Occupational therapy for substance use

For adults in Phoenix & throughout AZ

You’re tired of on-again, off-again sobriety.

You’ve been in and out of treatment or recovery communities. You’re sick of chronically relapsing—despite all of your best efforts, you just can’t seem to stay sober long term. Your family might be telling you that you’ve got to figure this out if they’re going to continue supporting you and allowing you in their life.
But you want to be sober. You want to hold down a steady job, to have a healthy social life, to enjoy a relationship with your family or loved ones. You’re ready to get this figured out so you can make those things a reality.

How can occupational therapy help with substance use?

Occupational therapy takes a holistic approach to addressing substance use. It’s about supporting and empowering you as a whole person, not just addressing your substance use. Maybe that’s challenges with sleep, work-life balance, sensory concerns, or an underlying mental health diagnosis that hasn’t been addressed before—we’ll take a look at the whole picture in order to figure it out.

From there, we can equip you with skills, habits, and strategies that will support your sobriety long-term: improving emotional regulation, creating healthy routines, and equipping you to live independently.

There is more than one way to stay sober. Everyone’s journey is different, and our work together will be too. Rather than restricting you to one specific treatment protocol, we’ll find what’s going to work best for you—free of shame or black-and-white thinking.

How it works

Assess

I’m here to offer you a place where you will be truly understood and listened to, not judged or criticized. We’ll discuss your substance use history as well as other facets of your life, from sleep to your social life, and your goals for our time together. This will serve as our roadmap.

Explore

Then we’ll start looking at your pattern of substance use and your unique barriers to sobriety. I’ll help you develop new insight into yourself by identifying what’s going on as well as the underlying causes. We’ll get to the bottom of what’s at play and address it at the source.

Strategize

With a more holistic understanding of your substance use, we can begin working on coping skills & habits to stay sober and accomplish your goals. You’ll be empowered with a toolbox of strategies that allow you to maintain long-term sobriety in the way that’s right for you.

Things we can work on together:

  • Identifying the root cause of your substance use

  • Relapse planning and prevention

  • Addressing barriers like low motivation, energy, or mood

  • Nervous system and emotional regulation

  • Social skills and communication

  • Relaxation and stress reduction techniques

  • Improving physical health

You are capable of a fulfilling, sober life.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Each of these things can be incredibly useful in achieving sobriety. However, they often leave out an important part of maintaining it: understanding and addressing what’s behind the substance use. Occupational therapy starts there, rather than just treating the substance use, in order to set you up for long-term success. Once we’ve identified and addressed what’s behind it, we work on practical, day-to-day skills that equip you to maintain sobriety in the way that’s right for you.

  • I have experience supporting clients with histories of use with:

    • Alcohol

    • Marijuana

    • Opioids

    • Heroin

    • Methamphetamine

    • Cocaine

  • In order for you to get the most out of occupational therapy, it’s incredibly important that you are working with someone who you feel is a good fit. Click this link to schedule a free consultation with me. We’ll use this time to discuss your goals, my approach, and whether I’m the right therapist for you.