SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Lee Yaiva doesn’t speak about addiction from a distance. His expertise is deeply personal.
Yaiva, a proud Hopi from northeastern Arizona, is a longtime recovery leader in our state and someone who understands loss in a way few ever should.
“I’ve lost eight brothers to addiction," Yaiva tells ABC15 Mornings Anchor Kaley O'Kelley.
For years, he too was fighting addiction.
At one of the darkest points in his life, Yaiva says he checked into a motel with the intention of drinking himself to death.
But something shifted.
“That day, all I said was four little words,” Yaiva recalled. “‘Please, God help me.’”
What followed, he says, changed the course of his life.
“My life just took a trajectory that I didn’t anticipate.”
More than 20 years later, Yaiva is now the CEO of Scottsdale Recovery Center, where he is actively leading a team focused on turning survival into second chances for others.
His approach to recovery centers on closing the dangerous gaps that too often leave people behind. It’s not just about getting sober, he says this it’s about building a new life path that doesn’t end when treatment does.
He talked with O'Kelley about generational cycles and what happens when they aren’t broken. For him, the progress is deeply personal, especially as a father.
“I love the fact that my children have never seen me intoxicated before,” he said. “They’ve only seen me giving speeches, giving awards, being there as a father, as a parent, as a friend.”
While his leadership is rooted in Indigenous healing, Yaiva is clear that the care offered at Scottsdale Recovery Center is for everyone.
“Regardless of myself being the leader of this organization, coming from cultural tribal descent, it has the ability to impact all people from all walks of life.”
At the same time, he’s candid about where the system has fallen short, particularly for Indigenous families.
“For Indigenous families who already feel forgotten,” Yaiva said, “to know that support is available and that it’s being entrusted in the hands of people who truly understand the importance and the impact, that’s critical.”
As the state of Arizona continues to confront addiction, recovery, and accountability in the behavioral-health system, Yaiva’s story is a reminder of what’s possible when lived experience, leadership, and purpose come together.
Next week, only on ABC15 Mornings, Yaiva will share why he believes Indigenous communities were hit hardest when Arizona’s sober-living system failed, and why he says real change requires listening to the voices who have lived this firsthand.
