University of Colorado Denver/ARTS

About University of Colorado Denver/ARTS

Addiction Research and Treatment Services (ARTS) is a clinical program within the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, offering outpatient addiction care across the Denver metro area, including a medication-assisted treatment clinic in Arvada called the Westside Center for Change. For more than 50 years, they have treated substance use disorders as biopsychosocial conditions, pairing trauma-informed, science-based care with close attention to mental and emotional health. Their services include adult outpatient treatment, medication-assisted treatment for opioid and alcohol use, adolescent outpatient care through their Synergy program, and sober living homes for adults. Their adult clinics are state-licensed, their MAT clinics are CARF-accredited, and they contract with Medicaid, Kaiser, and the Veterans Administration.

The MAT program combines medication with behavioral and psychosocial support, offering methadone and buprenorphine products such as Suboxone for opioid use disorder, and naltrexone, including injectable Vivitrol, for alcohol use disorder. Across programs, they draw on relapse prevention, dual diagnosis care for co-occurring mental health conditions, mindfulness, and positive psychology in a nonjudgmental setting. Synergy serves young people ages 12 to 21 in English and Spanish, with care delivered at home, in the office, or by telehealth, using family-centered, evidence-based models like Multisystemic Therapy, the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach, ENCOMPASS for co-occurring disorders, and Risk Reduction through Family Therapy for trauma and substance use. They accept referrals from families, physicians, probation, human services, and the Department of Corrections, as well as self-referrals.