It was the first August of the new millennium. Dr. Raul Rodriguez, at the time still the Chief Resident in Psychiatry at the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital, had just started his private practice in Boca Raton. He quickly noticed an alarming trend. Almost all of the new patients that were coming in had a severe addiction to opioids. Combining a number of the techniques he had learned in Jackson Memorial with advanced practices that were being used in Yale, Dr. Rodriguez developed a new type of treatment that was able to detoxify these patients on an outpatient basis without hardly missing any work. Even though these new detoxification protocols were very effective, it became apparent that more severe underlying clinical conditions were prominent in this population, especially Eating Disorders, PTSD, Anxiety Disorders, Bipolar Disorder and Treatment-Resistant Major Depression.
Dr. Rodriguez made the decision to expand his clinical staff and therapeutic focus, in order to be able to effectively treat these underlying conditions. Dr. Rodriguez and his senior clinical staff pursued advanced training in the treatment of eating disorders as well in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Dr. Rodriguez later pursued training in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to expand the options available to treat patients. Dr. Rodriguez then developed full-scale outpatient programs for the specialized treatment of Treatment-Resistant Depression, PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, Eating Disorders, and Personality Disorders. He expanded the Delray Center campus from a single building into a five building clinical campus. From this point on, Dr. Rodriguez has not deviated from a path of constant improvement and evolution that has turned the Delray Center into the cutting edge integrative mental health & wellness center that it is today.
The integrative wellness approach to treating severe clinical conditions was a dream in medical school that became a reality for Dr. Rodriguez. After moving his main office from Boca Raton to Delray Beach, Dr. Rodriguez assembled a team of highly skilled professionals to harmoniously deliver clinical modalities such as individual psychotherapy, group therapy, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), and advanced psychopharmacology, along with holistic elements such as acupuncture, vitamin therapy, massage, yoga, meditation, fitness, nutrition, and expressive therapies. Patients found this combination to be stimulating, enjoyable and effective. Dr. Rodriguez’s passion for wellness stems from his favorite pastime, road and mountain bike racing, and his “moonlighting” gig as the owner of the SpeedLab/ Hammer Nutrition/ Trek Racing Team.
The culture of healing and wellness of the Delray Center for Healing has long since extended beyond the center walls and into the community. Dr Rodriguez and his clinical team have engaged in a number of community initiatives to raise awareness and facilitate access to treatment for a number of public health dilemmas. The Delray Center believes in giving back to the community and in creating a safer world for our youth. As a regular writer for the Boca Raton Observer and Simply The Best Magazine, Dr. Rodriguez uses these platforms to continue to raise awareness in the community. Having started his clinical practice in the year 2000, Dr. Rodriguez is shooting for a 50-year career with the hopes that one or both of his sons will follow in his footsteps and keep his vision for the Delray Center for Healing alive into the next century.
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Dr. Rodriguez founded the Delray Center in 2003 and built it on a foundation of core clinical, professional, and ethical principles that are adhered to still to this day. Dr. Rodriguez founded the Delray Center in 2003 and built it on a foundation of core clinical, professional, and ethical principles that are adhered to still to this day.
