Learn all about the new state-of-the-art addiction centre at Canyonleigh

It's the vision of managing director Warwick Parer, who at mid-life went searching for work with "meaning".

"I started out in the military, then I went into law, and then I went into retail business," Mr Parer said.

"I had a property finance company and all sorts of different things."

But at the age of 45 he felt uninspired and "lost" by the idea of being in business.

"I was looking for something a bit more meaningful," Mr Parer said.

His wife, doctor Jennifer Parer, is a general practitioner and the centre's medical director and expert.

Eight years ago Mr Parer came across a news report about the poor state of the private rehab industry.

With six children of his own, he undertook his own research.

"I did it because that's a parent's greatest fear," he said.

"And when I looked into it, you could see that it was a real mess.

"I thought 'that's something I could do'," Mr Parer said.

His management experience coupled with his wife's medical knowledge brought to life their first facility Gunnebah in northern NSW.

"That was seven years ago and we've helped a lot of people," Mr Parer said.

"But in the private rehab space there's nothing in the Sydney Canberra area as far as a proper big rehab facility."

When the Canyonleigh property became available, the couple knew it was the one.

"When I saw it, I was just blown away. It was so perfect for what we do," Mr Parer said.

They were looking for key features.

"Nothing too close to the city because there's just too much temptation," Mr Parer said.

"We also wanted to be semi-remote because you can't be too far away from major populations. You can't get good staff, and it makes it too hard for family to visit, which is really important."

Canyonleigh clients are able to reconnect with nature.

"There's something very therapeutic about that," Mr Parer said.

"There's lots of wildlife and it just ticks every single box."

The centre deals with three types of clients: veterans, NDIS respite care and private individuals.

"A lot of people with NDIS packages also have addiction issues, and NDIS doesn't cover rehab but it does cover respite care," Mr Parer said.

"The level of care we provide here is probably higher than most respite providers, so if they come in for respite we can also help them with their addictions.

"That's really big, in the sense that there's a lot of need for this out there," he said.

While the Southern Highlands Retreat is a "big expensive facility" its sister facility in northern NSW is not.

"It's good because we can actually provide for two price points," Mr Parer said.

"For the private individuals who want to be close to Sydney, and who want this level of support, this is a great option.

"But if they can't afford this level of support then we have the second option up north which is much more affordable," he said.

As a result, there is help now available for anyone in need.

Mr Parer said that every story was unique.

"It's not a one-size fits all approach, but you do get a bottleneck of events once addiction gets to a certain point," he said.

"You have health issues, you have career issues, you have relationship issues, legal issues. There's a commonality of problems that they're dealing with."

Group therapy deals with the common problems shared by all, but this is enhanced by private therapy to deal with their unique situation.

"I have a saying in rehab that there's always a reason, there's never an excuse," Mr Parer said.

"That's because every person that has ever come through our doors has had an underlying reason. There's no such thing as an addict by accident, there's always a cause.

"It's usually a trauma or unmanaged mental health, or PTSD or disability," he said.

Their job is to find that cause, to help clients deal with that cause, and then to teach them ways to live with it without addiction.

Mr Parer says Australia needs to understand that prevention is cheaper than a cure.

He used the example of domestic violence.

"I don't know the exact numbers but I bet about 95 percent is related to alcohol or drug use," Mr Parer said.

"But they don't talk about that. When a drunk guy kills is wife they don't put that down as a death related to addiction, they put it down as a death related to domestic violence.

"It's the same if a drunk person crashes their car and kills someone or themself. If you're an alcoholic they don't put that down as a death from addiction, they put it down as a car crash," he said.

Therefore, he says the actual numbers for deaths caused by drug or alcohol in Australia are skewed.

"If we were to treat this stuff proactively, and get people help, the savings to the system would be phenomenal," Mr Parer said.

"But it's just not something we do well in Australia. We're so reactive to things."

There's a big gap between the public and private rehab systems in Australia, according to Mr Parer.

"For private individuals there's no funding help there at all," he said.

"There's a real gap in the market so someone on an average income will find it difficult to go to private rehab."

That makes it very had for them to get help outside of the public system, which is "really, really overstretched".

"The industry needs some level of regulation," Mr Parer said.

"At the moment it's pretty unregulated, so within the industry there are some good operators, and there are some very bad operators.

"And there's virtually no rules," he said.

Until there is a a basic standard of care set there will continue to be a stigma around private rehab "that they're profiting out of misery".

If there were a standard of care in place, Mr Parer believes government would be more able to provide funding.

"The would see that every time a private rehab takes on a person and helps them, it is one less person going into the public system," he said.

"If they would part fund that it would bring the cost down of private rehab, and make it more available for more people," Mr Parer said.

Head to the website for more information on the Southern Highlands Addiction Retreat.