About St. Christopher's Addiction Wellness Center

St. Christopher's was founded on a simple belief: Men recover when they have enough time, enough support, and a community that refuses to give up on them. For more than 25 years, that belief has guided everything we do.

 

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Who We Are

Tried & True, Long-Term by Design

St. Christopher's is a long-term, privately owned men's residential addiction treatment program with more than 25 years of experience treating addiction in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We are one of the longest-standing addiction treatment programs in the state.

Recovery at St. Christopher's happens in Chapters. Men enter at different points in their lives, but each Chapter is designed to help them build the skills, accountability, relationships, and confidence needed to move toward lasting recovery.

Our programs are CARF-accredited, grounded in the 12-Step model, and enhanced by evidence-based clinical practices, dual diagnosis treatment, and a multidisciplinary team of licensed professionals who bring both expertise and personal investment to this work every single day. 

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Founding Story

How St. Christopher's Addiction Wellness Center Was Built

St. Christopher's opened in Baton Rouge in 1998 as a 12-Step immersion program for men, rooted in the belief that recovery requires more than short-term stabilization. It requires structure, accountability, community, and time. That founding conviction has never changed.

Today, the organization operates as a private, clinician-owned program under the leadership of CEO Brandy Klingman and COO Zach Knippenberg, who have spent years strengthening the clinical foundation, expanding the continuum of care, and evolving St. Christopher's into the comprehensive long-term treatment program it is today, without ever losing sight of the principles that made it meaningful in the first place. Zach came through St. Christopher's as a client himself before earning his Master of Social Work and returning to help lead it. The people running this program know what it takes to walk through it because many of them have.

Why Families & Professionals Turn to Us for Addiction Treatment

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Privately Owned & Operated

St. Christopher's is a privately owned, clinician-led organization. Every decision we make is driven by what is best for the men in our care, not by corporate priorities or shareholder interests. That independence allows us to maintain the kind of long-term commitment to clients, staff, and outcomes that larger institutional programs rarely sustain.

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A Multidisciplinary Clinical Team

Our staff includes licensed clinical social workers, licensed professional counselors, addiction counselors, psychiatric nurse practitioners, psychologists, psychiatrists, registered nurses, and licensed practical nurses. We believe the quality of our staff is the quality of our care.

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Decades of Measurable Outcomes in Baton Rouge

We have been treating addiction in Baton Rouge long enough to watch men grow up, raise families, build careers, and come back years later to sponsor the next person sitting in the same chair they once sat in. That continuity is not something you can manufacture. It is what 25 years of doing this work with integrity looks like.

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Tried & True Principles

Everything we do is rooted in tried and true principles, creating a standard of care that is steady, intentional, and built to last. Recovery does not require reinvention. It requires the right combination of timeless values and modern clinical depth, applied consistently over time by people who are genuinely invested in the outcome. That is what St. Christopher's has always been, and it is what we will continue to be.

Explore Our Baton Rouge Treatment Center & Team

Our Team

The clinicians, counselors, and leaders who show up every day for the men in our care. Meet the people behind the programs.

Meet Our Addiction Treatment Team

Our Facility

Our Baton Rouge campus was designed with recovery in mind. See the spaces where healing happens.

Tour Our Addiction Treatment Facility

Our Philosophy

We believe recovery is more than abstinence. It is a rebuilt life. Here is the clinical and human philosophy that guides everything we do.

Read Our Addiction Treatment Philosophy

Our History

From one man's sobriety to 25 years of community impact in Baton Rouge. The story of how St. Christopher's came to be.

Explore the History of St. Christopher's

Our Community

The brotherhood does not end at discharge. Learn how STC alumni stay connected and how that community becomes one of the most powerful forces in long-term recovery.

Discover the STC Recovery Community

Start Addiction Treatment in Baton Rouge Today

Our admissions team is available around the clock. If you have questions about our programs, our team, or whether St. Christopher's is the right fit, we are here to talk.