EmPower Treatment Center

Our Story

Empower CTC in is ready to help you stop the pain

EmPower started as a nameless entity somewhere between Rochester and Jackson, Minnesota in 1992. Two new friends, Terry Hayward and Steve Lansing were traveling together to do presentations at a graduation in a small private school and began talking about their experiences with addiction treatment. From that discussion a new model for treatment began to take shape, a model that included the mental health issues that they saw as frequently part of the addiction struggle. That friendship and their desire to improve treatment programs moved them to working with a company for a short time, developing diagnostic software. Their next attempt at progress led to bringing in the skills and interests of others, John Allen, Mark Allen and Ann Lansing, with the goal of developing their own software for use in behavioral health practices. However, they remained a still unnamed entity.

A series of brainstorming sessions led to the name Dunatos. Stemming from the Greek word Dunatos (doon-a-tos) it means to empower, encourage, able. It was a unique name and one that no one else had used and few knew how to pronounce. From there an S corporation was formed and Dunatos became a software development company. Though the software was developed and put to use it was not as successful as the interest in the treatment model and philosophy. In 1994 the new agency was invited to put their model into action doing treatment with an addiction population in Goodhue County. Treatment was an outpatient-based program that was cognitive behavioral in approach and included assessments, treatment groups and life skills education.

By 1997 a local medical facility asked Dunatos to bring their treatment model into their inpatient and outpatient programming. Terry Hayward joined the medical group where Mark Allen was already employed. Steve and Ann Lansing became consultants doing life skills education with their programs. By 2000 the medical facility decided to close their behavioral health unit and the programs were closed. Staff from that program dispersed and opened small practices. Two staff moved to Northfield MN; two to Hastings, MN and Terry and another staff opened a practice in Red Wing. Dunatos went into hibernation. Terry Hayward’s practice chose the name Wenden Recovery. Wenden is an old English word meaning “to chart one’s course or to proceed on one’s way.” Recovery is a journey. In 2002 Terry Hayward, Steve Lansing, Ann Lansing and one other individual purchased a practice in Rochester and Wenden Recovery Rochester began about the same time as another Wenden in Winona was opened. All the Wenden offices offered outpatient chemical dependency treatment programs. Eventually Terry, Steve and Ann broke from the other programs.

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