Purpose-built residential treatment for behavioral addictions

Alpine River Behavioral Health is developing a specialized residential treatment program for gambling disorder, compulsive sexual behavior disorder, and gaming disorder, with a dedicated track for impaired professionals.

In Development

Closing the gap in behavioral addiction treatment

The treatment infrastructure for behavioral addictions has not kept pace with the clinical evidence or the scale of the problem. Gambling disorder, compulsive sexual behavior disorder, and gaming disorder are increasingly well understood by researchers and clinicians. Diagnostic frameworks have evolved. The evidence base for effective treatment has grown. But the residential treatment programs purpose-built to deliver that care barely exist.

Most residential programs that treat behavioral addictions do so as a secondary focus within broader substance use or mental health platforms. The result is that individuals with complex, high-acuity behavioral addictions are often treated with models designed for different conditions, by clinicians without specialized training, in environments that do not address the distinct neuropsychological and relational dynamics of these disorders.

Alpine River is designed to close that gap. Every element of the program, from the clinical model to the physical facility to the staffing structure, is built specifically for the treatment of behavioral addictions at a residential level of care.

Built from the ground up

Specialized Clinical Model

Alpine River treats behavioral addictions as primary diagnoses, not as add-ons to substance use programming. The clinical model integrates evidence-based approaches to gambling disorder, compulsive sexual behavior disorder, and gaming disorder within a relational trauma framework. Treatment addresses the co-occurring patterns and interaction dynamics that drive relapse when these conditions are treated in isolation.

Clinical Staffing

Staffing is built around above-market compensation and an embedded clinical training model. The founder holds the CSAT-S credential, enabling direct supervision of therapists pursuing advanced certification in behavioral addiction treatment. This creates a built-in training pipeline that supports both clinical quality and long-term workforce stability.

Purpose-built Facility

Alpine River will be new construction, not a renovation or a repurposed property. The physical environment is designed specifically for residential behavioral addiction treatment: private and secure, with spaces that support the clinical programming rather than constraining it. The destination setting provides the geographic separation that many clients, particularly professionals in crisis, need in order to fully engage in treatment.

Impaired Professionals Track

Licensed professionals facing career-threatening consequences from behavioral addiction require a treatment environment that understands professional licensing, monitoring requirements, and the specific pressures of high-stakes careers. Alpine River's dedicated impaired professionals track is designed in coordination with the physician health programs, lawyer assistance programs, and professional monitoring bodies that refer and oversee these individuals.

About the Founder

Michael Lazar, LCSW, CSAT-S, ICGC-I, is the founder of Alpine River Behavioral Health. He has spent the past decade specializing in behavioral addictions across residential, inpatient, and outpatient settings, including program design and clinical oversight roles at Meadows Behavioral Healthcare and All Points North.

Before entering clinical practice, Michael worked in investment banking, which gave him a fundamentally different lens on how healthcare ventures are built, capitalized, and scaled. That dual perspective, clinical depth combined with financial and operational sophistication, shapes how Alpine River is being designed: not just as a treatment program, but as an institutional-quality platform built for long-term sustainability.

Michael holds the Certified Sex Addiction Therapist, Supervisor (CSAT-S) and International Certified Gambling Counselor (ICGC-I) credentials. He serves on the board of the American Foundation for Addiction Research (AFAR) and is currently pursuing a doctorate in healthcare administration. He is licensed as a clinical social worker in Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Texas, and Utah.

LCSW | CSAT-S | ICGC-I | AFAR Board Member | DHA Candidate

Advisory Board

Alpine River's advisory board brings together leaders in behavioral addiction research, clinical practice, and healthcare operations. Board members will be announced as they are confirmed.

Get in Touch

Alpine River Behavioral Health is in pre-development. If you are a clinician, a referral source, or a professional interested in learning more about the program as it develops, we welcome your inquiry.