Heidi E. Kunzli, MS / LADC
Founder | Executive Director
Currently based in Connecticut, Heidi Kunzli brings close to 30 years of personal and professional experience working with individuals struggling with substance abuse, addictions, maladaptive behaviors, burnout, stress and other life issues. In 2001, she founded and directed the groundbreaking luxury boutique rehab, Beau Monde, and Beau Monde’s Emotional/Psych. Executive Renewal Programs in Newport Beach, California. Beau Monde, modeled after the exclusive, private Swiss clinic, quickly became an international success and for the next several years expanded to include 7 exclusive locations in Newport Beach, Laguna Beach and the Hollywood Hills (Laurel Canyon Recovery Center) in California. In 2008, Heidi, after years of requests and suggestions from former clients, colleagues and others, again ventured into new treatment venue territory and created the super private, Privé-Swiss program. Privé-Swiss is the only clinical/holistic treatment program in the country that was specifically created to serve the special needs and mental health treatment goals of the very successful, high functioning individual struggling with mental health issues. Heidi also serves as business/management consultant to treatment programs, professionals and others. She is the “go to” person for media seeking information/comments on high-end treatment, the treatment of high profile individuals and those in the “public eye,” and on mental health/addictions and recovery. Over the years her unique rehab programs have been featured on television and the internet, as well as in publications such as Newsweek, Vogue, Esquire, Forbes, Condé Nast, The New York Times, The LA Times, and others. Most recently Heidi and Privé-Swiss are featured in Town and Country Magazine’s May, 2018 issue: https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/a19705115/high-end-psychiatric-hospitals-treatment-centers/. She maintains a limited private practice based out of Essex, Connecticut.
Heidi’s professional background includes almost 30 years of counseling and coaching specialization in achieving — and sustaining — lifelong recovery from substance abuse and addiction, stress management, self-management, creativity enhancement and transformational lifestyle management for executives, professionals, entertainers, athletes and other very successful, high functioning individuals. She likes to describe her clients as “super-achievers” who have gotten derailed from living — and enjoying — their full potential due to burnout, stress, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, addiction and other serious mental health issues. A key area of interest is in identity transformation: What is it that “changes” an individual from a “sick person” to a “recovered” person who is fully and passionately involved in health, wellness, personal growth and development. Heidi is not satisfied with merely helping an individual to stay sober or teaching relapse prevention; her purpose is to assist her clients in re-connecting with and strengthening their core, authentic self and getting back on a path of power, purpose and life fulfillment! She strongly believes that life in “recovery” from any dysfunctional behavior should not be one of self-limitation, but rather one of self-expansion.
Heidi’s approach to treatment is the belief that all individuals have the capacity for self-healing and that a person’s concept of the “self” influences behavior and is related to emotional state, well-being and judgment in the individual. In accordance with this belief, Heidi’s approach looks at “relapse” as no longer an issue in the “recovering” individual once he or she can identify, develop and live life in accordance with their true, authentic self. In developing her unique treatment programs she states, “Recovery is a life-altering, deeply personal experience. Our goal is to create an individualized program that is “emotionally relevant” to our client; one that honors and works within that person’s “lifeworld” — we do not “force” a person to participate in our treatment program – instead we invite the individual to be an active participant in treatment and create a program specific to his or her unique needs and life goals.”
As well as her many years of counseling experience and longtime personal recovery, Heidi Kunzli has earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Springfield College, School of Human Services in Springfield, Mass. where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She holds a Masters of Science degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Springfield College, with a focus on performance enhancement coaching, training & development and executive leadership coaching & development. Her research interests are in the areas of personal identity and transformation, self-regulation, motivation, self-actualization, and the integration of therapies for the treatment and sustainable recovery from mental health challenges.
Heidi Kunzli is an internationally licensed (CT) and certified (CA) Alcohol, Drug & Addictions Counselor and Recovery Coach who has been working in the field for 30 years. She is a past instructor of alcohol/drug counselor training studies at California Paramedical and Technical College in Long Beach, CA. She is a continuing education provider and counselor development consultant for certified alcohol and drug abuse counselors, marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers. Heidi is an invited speaker on the topic of motivational enhancement therapy and the individual change process. In addition, she has been a certified paralegal and conflict mediator with many years experience in various business environments. Heidi holds dual nationality as a Swiss as well as American citizen, has spent considerable time in Switzerland considering it her second home, and remains in close contact with her family there.
Memberships:
- American Psychological Association
- Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology
- National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers
- National Association of Addiction Professionals
- Luxury Society
- Reviewer, The ASAM Criteria: Treatment Criteria for Substance-Related, Addictive, and Co-Occurring Conditions, October 2013, American Society of Addiction Medicine
- American Counseling Association
