Bryan
Hullihen, Jr.
Executive Director
Bryan Hullihen arrived in Prescott, AZ on April
4, 2008. During the preceding decade, Bryan had
been admitted to several different types and models
of treatment centers, detox facilities, and halfway
houses. Upon his arrival to Prescott, AZ he entered
into the care of Dr. Jim Nugent. Dr. Nugent made
a life out of helping others with learning disabilities
and was consumed by his passion to help other
alcoholics and drug addicts. Bryan immediately
surrendered to Dr. Nugent and began his training
to help others achieve the life of sobriety that
Bryan desired for himself. Bryan was with Dr.
Nugent for six months and during that time studied
recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction, strength
and self-esteem building exercises, life skills
training and twelve step recovery. These are just
a few of the many skills Bryan acquired with his
time spent with Dr. Jim Nugent.
 The
catalyst for opening High Standards was a realization
Bryan had through one of many long discussions
with Dr. Nugent. Alcoholism and drug addiction
is not a consequence of who we hang out with,
where we were raised, or how we were treated in
our childhood. Plain and simply, alcoholism and
drug addiction is an all encompassing disease
which affects mind, body and spirit (the entire
makeup of a human being).
Out of all the programs Bryan has attended in
his life time he consistently encountered the
same problem. He was educated on his disease (to
a certain degree), talked a lot about passed issues,
and found himself at his discharge date with no
real plan in place for relapse prevention. He
was given no real chance for practical application
of what he learned. Bryan didn’t realize
it at the time but these realizations were the
beginning of High Standards Recovery becoming
a reality.
One night Bryan was talking to Dr. Nugent and
it was suggested that he team up with Ira Nishikawa,
who was also in the care of Dr. Nugent and put
a program together to help others recover who
suffer from the same disease they did. Dr. Nugent
claimed that their pasts were perhaps their most
valuable assets. He explained that they should
use their experience and what they have learned
to help others survive the deadly diseases of
alcoholism and drug addiction and begin to live
a life they deserve.
Bryan got to work right away with the guidance
of Dr. Nugent as well as a Board of Advisors to
help them along their way and to assure proper
care for the clients at High Standards Recovery.
The idea was and remains to be that an alcoholic
and drug addict given guidance, understanding
of their strengths, a drug and alcohol free living
environment, can and will recover. However these
things alone only give an individual half a chance.
People afflicted with this disease must work a
twelve step program and work daily on correcting
old behaviors and learn skills for proper living.
Through longevity of practicing all of these things
and being guided all the way through their transition
to independent living is a short explanation of
the program that Bryan began to create.
Before too long the doors were open with the
support of several treatment centers that believed
in the High Standards program and knew that Bryan
and Ira’s hearts were in the right place.
High Standards is up and running now and has been
for going on two years. Bryan follows the exact
program in his life that the clients are expected
to and his life continues to get better. He is
recently engaged and is raising a little boy whose
birth date is three days before Bryan’s
sobriety date. He claims, “Life just keeps
getting better, and I thought this type of happiness
did not exist.” Bryan also claims that through
his understanding of alcoholism and drug addiction,
and the fact that he personally follows the program
exactly as outlined then High Standards Recovery
can and will work for anybody.
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