Remarkable Women: Dori Haddock shares a vision of healing those with disease of addiction

Throughout Women’s History Month this March, KARK 4 News will highlight local women you nominated who inspire, lead and forge the way for other women. It’s not just about one day or one month — it’s about what they do day in and day out.
Remarkable Women is a nationwide Nexstar Media initiative to honor the influence that women have had on public policy, social progress and quality of life.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - For Dori Haddock, running the addiction recovery program at CHI St. Vincent hospital in Little Rock is more than just a job, it’s her vision come to life.

“The one thing that came across, in all of the spectrums of where I worked, is addiction,” Dori, the regional director of Bradford Health Services, explained.

Two years ago, a wing at the hospital sat empty until Haddock laid eyes on it.

“I called my bosses at Bradford Health Services and said, ‘We need to think big and we need to think different,’ and we did!” Haddock recalled.

Thanks to her big vision, Bradford Health Services, a substance use disorder treatment provider which Haddock helped open in Arkansas eight years ago, collaborated with CHI St. Vincent to create a first-of-its-kind addiction treatment center in the state.

“As the furniture started coming in and things started to come to fruition and we got that first patient, and I was really like ‘Wow, this is really happening,’” Haddock noted.

Since the doors opened in March of 2021, more than 1,400 patients have walked through them and into a life of recovery. It's an accomplishment Haddock’s daughters remind her of every day.

“She (my daughter) said, ‘You did that, you did that mom. You created that and even if you’re not working here in years to come, you did something that’s going to help people for the rest of their lives,’” Haddock said. “That’s really like when it hit me, like wow, I did do that."

While Haddock is widely revered as a pioneer in the recovery community, she said her biggest achievement is being a mom.

“I have been very successful in my career, but my kids thinking that way about me? I’m the winner. It doesn’t matter what anybody else says,” she said.

In addition to her work at Bradford Health Services, Haddock serves on the Board of Directors for Wolf Street Foundation as Chairman, Arkansas Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Arkansas Alcohol and Drug Use Coordinating Council, a position she was appointed to by former Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

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