The Purpose and Value of Individual Drug Counseling

Individual drug counseling has two main objectives in rehab: to address the symptoms of your addiction and the areas of your life that substance abuse has affected and to assist you in continuing your ongoing recovery program.

Simply treating physical symptoms is not enough on its own. Individual counseling is an essential aspect of any drug and alcohol rehab program because it addresses the mental and emotional aspects of addiction. In addition, the conversation between you and your counselor invites you to unroot deeply buried issues, experiences or perceptions that influenced your addiction and bring them into the light. As a result, you gain a certain sense of self-awareness that you can learn to use as a tool to fight relapse.

With individual drug counseling, you are working to achieve short-term life and behavioral goals directly related to your addiction, and you are learning how to restructure your life in a healthier way that does not involve substance abuse.

Building a Solid Foundation for a Sober Life

Your individual drug counseling sessions will serve as a cornerstone for your recovery and provide many benefits that will help you restructure your life, relationships, and mindset. During individual counseling, you will learn to:

• Accept that you have an illness – A key component of substance abuse treatment is accepting the fact that you are addicted. This isn’t always easy, but it is a major stepping stone to recovery.
• Address the root causes of your addiction – Oftentimes substance abuse is a form of self-medication or a way to deal with a difficult situation or traumatic event in life. By addressing those issues individually, your counselor can help you learn to identify ongoing life situations in which using drugs or alcohol to cope does not work.
• Practice more effective life skills – Individual counseling provides opportunities to learn and practice healthier problem-solving and decision-making strategies to abstain from using a substance.
• Heal damaged relationships – Your substance abuse likely contributed to a number of damaged relationships in your life. Making amends with these people is an essential component of recovery. Your counselor will be there to encourage and help you as you navigate this delicate process.
• Learn how to build healthy relationships – Individual drug counseling also provides useful tools for building new, healthy relationships that will help your ongoing recovery, not hinder it.

Maintain abstinence from addictive substances – The self-awareness and confidence you gain in individual counseling sessions work together with the tools and strategies you learn in group counseling to help you continue living a fulfilling and sober life.

What to Expect at Nova

Throughout the duration of your drug and alcohol rehab program, you will meet with your recovery specialist and clinical counselor weekly. Your recovery specialist will also contact your family once a week to provide an update on your progress through the recovery program.

One-on-one meetings with your recovery specialist will focus on recovery tools, behavioral modification, and strategies that will enable you to put your old life of addiction behind you and focus on living a new, sober life.

During individual meetings with your counselor, he or she will facilitate productive discussion that focuses on the underlying causes, experiences or trauma that led to your addiction, and lead you in an honest investigation of your addictive behaviors and thoughts.

Individual drug counseling at Nova is a collaborative process between you and your counselor and it will require honesty and a willingness to actively take part in your recovery. You can feel comfortable sharing your thoughts in a private, judgement-free environment. Individual counseling sessions at Nova are consistent and confidential to help you build a solid recovery foundation.

Qualifications of Our Counselors

Our counselors at Nova are all Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselors (LCDCs). To achieve this licensing, they have all:

• Passed all CI requirements (pass a criminal background check, have a high school diploma or GED, have at least 270 hours of chemical dependency training/education, complete a 300-hour practicum, and sign the ethical standards agreement)
• Obtained at least an Associate’s degree in Chemical Dependency Counseling from a regionally accredited university
• Completed 4,000 hours of supervised work experience under the supervision of an LCDC with a current active license in Texas
• Passed the Texas written Chemical Dependency Counselor Examination and the Texas oral Chemical Dependency Counselor Examination
• Provided two letters of reference from LCDCs
• Presented an acceptable case examination to the board

The licensed counselors and therapists at Nova Recovery Center are also CEA-certified, which means they have received comprehensive training on how to use the Core Emotional Addiction (CEA) Model for addiction treatment. The CEA model is a type of evidence-based treatment that is designed to help individuals establish and secure an emotionally mature foundation in recovery. At Nova, our staff upholds the highest standards of reliability and trustworthiness in all aspects of counseling and treatment programming. You can read more about our leadership team and licensed counselors here.