County Behavioral Health, which often refers clients to treatment centers. He echoed the statements of others with the county and ARC about the lack of long-term residential treatment beds in far Southwest Virginia.
“Substance abuse treatment is literally a lifelong treatment,” he said. “It’s not something that you can go in and get detox over the course of a few days or even a few weeks, and then come out and be truly successful. It has to be a true lifestyle change and a true mindset change.”
Mullins called the county’s drug issue “huge” and added that it does hold the county back from economic success, especially when combined with other factors, such as the fact that the county has no four-lane roads.
He added that several sober living facilities have opened in Southwest Virginia to help people get back on their feet, but if they need addiction treatment, they have to get it from another source.
Layoffs, closings and an FBI investigation in 2024
In addition to eight residential treatment centers, ARC has eight outpatient counseling centers in Kentucky, according to a current map of facilities on its website. It also has the Bellefonte Hospital & Recovery Center Psychiatric Unit in Russell, Kentucky, and is partnered with The Millard College.
That’s far fewer treatment centers than the company had a year ago. Last July, ARC officials said the company operated more than 30 facilities in Kentucky. In December, it had a network of more than 20 licensed addiction treatment centers in 19 eastern, central and western Kentucky counties, according to ARC’s website.
ARC officials attributed the closings, which they called temporary, and the layoffs of more than 300 employees to reduced Medicaid reimbursement rates. The cuts totaled 30% and took effect in January, they said. The cuts were specific to Kentucky and should not affect the two facilities in Virginia, a spokesperson for ARC said.
Also in 2024, ARC came under investigation by the FBI.
A spokesperson for the FBI office in Louisville, Kentucky, said on Aug. 4 that the investigation is ongoing and she could not provide any details, such as whether charges would be filed.
Last December, the spokesperson said the same thing, and then encouraged anyone with information to share it via a form on the FBI website. The posting, which sought information from people who believe they were victimized by ARC, referred to the probe as a “healthcare fraud investigation.”
Asked if ARC officials knew what the FBI investigation was about, a spokesperson for the company said earlier that ARC self-disclosed a potential overpayment due to incorrect coding of modifiers to the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services Division of Program Integrity.
Robinson said in May, while visiting the Wildwood center during an open house, that he couldn’t discuss the FBI investigation other than to say ARC continues to cooperate.
Dickenson County officials, including Dana Cronkhite, the county’s economic development director, and County Administrator Larry Barton, have said the FBI probe and Medicaid issues won’t affect their treatment centers, and they remain committed to working with ARC.
ARC is also working to open a new treatment center in Jefferson County, Ohio, which Robinson said will likely open in late 2026. Another one is being developed in Louisville, Kentucky.
Wilson, Robinson, May, Mullins and Barton emphasized that it makes sense for ARC to come to Southwest Virginia. This region and eastern Kentucky have a lot in common, including severe substance abuse issues, poverty, and recently, catastrophic flooding.
Many residents in both areas have also worked in the coal mines for decades and both have gone through the downturn in that industry.
They also share a love of music, particularly bluegrass. That is reflected in the names of the two treatment centers. The names of the centers, Wildwood and Primrose, were chosen in tribute to bluegrass icon Ralph Stanley, who is a Dickenson County native. The names come from two of Stanley’s most loved songs.
A portrait of Stanley next to the words of his song “Daddy’s Wildwood Flower” hangs in the front building of the Wildwood center.
‘You grow up super quick’
The ARC program worked for Matt Bradley. It gave him the time needed for his brain and body to heal and it allowed him to start properly processing his feelings, he said.
“What I felt in month one was different than two, three, four and five. It took the progression through actual treatment for me to actually be able to comprehend how to make the right decisions. And then it’s almost like you grow up super quick,” he explained.
With the proper therapy and medical help, he was able to slow down, process decisions and make the right ones. For the first time in a dozen years, he started thinking about his future.
He learned job skills, how to talk to people and how to handle a job interview.
His internship was serving as a client care specialist with ARC, which meant he supported those going through the program, he helped them get to appointments or therapy on time and he helped those providing the services. He also helped take care of the facility and lived on the campus.
When he was going through the treatment, he remembers watching those who were doing the same job. He said it was encouraging and gave him hope to see they’d made it through, they were making a little money and could buy a new shirt.
It was a part-time minimum wage job, but it gave him a “sense of pride,” he said. He was so happy to get that first paycheck that he kept it for a week before cashing it. He used it to buy a new pair of shoes, which he still has and keeps in his car.
By the end of 2017, he was clean and doing well. On Dec. 17, he landed a permanent job with the company. He said Robinson’s brother, Scott, who is senior vice president of business development at ARC, saw something in him.
Nearly eight years later, he’s happily married, has children, is a homeowner and is successful. Currently, he is ARC’s senior director of business development, which means he handles licensing, helps oversee credentialing, is involved with research and development and project management.
Bradley, who has been very involved with the Wildwood project, is the first name mentioned when Robinson is asked about ARC’s biggest success stories.
His father died a couple of years ago, and Bradley said he is so grateful that he got to see him recover, remain clean for years and thrive.
Without the long-term treatment he received, Bradley believes he would have eventually overdosed and died.
His message to those who find themselves leading a life of addiction is “nobody is too far gone.”
“No matter how much trouble you’re in, no matter what you’ve done, there’s always somebody that’s done it bigger and better,” he said. “No matter what you’ve done, you can make that call, whether it’s with us at ARC or someone else. You can get better, you can lead a better life. You can be happy.”
From Recovery to Work
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