Outpatient therapy for adults working on substance use, chronic relapse, and what sits underneath both.
I've worked with people at every stage of addiction and recovery, from those still actively using to those with decades of sobriety. All of it is rewarding. Maybe you're not sure you have a problem. Maybe you know you do and aren't sure you're ready to stop.
I'm not going to decide that for you. Instead of telling you whether there's a problem or whether you should quit, I'll help you understand your own experience and your relationship with substances, or with whatever other behavior brought you here, and support a path that respects your autonomy along the way.
I also see people who come in with years of recovery behind them. Sometimes that's for a deeper layer of work, sometimes it's for things that never got addressed on the road there. Whatever your reason for coming, I'll meet you where you are.
What often shifts first is clarity. A clearer sense of your own relationship with the substance or the behavior, and more room to make a choice instead of just reacting.
Alcohol is the substance people are slowest to bring in, because it's legal, social, and everywhere. The question that actually matters usually isn't how much, it's what it's doing for you — whether it's the only thing that reliably ends the day, quiets the noise, or makes being around people tolerable.
You don't need a diagnosis, a rock-bottom story, or a decision about whether you're quitting to start looking at it. Plenty of people come in specifically because they can't tell whether it's a problem yet.
Chronic relapse is its own kind of demoralizing, and it usually arrives with a story attached: that you're the exception, that you lack willpower, that treatment works for other people. That story tends to be the thing keeping the cycle running.
In practice, a relapse almost always has a shape — something that was building for days or weeks before the drink or the use. Mapping that shape is most of the work. So is figuring out what the substance was doing that nothing else has replaced yet.
Substance use and trauma travel together often enough that treating one while ignoring the other tends to stall. Using is frequently the most effective thing someone found for symptoms they had no other way to manage — hypervigilance, intrusive memories, chronic emptiness, being unable to sleep.
That framing isn't an excuse and it isn't a bypass of accountability. It's a working assumption: if the underlying thing goes unaddressed, sobriety tends to feel like white-knuckling rather than relief. Complex trauma specifically is where a lot of this lives — more on that here.
Weekly outpatient therapy is the right fit for a lot of people and the wrong fit for some. It is not a substitute for medical detox, and withdrawal from alcohol or benzodiazepines can be genuinely dangerous without supervision. If what you need is detox, an intensive outpatient program, or residential treatment, the useful thing I can do is say so plainly and help you find it.
Outpatient might not be the right fit, for a few reasons. Severe symptoms can make it hard to function day to day, and they can create safety risks, including suicidal behavior or self-harm. When that's the case, an hour a week with me isn't enough to get you the traction you need. The same goes for substance use or addictive behavior that's too strong to cut back on without more support around you in early recovery.
If you're not sure, let's talk. I've worked at every level of care: detox, IOP, PHP, residential. I can help you figure out the best option.
No, you don't need to be sober already. Plenty of people want to make a change and can't get all the way there without some extra help. That said, I can't do therapy with someone who's impaired or under the influence, so if showing up sober to a session is the hard part, outpatient probably isn't the right fit right now. I can point you toward more supportive levels of care: detox, IOP, PHP, or residential.
No. I welcome people whatever pathway they take, and I'll never require a 12-step program. I've watched AA change people's lives, and it's still not for everyone. You get to decide what support looks like for you, and I can walk you through the different peer groups out there. If you're coming to me, it's because you want professional support. I'll be your therapist, not your sponsor (you can get one of those for free).
Relapse is common in recovery and it isn't evidence that treatment failed or that you can't do this. What it usually is, is information — about what was happening in the days before, what need the substance was meeting, and what wasn't in place yet. That's material to work with, not a reason to start over from zero.
It depends on what you're using, how much, and whether stopping is medically safe on your own. Alcohol and benzodiazepine withdrawal in particular can be dangerous without medical supervision. If a higher level of care is the right call, I'll tell you that directly and help you find it rather than keep you in weekly sessions that aren't sufficient.
Yes. Substance use treatment is covered under outpatient mental health benefits on all ten plans I'm in-network with. The insurance and fees page has the full list and what to ask your plan.
Absolutely. I work with a lot of people whose loved one is struggling. Sometimes that's a place to put the fear, guilt, and shame that come with loving someone in addiction. Other times it's about boundaries and communication, or about finding ways to cope and building more support of your own.
A free 15-minute call. No commitment, and no need to have it figured out first.
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