For Roy J. DuPrez, founder and owner of Back2Basics Outdoor Adventure Recovery, getting and staying clean and sober is all about accountability. He ought to know. A self-described recovering alcoholic and survivor of the Venice Beach party scene, DuPrez credits his 1993 move to Flagstaff to attend Northern Arizona University as instrumental in turning his life around.
“As a young guy back in California, I saw gangs and a culture of substance abuse as just normal,” DuPrez, who has a master’s degree in education, says. “Flagstaff offered a new environment with access to the outdoors and healthy, experiential opportunities.”
Now in its 11th year, Back2Basics is a Flagstaff-based residential addiction recovery program for men ages 18-30 that operates on the premise that sobriety is a journey, not a destination. Under the guidance of specialized licensed clinicians, the programs use hybrid approaches that include 12-Step and targeted therapies along with hiking and other outdoor activities to build healthier habits, physical fitness, accountability, mental fortitude and life skills necessary for long-term success.
“Hard-line approaches don’t work,” DuPrez says. “We want buy-in, not fear. You need to believe in something for it to work. We provide a ‘carrot for life’ by asking participants to think about what their lives could look like without drinking or drugs. For me, the outdoors was my carrot, and that approach has helped other young men see that there’s a full life out there for them. Bottom line: Participants have to stop blaming and figure it out. It’s on them.”
DuPrez is a testimony of what’s possible. “I’m 20 years sober, a father and I still have all my teeth.”
If You Go
Back2Basics Outdoor Adventure Recovery
GETTING THERE: back2basics-soberliving.com
