Addiction Therapy
Your goal is our goal
Whether you want to moderate, abstain or just reduce the potential harm from your substance use, we can help you achieve your goal. We do not use a 12-step program, but rather a harm-reduction approach.
What is harm reduction?
Harm reduction is about taking steps to reduce the negative consequences of behaviors. Wearing a helmet is a harm reduction step to reduce the negative consequence of getting injured while on a bike.
For drinking, it can include reducing hangovers, reducing risky behavior such as drinking and driving, reducing conflicts at work or home caused by drinking etc. This can look different for different people. Some want to moderate their substance use so they can use recreationally, but not let it control their lives, others want to get intoxicated, but do so in a relatively safe manner and others want to stop completely, either permanently or just for the time being. These goals can change over time and that's fine.
What will therapy look like?
To start off, we will discuss what is concerning to you about your substance use and what you want the end result to look like. From there we will create a plan to achieve your goal and figure out what tools and strategies you need to learn to reach it. We may look at outside influences to your substance use such as stress, mental health, or medical problems so that your substance use isn't the only coping skill you have to handle them.
What will we not do?
We will never tell you that sobriety is the only way. We will never tell you what you need to be working on. We won't make you call yourself an addict, say you're diseased or that you are powerless. We don't make you choose a "higher power" if you don't want to.
What will we do?
We will give you tools, resources, empowerment, and support. We may give suggestions based on our clinical experience, but the choice is still up to you. We will support you on your journey however you want it to look.
Are animals involved?
They can be! If you want to have one of our therapy animals join your session, we can try to arrange that. Dogs especially give unconditional love and can be great teachers. They can relieve stress, teach us about emotions and improve life skills to name a few benefits.
Horses are great teachers and can help you learn empathy, impulse control, and coping skills. Click here for more information about equine therapy.