Justin McMillen
Tree House Founder and CEO
After beating his own addiction, Justin McMillen set out to help others. In 2008, he started Tree House Sober Living with the mission of helping those new in recovery who had nowhere else to go. For years, he watched people get sober only to relapse in an endless cycle. Justin began studying substance use disorder, and the sober living residence became a lab for his research that would ultimately lead to Tree House Recovery treatment solution.
In 2013, Justin established Tree House Recovery (THR). He based THR’s treatment approach on his own success overcoming addiction and his research. To further improve the program design, he assembled a team of addiction treatment innovators. Together, they redefined what drug and alcohol treatment needed to be. McMillen’s brain trust built our guiding principle for recovery—that there is a recipe for healthy living that leads to long-term sobriety. We teach each client to live a lifestyle that results in mind, body, and social health. This healthy lifestyle approach has led to client success rates that are far exceeding the addiction treatment norm. Our aim is to transform how addiction and treatment are talked about, thought about, and treated across the nation.
As CEO, Justin works hand in hand with his team and clients in pursuit of the most effective treatment, and has teamed up with the author of Spark and Harvard Medical School’s Professor of Psychiatry, John J. Ratey, MD. As a board member of Sparking Life Addiction Recovery, Justin is working to heighten awareness of the benefits of exercise as a part of addiction treatment.