I had a vague sense of what I thought I could add to the treatment field. In 2013, I was looking to buy a house. I loved the Berkshires, and I had saved enough for a down payment. I wasn’t thinking about building a program—at least not in the way most people start one. I just knew that the right kind of attention could make all the difference, and I wanted to create a place where someone could actually receive it.

So I bought the house and took in one client. No structured program, no pre-set system—just a commitment to figuring out what he actually needed, in real time.

Building the Plane While Flying It

Because it was just him, there were no group facilitators or built-in structure to rely on. We built his weeks based on his needs, his preferences, and the resources available in the community. There was no manual for this—every part of the structure had to be organic. Some weeks were heavy on therapy and clinical work, others focused more on finding ways to engage with the world—whether through work, exercise, or community activities.

We had only two rules:

1. No drinking.

2. Be kind.

That was it. We’ve gone to great lengths to retain that simplicity, even as BTN has grown.

A Different Kind of Environment

I never wanted this to feel hierarchical. The client wasn’t beneath me, and I wasn’t running the house with some top-down authority. He was just part of the community—learning how to live in a way that worked for him.

That first year shaped everything that came next. It showed me that structure wasn’t something you imposed—it was something you built with the person, based on who they actually were. It also confirmed what I had sensed all along: recovery isn’t just about following a program. It’s about paying close attention and responding to what’s actually happening, not what’s supposed to happen.

BTN has evolved since those early days, but the foundation is still the same. We don’t run a one-size-fits-all program. We don’t create structure for the sake of structure. And we don’t lose sight of the individual sitting in front of us.

That’s how this all started. With one person, one house, and a commitment to doing things differently.