Having facilitated interventions for individuals and their families stricken with the diseases of substance abuse disorders and behavioral addictions for over thirty years, I have had the opportunity to see countless service providers come and go; some that provide compassionate and competent care with remarkable outcomes and some with less than remarkable outcomes. In 2010, a study was released stating that the greater Washington-Baltimore region had the biggest gap between the need for chemical dependency treatment services and providers available of any metropolitan area in the nation.

It was shortly after that study was released that I had breakfast with my friend and colleague Sam Bierman, whom I had worked with for many years, and where I first met Zach Snitzer. During that meal Sam and Zach shared their dream to meet the needs of the Baltimore region by opening an intensive outpatient program to treat the persons and their families that were struggling with alcoholism and/or addiction. As I left that meeting I thought, if they can harness their zeal to help, combine that with their knowledge of treatment and the integrity that they have, then there was a good possibility that they would be able to make a substantive contribution through actualizing their dream.

Roughly three years later, Sam and Zach opened Maryland Addiction Recovery Center. They have established themselves and their organization as the preeminent provider of intensive outpatient services in the region. This is as the result of them adhering to a strict value proposition of all decisions being driven by “What’s in our client’s best interest” grounded in integrity of compassionate care first, hiring gifted, educated and talented staff, providing countless community based advocacy seminars, being personally involved with each of their clients, partnering with other providers in the treatment community and their recognition that strong partnerships will allow us to collectively positively impact more individuals and their families.

It is a refreshing pleasure to be aligned with Sam, Zach, and Maryland Addiction Recovery Center.