JOHN MCGUINNESS, BA, CODP IExecutive Director

John is the director of Families and Adolescents in Recovery, Inc. John has a passion for helping struggling adolescents and young adults. Having experienced the effects of alcoholism and mental health illness in his family, he has a deep compassion for families who are impacted by the pain and chaos of the mental illness. John has been in recovery for over 30 years, and is intimately familiar with 12–Step work, as well as other support structures in addictions treatment. In 1995, he designed and developed a treatment program to help teens and their families to recover from substance abuse issues. John saw the need to create a program that would not only help adolescents achieve the goal of abstinence but also bring the family back together and recover from the impact of substance use disorders and teen self-destructive behaviors.

Since then, he expanded the program to assist adolescents and young adults who suffer from substance abuse and other mental health disorders. To address the complexity of issues each client and family face throughout the process of healing and recovery, he developed a treatment team comprised of a physician, psychologists, and counselors specializing in mental health and addiction counseling. He has been featured in the documentary The Other Side of Cannabis and has been involved in public speaking educating professionals, school students and faculty, and the community at large on substance abuse issues and trends. John holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University in Psychology, is a certified alcohol and drug counselor (CADC), and a board registered Mental Illness/Substance Abuse (MISA) professional.  John also completed Gottman method level I training in couples therapy.