Clarity Way: Using Musical Rehab as a Savior

by Shardae Jobson

Based on the sensationalized portrayals of rehab on cable television, it seems as if the purpose of rehabilitation has been lost in our Dr. Drew-obsessed culture. Yet what remains across America are many rehab facilities fighting hard against real substance abuse.

In the South Central district of Pennsylvania resides Clarity Way, a rehabilitation center that stands as a reminder that these centers are really places of recovery and personal progress. This facility is sincere in its drive to further heal and encourage breakthroughs in their patients' physiological health by way of Clarity's artistically inclined programs, which are particularly unique in their field.

Clarity Way was born out of the hardships of its founder Justin Daniels. Daniels managed to find the light within his own substance abuse abyss. With his affliction diminishing and a heap of support from his wife Robin, they started Clarity Way. It's currently the only rehab center in the U.S. with an in-house recording studio. The studio is one of many rewarding facets of Clarity Way's music and art sessions, which are key parts of the center's bigger picture and mission.

"I wanted to create individualized programs that typically offered more of a focus [using my own] recovery as a guide. I felt the need to re-create a treatment process that would essentially remind them of their worth," Daniels explains in an amiable but firm tone. As Clarity Way is naturally very close to the hearts of its founders, the studio was also executed by Robin's brother Christopher Thorn of Blind Melon. Blind Melon has had their own bout of trauma when the band's wistfully voiced lead singer Shanon Hoon, died in 1995 from an overdose.

The emphasis on music and art as core activities towards stability is an anomaly for most rehab facilities, but Daniels reassures that the purpose of using music as a remedy for the mind is the basis and important. "There is a subconscious yearning to express the experience artistically, which makes it a neat approach in therapy".

By Justin and Robin Daniels naming their holistic rehab center Clarity Way, it cements the goals of the programs belief that addicts can reverse the patterns of abuse by delivering their insights on hope and frustration through music as a better companion.