Episode
What Happens After Discharge: Closing the Gap in Addiction Recovery Care with AJ Diaz
- Published
- Jun 16, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1816
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Summary
What happens to your patients when they walk out the door? For most treatment centers, that question is answered with a sheet of paper and a handshake, and AJ Diaz knows exactly how that feels. Co-founder of You Are Accountable and a person in long-term recovery himself, AJ joined hosts Mark Scrivner and Jeff Skillen on the floor of NAATP National 2026 to share how he and his co-founder, Matt, turned a gap in the continuum of care into a thriving, peer-led continuing care platform. The conversation covers the clinical and personal origins of Accountable, why the first four hours after discharge may be the most dangerous, how 5,000 patients have produced outcomes that are turning heads industry-wide, and what the future of tech-enabled peer support looks like for behavioral health operators. Whether you run a treatment center, manage discharge planning, or are simply trying to extend the reach of your clinical work, this episode delivers a blueprint for rethinking post-discharge care. Key Moments 03:11 – AJ shares the personal origin story: leaving treatment with a sheet of paper, a terrified family, and a self-designed accountability system that carried him through 3 years of early recovery 04:42 – The clinical insight that sparked Accountable: 12–13 hours in group, 168 hours in a week, and no window into what patients were doing outside the therapeutic structure 06:55 – Why peers deserve to be more than "Joe who takes you to a meeting" — the case for professionalizing peer support 08:31 – Outcomes that challenge the industry standard: 12% return to higher level of care against a national average of 40–50%, drawn from 5,000 patients 11:42 – Contingency management, recovery capital assessments, and the engagement mechanics that keep members active on the platform 14:45…