Andrew Sossin, Co-Founder & CEO, Recovery Unplugged

May 2026 — Invest: spoke with Andrew Sossin, co-founder and CEO of music-assisted rehabilitation center Recovery Unplugged, about the state of mental health and addiction treatment, the company’s expansion strategy, and the role of innovation and music in care delivery. “We believed in this model from the beginning, but now the results speak for themselves,” Sossin said.

How would you describe the state of mental health and addiction treatment in the United States, and where does Recovery Unplugged fit within that landscape?

We launched Recovery Unplugged 13 years ago out of frustration with seeing family members and friends cycle through facilities that were not truly helping them. Many programs were repeating the same approaches without producing different outcomes, and I wanted to build something that could genuinely help people recover and rebuild their lives.

On the addiction side, the country has moved from the opioid crisis into the fentanyl crisis, but addiction in the United States has always been broader than one substance. People often assume the problem is mainly heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, or meth, but 50% of our clients since day one, across every age group and socioeconomic segment, have struggled with alcohol. That reality often gets overlooked, even though alcohol remains one of the biggest drivers of treatment demand.

Mental health has become much more visible. When I started, people spoke about it quietly. Now, nearly every family has been affected in some way by anxiety, depression, trauma, PTSD, addiction, or a combination of those challenges. Recovery Unplugged started by focusing on substance and alcohol abuse, but over the last three years we expanded because we saw growing demand from people dealing with mental health challenges without substance use. That led us to launch online mental health services and then a residential mental health program in Fort Lauderdale.

What differentiates Recovery Unplugged’s treatment model?

Our model is built on evidence-based therapy, but what makes it distinctive is how we deliver that care. We utilize music as a catalyst for evidence-based therapy. It helps break down defenses, build rapport, and create emotional access much faster than traditional formats often can.

Everything we do is grounded in proven clinical methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR, motivational interviewing, and dialectical behavior therapy. Music is not replacing those treatments. It is helping people engage with them. When someone enters treatment, they are often guarded, scared, ashamed, or emotionally shut down. Music gives us a way to reach people where they are and make them feel seen and understood from the very beginning.

We also have outcomes data behind what we do. Nova Southeastern University has conducted a long-term study on our approach, and that third-party validation is important. We believed in this model from the beginning, but now the results speak for themselves.

How are patient needs and expectations evolving when it comes to treatment experiences and outcomes?

People today are more informed, and that is a positive development. The conversation around success has also become more nuanced. In addiction treatment, people used to think in very rigid terms, but recovery is often more complex than that. Relapse can be part of the process, and progress does not always happen in a straight line.

If someone gets sober, struggles, returns for help, and eventually builds lasting recovery, that is still success. On the mental health side, success is even less binary. It is not simply a matter of whether someone feels happy or sad. It is about whether they are able to function, get out of bed, return to work, interact with family, and participate in life in ways they could not before.

That is the standard we focus on. We are helping people move forward and function more fully in society. There is no instant cure for most of these issues. What matters is whether people gain the tools and stability to live better than they were living before.

What role is innovation playing in the way treatment is delivered today?

Innovation has always been central to what we do. The first form of innovation was rethinking how therapy could be delivered in a way that people would actually connect with. We took traditional therapy and made it more engaging, more human, and more effective through music.

That shows up throughout our programming. We incorporate music into daily treatment experiences, including group sessions, open mic work, and our Feel Good Friday concerts. We also use sound and frequency rooms as part of treatment. For example, when someone is detoxing, we can combine medication-assisted treatment with music-assisted treatment to help calm the nervous system and reduce the need for heavier medication that might leave someone too sedated to fully engage in care.

Innovation also means being willing to adopt new tools that improve outcomes. We were early adopters of TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation), and we have continued looking at ways new clinical and technological tools can support treatment. The real question is always the same: How do we help more people, more effectively?

How is technology changing your operations and the patient experience?

Technology is becoming a major force multiplier for us. Over the last two years, we have pushed every team to identify technologies, especially AI tools, that can help us serve people better.

One example is that our therapists are using note-taking tools that are compliant with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act). That may sound operational, but it makes a major difference. Therapists should be focused on the patient, not buried in documentation. If technology helps them capture accurate notes and complete billing requirements more efficiently, they can spend more energy delivering care.

We also built a HIPAA-compliant AI system to support our 24-hour lifesaving center. We receive roughly 15,000 calls a month, and our goal is to make sure no one in crisis falls through the cracks. AI does not replace people. It helps us ensure every caller is acknowledged, supported, and routed appropriately so that a human can follow up with the full conversation and care coordination.

We also offer intensive outpatient treatment online and have developed a HIPAA-compliant virtual reality platform where people can engage in therapy as avatars. That can be especially helpful for first responders, veterans, or others who may not feel comfortable appearing on camera or sharing openly in a standard virtual setting.

What are your priorities for the company over the next few years?

The focus right now is on optimizing the locations and services we already have while expanding strategically in mental health. For the first 10 years, we were centered on substance abuse. The newer growth engine is mental health, particularly residential mental health and online programming.

Our online mental health and addiction programs are growing quickly, and we want to continue scaling them. We also want residential mental health facilities in every state where we currently operate. I am cautious about long-range forecasting because the world is moving so fast. We always evaluate opportunities to open new locations, but the broader healthcare, reimbursement, and political environment has a major impact on what is feasible. Growth has to make both clinical and economic sense.

What are the biggest challenges facing providers like Recovery Unplugged today?

The biggest challenge is the reimbursement environment. We can only help people at scale if the system allows treatment providers to operate sustainably. If a patient does not have the right coverage, or the reimbursement structure does not support the care being provided, that creates real constraints.

We are in-network with most major insurers, and we have developed relationships with unions and trade groups, which helps. We also work with Face the Music Foundation, a nonprofit I started to help people without money or insurance access treatment. Public-private partnerships and grant support will continue to be important, because the need is greater than what the current system adequately covers.

What gives you confidence as you look ahead?

What gives me confidence is the proof of what has already been built. We started in Fort Lauderdale in 2013. Today, we have 12 facilities in six states, more than 650 employees, and more than 22,000 people have come through our programs.

Just as important, a number of our leaders are former clients who rebuilt their lives through Recovery Unplugged and now help guide the organization. That is one of the strongest validations of our work. It shows that recovery is possible, that people can return not only to stability but to leadership, and that the model works over time.

The goal now is to keep improving, keep innovating, and keep helping more people the right way.