Therapy and Counseling

At La Ventana clients participate in daily group therapy with four groups per day in our Day Treatment Program and two groups per day in our Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP). Each client also receives individual therapy sessions with their lead therapist as well as an individual nutritional assessment from one of our several registered dietitians. Addiction issues are addressed through engaging educational workshops on stress, spirituality, relationships, and assertiveness training. Our philosophy is to blend continuous, intensive. and structure care in a system of support, guidance, and education.

Individual Therapy and Counseling

Individual therapy refers to therapy sessions with one client and one therapist. Individual sessions at La Ventana with a therapist average about 50 minutes to one hour long. An alternative to group therapy, individual therapy is offered in many different types or branches of psychology and is widely used at La Ventana for drug and alcohol addiction. Psychology is the science of understanding human behavior, thought, emotion and perception. Therapy strives to help people better understand themselves and their problems in order to cope with their addictions and demands of their daily lives.

When an addict begins treatment, individual counseling generally focuses on motivating the person to stop using drugs or alcohol. As treatment progresses, counseling shifts to helping the person stay drug and alcohol free.

In addiction treatment, individual counseling and psychotherapy is best used as an adjunct to the group therapy process. At La Ventana each patient receives at least one individual session with their lead therapist per week, Additional counseling sessions with their lead therapist may be done as needed.

Group Counseling

At La Ventana, Group therapy and Counseling is used and is a type of psychotherapy that involves one or more therapists working with several people at the same time. This type of therapy is widely available at a variety of locations and is used extensively in drug and alcohol addiction treatment. Group therapy is sometimes used alone, but it is also commonly integrated into a comprehensive treatment plan that also includes individual therapy and medication. Group therapy is a form of psychotherapy that is guided by a trained addiction therapist and attended by you and other addicts in recovery.

In group therapy you will be asked to confront your personal problems with assistance from your peers, as well as provide and solicit constructive feedback regarding destructive behavior. We have found through experience that these small groups are highly effective in helping our patients to discover and address the origins of their addictions.

Group therapy at La Ventana is comprehensive, diversified, intensive, and addresses the underlying issues of the addiction.

Topics include:

• Family Issues
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Relapse Prevention
• Women’s Issues
• Men’s Issues
• Experiential
• Art Therapy
• Education
• Meditation
• Goals and Progress
• Psychiatric Issues/Medications

During group counseling, group members support and try to help one another cope with life without using drugs or alcohol. They share their experiences, talk about their feelings and problems, and find out that others have similar problems.