What Sets Treatment in Hawaii Apart From Other Treatment?

There is a Hawaiian proverb often uttered on the islands that goes, “May there always be tradewinds behind you, rainbows above you, and aloha all around you.” This proverb offers prosperity, beauty, and the presence of aloha is quite literally translated to the breath of life. Yes, there are amazing places to recover all over the world, but treatment in Hawaii is like no other.

Whether walking, jogging, or practicing yoga on one of the beaches right outside the doors of our 30-acre luxury recovery center, watching live lava flow down the sides of an active volcano, or feeling the mist of the magical waters of Akaka or Rainbow Falls, the treatment options at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab is wholly unique in the industry. There are also activities and excursions that can only be offered here on the Hawaiian Islands. 

Exclusive Hawaii Rehab is one of the few recovery centers where clients can engage in dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) in the morning, practice yoga on the beach in the afternoon, and participate in a traditional Hawaiin ceremony like Ho’oponopono in the evening. We are an exclusively unique and expansive recovery center in an incredibly unique and healing setting.

What Sets Treatment in Hawaii Apart?

Hawaii is one of the most coveted vacation destinations, not only in the United States but around the world. There is a good reason for this. The majestic beauty of the mountains meeting the ocean, the rich diversity, and the connection to its culture make Hawaii wholly unique. However, experiencing exceptional exertion is one thing. Being healed via treatment in Hawaii is something else altogether. While our clients will have experiences that may seem to resemble relaxing excursions (and yes, many will certainly be unbelievably relaxing), they are always utilized in a way that is always incorporated into a larger recovery plan.

Treatment in Hawaii offers individuals the ability to get away from the day-to-day stressors, work mundanity, and potentially underwhelming cycle of life they often find themselves. Many people have found themselves in tech-saturated, often over-developed urban hubs that offer little in the way of natural benefits.

According to the 2017 clinical article Cities and Mental Health, “Urbanization is one of the main health-relevant changes humanity is facing in our time and will be facing in the coming decades. Today more than 50 percent of the global population is living in cities; by 2050, this rate will increase to nearly 70 percent with more than 50 percent of the urban population living in cities of over 500 000 inhabitants.” These changes and increases have now been shown to negatively affect emotional stability and mental health.

The article continues, “With growing urbanization, more and more people are exposed to risk factors originating from the urban social (e.g., poverty) or physical environment (e.g., traffic noise), contributing to increased stress, which in turn is negatively associated with mental health.” While there are certainly some urban hubs on some of the islands, a stay at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab permits an escape from these negative environmental factors.

Treatment in Hawaii allows individuals trying to recover the opportunity to retreat from the urban clutter and engage in healthy open spaces. They can trade the saturated social media landscape for a mountainous one. At Exclusive Hawaii Rehab, our clients can trade the stressful waves of anxiety that modern life often brings us for the soft-sounding waves of the ocean that are ready and waiting for them on our beaches in Hawaii.

Also, the difference between vacation and treatment in Hawaii is vacation is often a momentary escape for many people. However, treatment in Hawaii offers an opportunity to find oneself again and to hold onto that sense of self into long-term recovery. Yes, Hawaii offers many once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but for those in recovery, it offers a long-term, life-changing opportunity.

What Are Some of the Benefits of Treatment in Hawaii?

The benefits of treatment in Hawaii are ultimately too numerous to quantify. However, some specific overarching benefits tend to apply to most individuals. These are nature immersion therapy, positive cultural connection, and urban or mainland separation. Certainly, nature is one of the biggest benefits of recovery in Hawaii because its landscape is vivid, varied, and vast. Nature immersion therapy has also become more understood, highly regarded, and respected in the recovery industry.

The Benefits of Nature Immersion Therapy in Hawaii

According to the public health article Associations between Nature Exposure and Health: A Review of the Evidence, “Cross-sectional observational studies provide evidence of positive associations between nature exposure, higher levels of physical activity, and lower levels of cardiovascular disease.” Also, “Observational studies, natural experiments, and randomized controlled trials are starting to assess the longitudinal effects of exposure to nature on depression, anxiety, cognitive function, chronic disease, and other health outcomes.”

Nature immersion therapy has been shown to help with a myriad of different disruptive issues, and all of these issues are intrinsically linked to one’s mental state and emotional status. For example, nature immersion therapy has been shown to help regulate sleep, which for those struggling with issues of mental health, have found to be not only beneficial but critical. Engaging with nature has also been shown to have the other following vital benefits:

• It can lower stress levels, which in turn can reduce anxiety and increase mood
• Decreases feelings of depression, which also increases self-worth and self-confidence
• Lowers blood pressure and heart rate, which offers both physical and mental benefits
• Has been shown to increase creativity, attention span, and focus
• Helps cultivate a spiritual or meditative practice, or for some, it simply offers perspective on one’s place in the universe
• It can have physical fitness benefits, such as increased strength, stamina, and flexibility
• For individuals in group nature immersion therapy, it can help with human connection and communication

Now, while these benefits are not specific to any one natural region, there is little doubt that they are all possible to attain in Hawaii. After all, Hawaii is one of the most uniquely beautiful places in the world. Offering massive mountains that make their way right down to the ocean, active volcanoes that still spew lava, and ocean life that can be both viewed from a distance or interacted with. Also, Hawaii offers sunrises over white sand beaches that must be experienced to fully appreciate. When these natural offerings are blended with other holistic treatment modalities, an individual has the opportunity for whole mind-body recovery.

The rich culture of Hawaii remains largely intact, appreciated, and engaged. In Hawaii, aloha is not just a salutation; it is the way of life. Yes, in Hawaii, gratitude is always present. Quite frankly, it is hard to be anything but grateful when surrounded by its surreal setting, and gratitude is a critical part of recovery (and not just in Hawaii, either). However, recovery in Hawaii doesn’t just come from its setting. It also comes from the many activities and therapeutic options it can uniquely offer.

The Benefits of Activities Unique to Treatment in Hawaii

Engaging with all Hawaii has to offer is a critical part of the concept of recovery at the cellular level that we focus on here at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab. Yes, “traditional” mental health therapies can help get to the core/root causes of emotional and mental distress. 

These are therapies like dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), interpersonal therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which we do offer and we also find highly effective and beneficial. However, we have also found that these core issues can be addressed through more experiential and activity-based therapies. One of these therapies that is unique to Hawaii is surf therapy.

The Benefits of Surf Therapy for Issues of Mental Health

Now for anyone that may be skeptical of surf therapy, it should be noted that it is much more than surfing for personal pleasure, and studies have shown that it can have highly beneficial effects for issues of mental health. So if it is not merely surfing, then what exactly is surf therapy?

According to the clinical journal Frontiers in Psychology: 

Surf therapy is defined by the International Surf Therapy Organisation as an intervention that combines surf instruction, surfing, and structured individual and/or group activities to promote physical, psychosocial, and psychological well-being. In addition to physical exercise, surf therapy interventions typically include individual mentoring, social skills development, psychoeducation, and group discussions focused on increasing resilience and personal growth.

Essentially, surf therapy is a more active way by which an individual and a therapist can have a breakthrough and delve deeper into core issues. This type of “adventure activity” often has the potential to help in communication and interpersonal connection. It also offers other benefits.

Frontiers in Psychology also reports that “Participating in action and adventure sports is said to create opportunities to foster positive psychological outcomes such as resilience, self-esteem, positive affect, and relatedness” and that “a growing body of evidence worldwide has validated the use of surfing as a therapeutic mediator to achieve positive change such as increased well-being.” So what better place to experience the benefits of surf therapy than in Hawaii, which has long been known to be home to some of the best surf in the world?

There are also several other interactive activities that can only be found in a few places on Earth, of which Hawaii is one. This includes swimming with some of the most unique tropical fish and green turtles on the planet. There is also an opportunity to go on hikes and mountain climbs to see such natural wonders as the Kilauea Volcano, the Kaumana Caves, and Laupahoehoe Point (which literally translates to “leaf of lava”). Also, there are activities often available in everyday life that can be heightened by the island’s offerings, such as yoga, breathwork exercises, and meditation on the beach. What is one of the keys to benefits from all of these activities? This is the opportunity to unplug. 

The Importance of ‘Unplugging’ in Recovery

It is becoming more and more apparent that the current online and social media landscape is causing some disruptive harm to many individuals’ mental health. Of course, the internet age has offered a boon in connection and information the likes of which most people could not have predicted. The issue is many people also didn’t predict the potential detriments. 

According to the peer-reviewed journal, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, there have been many positive results regarding the interpersonal and business aspects of the Internet, but “some researchers have associated online social networking with several psychiatric disorders, including depressive symptoms, anxiety, and low self-esteem.” The need to “unplug” seems more important than ever, and there’s no better place to do it than Hawaii.

Also, it should be noted that “unplugging” does not solely refer to our online personas and internet presence. A benefit previously mentioned was the gift of urban or mainland separation. No, you don’t have to be from an urban hub to appreciate unplugging from the sometimes toxic situations in everyday life. That is why the caveat of “mainland separation” is also used. Unplugging has more to do with the extraction from the day-to-day activities and actions that are making us unwell. 

There truly seems no better way to unplug than to do so amid the magic of Hawaii. Does this mean there’s no cell service or communication back home? Of course not. It just means that Hawaii offers an environment that allows for a break from the external issues that feed either our addiction or mental health issues and an opportunity to look inward at our core issues without any distractions. This break also allows for a chance to take much-needed care of the physical body.

A Physical Focus at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab

One aspect that sets Hawaii treatment apart from any other recovery location is also what sets Exclusive Hawaii Rehab apart from other treatment centers on the islands. Tackling addiction and substance use disorder (SUD), Exclusive Hawaii Rehab is also the only recovery center that is licensed and accredited to also treat other mental health disorders. We are also licensed to treat individuals struggling with eating disorders (EDs) and issues of disordered eating. However, what we can treat is not the only aspect that makes us unique to Hawaii’s treatment landscape.

Here at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab, we truly take an individualized approach to each of our clients. To further bolster that point, we offer a ratio of 30 staff members to eight clients. In doing so, we can ensure the focus and attention that honest whole mind-body recovery requires. Exclusive Hawaii Rehab is also unique in that we have a naturopathic doctor (ND), two nutritionists, and a dietician on-site because we believe in comprehensive recovery that heals at the cellular level.

With these specialists, we can offer some of the most effective ways to help the physical body recover. Yes, this includes meal planning and focusing on a chef-inspired, nutritious gut microbiome eating plan. However, it also includes such treatments as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) IV infusions, which can help with such issues as exhaustion, anxiety, cognitive clarity, enhanced mood, and improved physical performance, just to name a few. 

We also offer Concierge IV infusion, known as “Myers Cocktails.” These infusions have also been shown to offer considerable benefits, including enhanced immunity, improved energy levels, and better-regulated sleep patterns. The infusions can also help nourish complexions, help with digestion, and increase hair growth. Also, these are just a fraction of the treatment options we have at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab.

What Sets Treatment at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab Apart?

For those individuals that want to have a wholly unique recovery experience that is not only distinctive but highly effective, then Hawaii is one of the best places to have it, and Exclusive Hawaii Rehab is the premier recovery center that utilizes all that the Islands have to offer. This is not merely the place to find recovery at the moment. It is the place to find the type of peace that carries recovery into a long-term lifestyle.

Another local Hawaiian proverb reminds us, “No cliff is so tall it cannot be climbed.” That optimism and encouragement are not only offered by the beauty that surrounds us in Hawaii; it is what we offer each of our clients that come to us for healing at Exclusive Hawaii Rehab.

Hawaii is one of the most diverse and beautiful places on the planet. Its prehistoric landscapes, volcanoes, beaches, ocean, and island wildlife sets it apart from other treatment locations and make it an ideal setting for recovery. Exclusive Hawaii Rehab utilizes this unique backdrop and incorporates the landscape and cultured history of Hawaii into its recovery plans. This magical treatment experience can touch a person in profound ways to cherish their mind, body, and soul and continue to seek opportunity and a life of harmony. If you feel like you or a loved one is struggling with issues of substance use disorder or other mental health disorders, we can help. For further details, call Exclusive Hawaii Rehab at (808) 775-0200.