About Us

ALGAMUS provides compassionate, professional and comprehensive counseling and Gambling specific treatment in the mountainous setting of Prescott, AZ. Designed to further educate and support the compulsive gambler in their search for abstinence and recovery, we pride ourselves on offering the best services available. Our facility offers the most effective treatment modalities and methods to assist the problem gambler in discovering freedom and balance.

Rick Benson (Founder of Algamus Recovery Services)

Rick has had extensive experience with problem and compulsive gamblers. He has worked with gamblers for the past 25 years and presented seminars nationally on gambling addiction and recovery.

A 1971 Cornell University graduate, Rick is a Nationally Certified Gambling Counselor (NCGC-II), an American Certified Gambling Counselor (CCGC), a certified Canadian Problem Gambling Counselor (CPGC), a member of the American Compulsive Gambling Counselor Certification Board, and an executive board member of the North Carolina Council on Compulsive Gambling. He also is certified in the Practical Application of Intimate Relationship Skills (PAIRS) seminar and a regular co-facilitator of Emotional Healing Intensives.

Rick has also been an avid student and facilitator of the Enneagram for more than 15 years.

Rick is a New Jersey native with prior experience in hospitality management, specifically in organizational development activities in the human resources field.

Jody Pegram (Program Director)

Jody entered into the recovery field in the late nineties. Beginning with Stebanger homes in Palm Beach, FL, he was integral in the development of C.A.R.E. in southern Florida as the co-founder in 1999. His insight and creative ability have earned him positions at multiple facilities in a broad range of capacities. Jody is a Certified Compulsive Gambling Counselor (CCGC). The gambling specific models that he has created have become generally accepted as the standard for gambling treatment structure. He was instrumental in the development of ALGAMUS Recovery Centers and has worked directly with compulsive gamblers both as a primary therapist and as a program director.

At ALGAMUS, he brings his considerable experience along with an authenticity and uncanny ability to express his passion for recovery to our staff and clients. His creative and precedent setting approach has made him a recognized member of the national recovery community.

Jeff Henderson Phd (Psychologist)

Dr. Henderson has worked with people in recovery for years and is a great asset to ALGAMUS Recovery services. With Dr. Henderson’s extensive experience and compassion, our clients receive the best care available to achieve sustained long term recovery. His training and practice have been in health and rehabilitation psychology. This primarily includes working with adults who have incurred medical illness and/or injury necessitating psychological adaptation and adjustment. Additionally, he works with adults for issues related to substance use disorders and other addictions, depressive and bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, difficulty in relationships, and management of chronic pain.

Mai Jager (Financial Counselor)

Mai brings her compassion and understanding as well as an unmatched ability in counseling compulsive gamblers with their finances. Mai has a profound understanding of the financial wreckage associated with gambling addiction. Mai guides each client in understanding their debt and identifying reasonable solutions to resolving the financial turmoil of their specific circumstance. In the mind of people with Compulsive Gambling Addiction, it is both the solution for the afflicted person as well as the problem. With this understanding, Mai is an invaluable resource to our clients and works very closely with them to offer a rational solution. We are very grateful having Mai on our team as her performance and success with those she works with says it all.

Jennifer Sobel: (Yoga Instructor)

Jennifer is our Yoga instructor and offers a great way for each person to find the escape from their racing thoughts and agitated feelings. Jennifer has discovered a very unique concept of combining the twelve steps of recovery in her yoga sessions. We are all very impressed with her work and notice a drastic change in the behaviors of our clients after her sessions. Jennifer has a beautiful and serene studio guaranteed to surpass anyone’s expectations. All sessions are private and exclusive to all members of ALGAMUS.