Recovery is more than staying sober, it's coming back to life.
Somatic and relational therapy for those in active recovery, addressing the trauma, patterns, and wounds that drove the addiction in the first place.
Addiction and trauma are almost always connected
Addiction rarely exists in isolation. Beneath almost every significant struggle with substance use or compulsive behavior is a nervous system trying to regulate, trying to manage pain, to numb overwhelming feeling, to create relief in the absence of other options. Addiction is, at its root, an attempt to cope. And the experiences that made that coping necessary, the trauma, relational wounds, and childhood pain, don't go away when the substance does.
This is why early recovery can feel so raw and so disorienting. The substance was doing something. It was numbing, soothing, and providing relief from an inner world that felt intolerable. When it goes, everything it was covering comes to the surface. Without the right support to work with what's underneath, the pull back toward the addiction, or toward a new one, can be overwhelming.
Recovery that lasts isn't just about abstinence. It's about addressing what was driving the addiction, healing the nervous system that learned to depend on it, and building the kind of genuine internal safety and relational connection that makes sobriety not just possible but meaningful.
Addiction is not a moral failure. It is the nervous system's best attempt to manage pain it didn't have other tools to hold.
My background in addiction treatment
I came to addiction work through direct clinical experience at The Meadows, one of the country's most respected residential treatment centers for trauma and addiction. There I worked with individuals and families navigating the acute and complex intersection of trauma, mental health, and substance use, and was trained directly in Pia Mellody's Post Induction Therapy (PTI). PIT is a model that understands addiction and codependency as inseparable from the relational wounds of childhood.
That experience shaped how I understand and work with addiction: not as a disease to be managed in isolation, but as an expression of deeper wounding that deserves , and can receive, genuine healing. I bring that clinical depth to my private practice work with people in active recovery, alongside Somatic Experiencing as a way of working with the nervous system dysregulation that underlies so much addictive behavior.
I am familiar with and supportive of 12-step programs and other peer-based recovery communities. I do not see participation in AA, NA, Al-Anon, or similar groups as in competition with therapy. I see them as complementary, and I actively support clients in these programs alongside our therapeutic work.
A note on who I work with: I work with people who are in active recovery, meaning they are not currently using substances and have a foundation of sobriety in place. I do not work with active substance use. If you are currently using and seeking support to stop, I am happy to help you find the right level of care and refer you to appropriate resources.
What I work with
Substance use & recovery
Alcohol, drugs, and other substances. Working with the trauma, relational wounds, and nervous system patterns that drove the addiction, and building the internal resources that support lasting sobriety.
Behavioral addictions
Compulsive behaviors including sex and love addiction, food and eating, work, spending, and other process addictions, which often share the same roots in unmet relational needs and nervous system dysregulation as substance addictions.
Co-occurring trauma & addiction
Trauma and addiction almost always coexist, each feeding the other. Treating them simultaneously, rather than sequentially, tends to produce the most durable results. SE and PIT are particularly well suited to this integrated approach.
Family members & loved ones
Living alongside someone in active addiction or early recovery is its own particular kind of pain. I work with family members and loved ones, supporting their own healing, addressing the codependency patterns that often develop in these relationships, and helping them find their own ground.
Early recovery support
The early months and years of sobriety are often the most vulnerable, when the substance is gone but the underlying wounds are raw and the nervous system is recalibrating. Targeted support during this period can make a significant difference in long-term outcomes.
Sobriety & identity
Recovery involves not just stopping a behavior but rebuilding an identity. Figuring out who you are without the substance, what gives your life meaning, and how to build relationships and a life that feel worth staying sober for.
How SE and PIT address addiction at the root
Most addiction treatment focuses primarily on the behavioral, stopping the use, building coping skills, establishing structure and support. These are essential. But they often leave the deepest layer unaddressed: the nervous system that learned to depend on the substance, and the relational wounds that made that dependence feel necessary.
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Addiction is, at its physiological root, a dysregulation problem. The nervous system reaches for the substance because it doesn't have other ways to regulate. SE works directly with that dysregulation, helping the body learn what genuine settling and safety feel like without chemical assistance. This builds the internal regulatory capacity that makes sobriety sustainable rather than white-knuckled.
Learn more about SE →Post Induction Therapy (PIT)
Pia Mellody's model understands addiction and codependency as arising from the same childhood relational wounds. The unmet needs, the absence of healthy limits, the family systems that couldn't provide consistent safety and love. PIT addresses those roots directly, working experientially with the parts of you that first learned to reach outside yourself for relief.
Learn more about PIT →"The opposite of addiction is connection."
This phrase, drawn from Johann Hari's work and supported by decades of research, points to something fundamental about what addiction is and what recovery requires. Addiction thrives in isolation, in shame, in disconnection from self and others. Recovery happens in the opposite conditions: in relationship, in community, in the experience of being genuinely known and accepted.
This is why 12-step programs work as well as they do, not primarily because of the steps themselves, but because of the community they create. The experience of sitting in a room with others who understand, of being witnessed in your struggle without judgment, of giving and receiving support across the arc of a life in recovery. These are profoundly healing experiences that no amount of individual therapy can fully replicate.
My work with people in recovery is grounded in this understanding. Individual therapy addresses the internal dimensions, the nervous system, the wounds, the patterns, while community and relationship provide the relational soil in which lasting recovery can take root. We cannot get better alone. The work we do together is in service of a life that is genuinely connected. To yourself, to others, and to something that feels worth staying sober for.
Who this work is for
You are in active recovery from substance use or a behavioral addiction and have a foundation of sobriety in place
You have done the work of getting sober and are ready to go deeper, to address what was driving the addiction in the first place
You sense that trauma, childhood wounds, or relational patterns are connected to your addiction and want to work with those connections directly
You are participating in a 12-step program or other peer recovery community and are looking for a therapist who understands and supports that work
You are a family member or loved one of someone in active addiction or recovery, navigating your own pain, confusion, and codependency patterns
You want therapy that works with your body and nervous system, not just your thoughts and behaviors, to build the kind of genuine internal regulation that makes sobriety sustainable
FAQs
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I work with people who are in active recovery — meaning they are not currently using substances and have a foundation of sobriety in place. I do not work with active substance use. If you are currently using and seeking support to stop, I am happy to help you identify the right level of care and connect you with appropriate resources. A solid foundation of sobriety is necessary before we can do the deeper therapeutic work that recovery requires.
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Absolutely — and I actively encourage it. I am familiar with and supportive of 12-step programs including AA, NA, Al-Anon, and CODA. I see peer recovery communities as complementary to therapy, not in competition with it. The community, accountability, and shared experience that 12-step programs offer are things that individual therapy cannot fully replicate. Many of my clients participate in both simultaneously and find they deepen and reinforce each other.
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Relapse often happens when the underlying conditions that drove the addiction — the nervous system dysregulation, the unhealed trauma, the relational wounds — haven't been adequately addressed. Sobriety changes the behavior but doesn't automatically heal what was driving it. When life circumstances activate the original pain — a relationship ending, a loss, a period of intense stress — the pull back toward the substance can feel overwhelming if the underlying wounds are still raw. This is why addressing the roots of addiction in therapy is so important for long-term recovery.
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Yes — I work with family members and loved ones of people in active addiction or recovery. Living alongside someone in addiction is its own profound experience of pain, confusion, helplessness, and love. It frequently develops into codependency patterns that deserve their own therapeutic attention, entirely separate from what your loved one is doing or not doing. You don't need to wait for them to get help to begin your own healing. Your wellbeing matters independently.
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Traditional addiction treatment focuses primarily on the behavioral — stopping the use, building coping skills, establishing structure and accountability. These are essential. Somatic therapy adds a dimension that most addiction treatment doesn't address: the nervous system. Addiction is fundamentally a dysregulation problem — the nervous system reaches for the substance because it doesn't have other ways to self-regulate. SE helps the body develop those other ways, building the internal regulatory capacity that makes sobriety feel sustainable rather than like a constant act of willpower.
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Addiction, trauma, and codependency almost always share the same roots. Childhood experiences of abuse, neglect, emotional unavailability, or family dysfunction create nervous system dysregulation and relational wounds that the person later tries to manage through substances or compulsive behaviors. Pia Mellody's model — which I trained in directly at The Meadows — understands addiction and codependency as arising from the same childhood relational wounds. Treating them as separate problems often produces incomplete results. Treating them together, at the root, is where lasting recovery becomes possible.
Recovery is possible. A life that feels worth living is possible.
If something here resonated, if you recognized yourself or someone you love in these descriptions, I'd love to connect. Schedule a free 20-minute consultation and we'll talk about where you are and whether working together might be the right next step.