Dr. Art Kleinschmidt
Dr. Arthur “Art” Kleinschmidt has over 19 years of sobriety, one day at a time. Assisting people in their journey to long term recovery is his life’s passion. Dr, Kleinschmidt completed his Master of Arts in Addiction Counseling in 2005 while living and working in the recovery community in St. Paul Minnesota and earned his PhD while working full-time as a licensed clinician. Art has treated individuals with substance use disorders, mental illness, personality disorders, and those with co-occurring disorders. His clinical experience spans across the socio-economic spectrum in all levels of care. Art has provided individual and family therapy and he has been an instrumental member on many multidisciplinary teams.
In 2017, he was summoned to Washington DC to help alleviate the addiction crisis plaguing our country. Dr. Kleinschmidt began his federal government service as the Senior Advisor for Substance Abuse to the Assistant Secretary at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In this capacity he was influential in guiding our Nation’s drug policy that eventually led to a 4% reduction in drug overdose deaths. Dr. Kleinschmidt crafted the Recovery House Guidelines in accordance with the SUPPORT Act and he was a leading voice for addiction treatment and recovery support services.
After his service at the Department of Health and Human Services, Art was recruited to work in the White House at the Domestic Policy Council to address mental health, homelessness, and addiction-related policy. In this capacity he worked on policy related to the CURES and CARA Acts and helped craft the Nation’s response to the COVID crisis. As such, he contributed to the CARES Act providing both financial and mental health content. Dr. Kleinschmidt was promoted to the Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy through an appointment by President Trump.
In addition to Dr. Kleinschmidt’s management responsibilities at ONDCP and running programs at treatment centers, prior to getting sober, Art was a Certified Public Accountant and after earning his MBA he started and ran a business in New Orleans, LA.Art also authored Planting Seeds, A Client Centered Approach to Addiction Treatment, an evidenced based treatment manual geared toward outpatient treatment programs. He is currently serving as an expert to the Integrated Justice Information Systems (IJIS) consulting on the use of technology for Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs.