Therapy is the clinical core of addiction treatment. But it’s not the whole picture — and understanding how it fits into the broader structure of recovery can make a real difference in how someone approaches treatment, and what they get out of it.
This page explains how we think about therapy at Purposes Recovery: what it does, how our different therapy approaches work together, and how clinical decisions get made about what’s right for each person.
Therapy Is One Part of a Larger Structure
In residential and PHP treatment, the therapeutic environment extends across the full day. Formal therapy sessions — individual therapy, group therapy, skills groups — are the clinical core. But recovery also happens in the spaces around them: in peer community, in psychiatric care, in case management, in the routines and structure of daily life in treatment.
That context matters because it sets realistic expectations. Therapy works. It works better when it’s the right fit, delivered consistently, and supported by the broader structure of a real treatment program rather than standing alone.
Learn more about what treatment looks like at each level of care →
How We Think About Therapy at Purposes Recovery
Our clinical team was built around a shared philosophy: that effective addiction treatment requires both clinical rigor and genuine human understanding.
Our medical director, Dr. Eric Chaghouri, specializes specifically in co-occurring psychiatric and addictive disorders — the complexity that most treatment programs struggle with. Our therapists bring evidence-based training across DBT, CBT, and EMDR alongside deep experience in residential and intensive outpatient settings. Our program leadership includes people who understand addiction from the inside as well as the clinical.
What that means in practice is that therapy at Purposes isn’t a one-size-fits-all protocol. It’s a clinical process — one that starts with a thorough assessment and builds an individualized plan around the specific person, not a standard checklist.
Our Therapy Approaches
Each therapy we offer targets something specific. For many people, the most effective treatment plan involves more than one.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills-based therapy for managing intense emotions, tolerating distress, and reducing the impulsive patterns that drive substance use. We offer DBT-SUD — a formal adaptation developed specifically for substance use disorders. Learn more →
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Focuses on the relationship between thought patterns and behavior. Helps people identify and change the cognitive distortions that sustain addictive behavior and make relapse feel inevitable. Learn more →
EMDR Therapy An evidence-based therapy for processing unresolved trauma that often underlies substance use. Particularly valuable for people whose addiction developed as a way of managing trauma symptoms. Learn more →
Group Therapy Not a lesser form of individual therapy — a different and irreplaceable part of recovery. Includes skills groups, process groups, psychoeducation, and specialty groups focused on trauma, relapse prevention, and family systems. Learn more →
How These Therapies Work Together
DBT, CBT, EMDR, and group therapy are not competing options. They address different dimensions of addiction and recovery, and for many people they work in combination within the same treatment plan.
A common example: someone whose substance use is driven by both unresolved trauma and deeply ingrained thought patterns might work with EMDR to process the trauma, DBT to build emotional regulation and distress tolerance skills, and CBT to address the cognitive distortions that enable continued use. Group therapy runs alongside all of it — providing the peer context and honest accountability that individual therapy alone can’t replicate.
The right combination depends on the person. That’s what the clinical assessment process is for.
How We Decide What's Right for Each Person
No one arrives at Purposes Recovery already knowing which therapy they need, and they shouldn’t have to.
Before treatment begins, our clinical team conducts a thorough assessment covering the full picture: history and nature of substance use, co-occurring mental health conditions, trauma history, relational patterns, previous treatment experiences, and personal goals. From that assessment, an individualized treatment plan is built that identifies which therapy approaches — and which combination — are most likely to be effective.
That plan isn’t fixed. It gets revisited as treatment progresses, because what someone needs in week one of residential care is often different from what they need three months into IOP.
Questions About Therapy at Purposes Recovery
Do I need to know which therapy I want before I reach out?
No. Our clinical team will assess your situation and recommend the right approach as part of your individualized treatment plan.
What if I've tried therapy before and it didn't work?
That’s a common experience — and it usually means the fit wasn’t right, or the level of clinical support wasn’t sufficient. We’d encourage a conversation before drawing that conclusion.
Does insurance cover therapy at Purposes Recovery?
Many insurance plans cover evidence-based therapy as part of addiction treatment. Verify your insurance to understand your specific benefits.
Get Started
If you have questions about our clinical approach or want to understand what therapy would look like for your specific situation, our team is here to help.