Our Founders

Paula Norris Mestayer

Paula Norris Mestayer, M.Ed., LPC, FAPA, is the groundbreaking therapist who pioneered the development of American protocols for utilizing NAD+ to effectively treat addiction—with minimal withdrawal symptoms and without substituting another narcotic. The founder of Springfield Wellness Center, she has helped thousands of people successfully break the rehab/relapse cycle.

Mestayer was an educator for 11 years after graduating from LSU in 1969. She completed graduate degrees in education and independent study in psychotherapy from Tulane University before taking her clinical internship at the Manhattan Children’s Psychiatric Hospital. She has devoted her professional life to helping patients deal effectively with a wide variety of sub-acute psycho-physiological conditions, including panic and anxiety disorders, chronic and acute stress, depression and bereavement, alcohol and substance abuse, and marital and family challenges. For 22 years she was a consultant at Ochsner Foundation Hospital with the Behavioral Health and Addiction Treatment Units. Concurrently, 11 of those years she was the director of a private nonprofit residential program for abused and neglected children. Since 1980, her private practice has focused on sub-acute patients with psycho-physiological, panic/anxiety, affective and character disorders, alcohol/substance abuse, weight and stress management, and marital and family problems.

In 2001, she founded an outpatient clinic providing services for the treatment of chemical dependency and acute stress utilizing NAD+ intravenous infusions, which then led to the development of BR+ NAD at Springfield Wellness Center. She is experienced in the use of psychotherapy with an eclectic orientation in both acute and sub-acute psychiatric settings, including an open unit of a hospital psychiatric unit and a variety of residential and non-residential treatment programs. She has applied her expertise in mind-body psychotherapy using cognitive, emotive, and behavioral models in both individual and group sessions for interventions in stress management, post-traumatic stress, and grief. She also possesses expertise in patient treatment and delivery of BR+ NAD detoxification from chemical dependency, which she introduced to the U.S. In fact, she has been administering BR+ NAD IV treatment longer than anyone in the United States. She continues to engage in research into the uses of NAD+ in delivery of Brain Restoration+ protocols.

Paula Norris Mestayer is a licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), a Fellow of the American Psychotherapy Association (FAPA), and a member of the American Counseling Association and the Louisiana Counseling Association. She was certified by the International Society of Clinical Hypnosis, The New Orleans Society of Clinical Hypnosis, the PAIRS Foundation for Marital Family Therapy and the ADTR-Creative Arts Therapy.

Norris’ papers and presentations include “Clinical Trials of Neurotransmission Restoration” at the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Educators (CAADE), Costa Mesa, CA, April 2008; “Amino Acid-based Nutritional Supplementation Facilitates Abrupt Cessation (‘Stopping Cold Turkey’) of Substance Use By Addiction Patients. Reduction of Withdrawal Symptoms With Minimal Abuse Potential” at the Society for Neuroscience Conference, Washington, D.C., November 2008; and “Intravenous Administration of NAD Significantly Reduces Self-Reported Cravings Routinely Associated with Opiate and Alcohol Withdrawal” at the Society for Neuroscience Conference in Washington, D.C., November 2014. “Intravenous Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide and Clinical Applications” on December 16, 2018, Empower Health USA in Nashville, TN. Annual NAD Summit in San Diego, CA, January 26, 2018: “Dark Night of the Soul.” Louisiana Association of Substance Abuse Counselors & Trainers (LASACT) conference July 29, 2018: “The NAD Story.” Hammond Rotary Club, January 29, 2020: “What is NAD and what does it do?” Terrell Conference for Mental Health Practitioners, Southeastern Louisiana University January 9, 2020: The Role of NAD and Compassionate Patient Care in the Health Care Industry.

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Dr. Richard Mestayer, III

Dr. Richard Mestayer, III, earned his M.D. at Louisiana State University Medical Center in 1974 and completed an internship in medicine at Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation, New Orleans, LA, in 1975, where he was named medical “Intern of the Year.” He completed his residency in psychiatry at the University of Virginia Department of Psychiatry in Charlottesville in 1978 and is board certified in psychiatry and neurology. Dr. Mestayer was co-Chief Resident of Psychiatry at University of Virginia Medical School.

In his 39-year career as a practicing physician, Dr. Mestayer has helped countless men and women overcome chemical dependencies, traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, panic, and affective personality disorders. For 27 years he directed the behavioral medicine and stress treatment units at Ochsner Foundation Hospital, taught courses in psychosomatic medicine and personality disorders to residents accepted into Ochsner’s Psychiatric Residency program, where he was named “Teacher of the Year” in 1996. Other awards include “Best Doctor in New Orleans” by New Orleans magazine and the Ochsner Department of Psychiatry’s “Outstanding and Dedicated Service Award” in 2005.

Since his retirement in 2005 he has focused his efforts on addiction recovery and in 2008 as Chief Psychiatric Consultant at Springfield Wellness Center, a non-residential mental health clinic pioneering a proprietary formula of NAD (nicotine adenine dinucleotide) for the treatment of alcoholism, addiction, chronic and post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and sleep disorders. Since February 2012 he has also served as President and Medical Director of NAD Research, Inc. and, since April 2014, as the sole proprietor of BR+ M.D. Consultants, LLC., a training program for medical practitioners who seek certification in BR+NAD methods and protocols, the pioneering work of Paula and Richard Mestayer. He is currently working with NAD Research, Inc. investigating new data regarding the efficacy of BR+NAD with addictions (alcohol and opiate) and Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Mestayer’s papers and presentations include “Stress-Related Disorders: Recent Developments in Hospital Treatment,” Journal of Applied Medicine for the Primary Care Physician, May 1, 1985; “Amino Acid-based Nutritional Supplementation Facilitates Abrupt Cessation (‘Stopping Cold Turkey’) of Substance Use by Addiction Patients. Reduction of Withdrawal Symptoms with Minimal Abuse Potential,” Society for Neuroscience, Washington, D.C., November 2008; “A Pilot Study Investigating Changes in the Human Plasma and Urine NAD+ Metabolome During a 6-Hour Intravenous Infusion of NAD+,” Front. Aging Neurosci., 12 September 2019;invited panelist on “Clinical Trials of Neurotransmission Restoration” by the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Educators (CAADE), Costa Mesa, CA, April 2008; “Compounding products for pain control,” interview in International Journal of Compounding, 2010; and “Intravenous Administration of NAD Significantly Reduces Self-Reported Cravings Routinely Associated with Opiate and Alcohol Withdrawal” at the Society of Neuroscience meeting in Washington, D.C., November 2014. He is currently co-authoring a chapter in a soon to be released book addressing Metabolic Pain.

Throughout his tenure as a practicing physician, Dr. Mestayer was a member of the American Medical Association, the Southern Medical Association, the Orleans Parish Medical Society, and the Southern Psychiatric Association.