Substance Use Therapy
Maybe it's the after-work drinks that stopped being optional. The prescription that outlived the prescription. The habit that started as an off-switch for a demanding life and is now quietly running parts of it.
You don't need to call yourself an addict to take this seriously, and you don't need to have decided anything to come in. This is outpatient therapy for people examining their relationship with a substance — honestly, without shame, and on their own steam.
Where this work fits
- Alcohol use that's drifted past where you want it
- Prescription medication concerns
- Substances woven into stress, sleep, or social survival
- Gray-area use: functional, private, and increasingly non-negotiable
- Staying steady after cutting back or stopping
- Partners and family carrying someone else's use
How we approach it
The foundation is Motivational Interviewing — an evidence-based approach that works with your ambivalence instead of bulldozing it. No lectures, no scare slides. We get precise about what the substance does for you, what it costs, and what you actually want — and let honest arithmetic do what willpower couldn't.
Because use is usually load-bearing — managing anxiety, trauma, burnout, or disconnection — we treat what it's holding up at the same time, drawing on the practice's trauma and anxiety work.
This is outpatient therapy, not detox or an intensive program. If your situation calls for medical support or a higher level of care, we'll say so plainly and help you find it.
Practical details
55-minute sessions, $215 with sliding scale from $150–194, free 15-minute consultation. In person downtown or telehealth across DC. Discretion is treated as a professional norm here — within the standard legal limits of any therapy, which we'll explain plainly before you share anything.
Common questions
Ready to begin?
The 15-minute consult is where most people begin.