Southeast Asia’s first advanced addiction treatment center for drugs, alcohol, gambling and sex addiction opens next month in Phuket, Thailand.

July 2011 – Bhavana Addiction Treatment Center (www.bhavanaphuket.com), an international center of excellence for the treatment of alcohol, drug and behavior addictions, opens in Phuket, Thailand.

“I am proud to bring the latest practices in drug and alcohol addiction treatment and rehabilitation to Thailand and Asia,” says Dr. Kai Goh, chief executive officer and consulting psychiatrist at Bhavana.

For the first time in southeast Asia, a residential treatment clinic is able to provide evidence-based, clinically comprehensive treatment for gambling, sex addiction and other compulsive behaviors along with addiction to alcohol, heroin, prescription drugs, club drugs and narcotics.

“Addiction is a fast-growing problem in Asia and Australia, and there’s a need for a residential drug and alcohol rehab center that can also treat compulsive behaviors like gambling and sex addiction, and mental health disorders like depression that often accompany addiction,” says Dr. Goh, Bhavana’s founder.

The new facility offers addiction treatment and rehabilitation at a standard that compares to that of the Priory Clinic in the U.K., Cottonwood in the U.S., and other leading treatment clinics. Highly experienced, qualified addiction specialists including psychiatrists and licensed therapists who worked and trained at Hazelden drug and alcohol addiction treatment center and the Mayo Clinic, provide treatment that helps people find and sustain lifelong recovery from substance abuse.

“Treatment at Bhavana is focused on results,” Dr. Goh says. “We are grateful for the warm reception we are receiving from the mental health community in Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.”

The Bhavana treatment center opens in August and has ties to Phuket and Bangkok area medical and recovery centers including internationally JCI-accredited Bangkok Phuket Hospital and Chulalongkorn University and an international addiction research program at Yale University. It is a comprehensive medical and therapeutic addiction treatment center, and will offer medically supervised detox in a special medical suite on site once its hospital license is granted by the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand.

Bhavana in Thailand is located in a former resort hotel that has been completely renovated to provide safety and security for residents, on the secluded eastern shore of Phuket Island.