Evidence-Based Therapies at Rising Phoenix
Effective treatment for addiction and mental health is not one-size-fits-all. Different people — different histories, different diagnoses, different personalities — respond to different therapeutic approaches. That’s why Rising Phoenix uses a broad toolkit of evidence-based modalities, selecting and combining therapies based on each client’s individual assessment and treatment plan.
All of the therapies below have been studied in clinical research and have demonstrated effectiveness for the conditions we treat. Your primary therapist will discuss which approaches are most likely to benefit you when you begin treatment.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the most extensively researched form of psychotherapy for addiction, depression, anxiety, and a wide range of other mental health conditions. CBT is based on the principle that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected — and that changing unhelpful patterns of thinking produces lasting changes in how we feel and what we do.
In addiction treatment, CBT helps clients identify the specific triggers, thoughts, and emotional states that precede substance use — and build practical skills for responding differently. In mental health treatment, CBT challenges distorted thinking patterns that maintain depression and anxiety, replacing them with more accurate and adaptive ways of interpreting experience.
CBT is structured, skills-focused, and relatively brief — most clients see meaningful change within 12–20 sessions. The skills learned in CBT are durable and transferable, meaning you leave treatment with tools you can continue using independently.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy was originally developed for people with borderline personality disorder, but its applications have expanded significantly. DBT is now a first-line treatment for emotional dysregulation, self-harm, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and trauma — anywhere that emotions feel overwhelming and difficult to manage.
DBT teaches four core skill sets: mindfulness (awareness of the present moment), distress tolerance (surviving crises without making them worse), emotion regulation (understanding and managing intense emotions), and interpersonal effectiveness (communicating needs clearly and maintaining healthy relationships).
At Rising Phoenix, DBT is integrated into both group and individual therapy. Clients often find DBT skills among the most immediately practical tools they encounter in treatment — skills that apply directly to daily life rather than staying in the therapy room.
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Somatic Experiencing is a body-focused approach to healing trauma developed by Dr. Peter Levine. Unlike talk-based therapies, SE works with the physical sensations, movement impulses, and nervous system responses that are stored in the body following traumatic experiences.
The theory behind SE is that trauma is not primarily a story — it’s a physiological state of incomplete survival response. The body instinctively braces, freezes, or collapses in the face of overwhelming threat, and when the threat has passed but the nervous system hasn’t discharged that energy, symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, dissociation, and chronic stress can persist indefinitely.
SE gently guides clients to track internal physical sensations, allowing the nervous system to complete the responses that were interrupted by trauma — restoring a natural sense of safety and groundedness. It is particularly effective for clients who have not responded fully to verbal therapies, or whose trauma symptoms feel more physical than cognitive.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
Accelerated Resolution Therapy is a newer, evidence-based trauma therapy developed by Laney Rosenzweig. ART uses a combination of eye movements (similar to those used in EMDR) and a technique called Voluntary Memory and Image Replacement to process traumatic memories and replace their emotional charge with neutral or positive imagery.
One of ART’s most valued features is that clients do not need to verbally describe or recount traumatic events in detail — making it accessible for clients who feel that talking about trauma is re-traumatizing rather than healing. Despite this, ART consistently produces significant, often rapid reductions in PTSD symptoms, intrusive memories, nightmares, and emotional reactivity.
Research on ART shows outcomes comparable to EMDR, typically in fewer sessions. For clients who have heard of EMDR and are seeking that type of trauma processing, ART represents a comparable and in many respects more streamlined alternative.
Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)
Solution Focused Brief Therapy shifts the attention of treatment from problems to solutions — from what’s wrong to what’s working, and from the past to the future. Rather than dwelling extensively on the history of a problem, SFBT asks: “What would your life look like if this problem were solved? What’s already happening that resembles that vision?”
SFBT is particularly useful in early treatment when clients are building motivation, and as a complement to more intensive trauma-processing work. It supports self-efficacy, hope, and the identification of existing strengths that can be mobilized in service of recovery.
Medication Assisted Recovery (MAR)
Medication-Assisted Recovery (MAR) integrates FDA-approved medications with psychosocial treatment for opioid use disorder and alcohol use disorder. At Rising Phoenix, MAR is not medication-only treatment — it is medication as one component of a comprehensive clinical program.
For opioid use disorder, medications such as buprenorphine (Suboxone) significantly reduce cravings, block the euphoric effects of opioids, and dramatically lower the risk of relapse and overdose death. For alcohol use disorder, medications such as naltrexone can reduce the drive to drink and diminish the rewarding effects of alcohol.
The clinical research on MAR is unambiguous: combining medication with behavioral treatment produces better outcomes than either approach alone. Rising Phoenix’s prescribers and therapists work as a team to ensure medication management and therapy are fully integrated.
Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness-based practices — including mindfulness meditation, mindful breathing, and body-scan techniques — are integrated throughout Rising Phoenix’s programming at all levels of care. Mindfulness is not a standalone therapy but a foundational skill that enhances the effectiveness of every other therapeutic approach.
Research supports mindfulness as an effective intervention for addiction relapse prevention, depression, anxiety, stress, and chronic pain. Regular mindfulness practice literally changes brain structure — thickening the prefrontal cortex (responsible for decision-making and impulse control) and reducing activity in the amygdala (responsible for threat response and emotional reactivity).
At Rising Phoenix, mindfulness is practical and non-religious. Clients are taught to observe thoughts and feelings without immediately reacting to them — a skill that is directly applicable to cravings, emotional triggers, and interpersonal conflict.
Trauma Focused Therapy
Trauma-Focused Therapy at Rising Phoenix is not a single modality but an integrated approach informed by the latest understanding of how trauma affects the brain, body, and behavior. All of our clinicians are trained in trauma-informed care — meaning that every interaction in treatment is designed to avoid re-traumatization and support a sense of safety, choice, and control.
For clients with identified trauma histories, formal trauma processing is integrated into the individual therapy component of their treatment plan using approaches such as ART, Somatic Experiencing, or Trauma-Focused CBT, depending on the client’s presentation and preference.
Yoga Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Y-CBT)
Yoga Cognitive Behavioral Therapy combines traditional CBT with yoga-based physical and breathing practices to address both the cognitive and somatic dimensions of mental health and addiction. Y-CBT recognizes that thoughts, emotions, and physical states are deeply interconnected — and that working with the body alongside the mind can accelerate and deepen therapeutic progress.
At Rising Phoenix, Y-CBT is incorporated into our wellness programming and may be integrated into individual therapy for clients who respond well to movement-based approaches.
Motivational Interviewing (MI)
Motivational Interviewing is a collaborative, client-centered conversational approach that helps people explore and resolve their ambivalence about change. It does not tell clients what to do — it helps them articulate their own values, goals, and reasons for change, strengthening intrinsic motivation.
MI is especially valuable early in treatment, when a client may acknowledge that their substance use or mental health condition is causing harm but feel genuinely uncertain about whether they want to change — or whether change is possible. MI meets people exactly where they are, without judgment or pressure.
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
REBT, developed by Albert Ellis, is one of the original cognitive therapies and a precursor to CBT. REBT focuses specifically on identifying and disputing irrational beliefs — rigid, absolutist thoughts like “I must be perfect,” “I cannot tolerate discomfort,” or “I am worthless if I fail” — that generate unnecessary emotional distress.
REBT is particularly effective for perfectionism, shame, self-criticism, and the kind of all-or-nothing thinking that frequently accompanies addiction and mood disorders. It helps clients develop a more flexible, compassionate relationship with themselves and with the inevitable imperfections of life.
Equine Therapy
Equine-assisted therapy uses interactions with horses as a therapeutic medium. Horses are extraordinarily sensitive to non-verbal cues and emotional states — they respond to a person’s anxiety, aggression, or calm in real time, providing immediate, non-judgmental feedback that is difficult to get from human interactions.
Equine therapy is particularly effective for clients who have difficulty with verbal expression, who have experienced interpersonal trauma, or who struggle to connect with traditional talk therapy formats. Working with horses builds self-awareness, emotional regulation, trust, and confidence in a way that is both experiential and deeply memorable.
Compassion Focused Therapy
Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) was developed to help people who experience high levels of shame, self-criticism, and self-blame — patterns extremely common in addiction and trauma recovery. CFT trains the capacity for self-compassion using mindfulness, imagery, and compassion-based exercises, helping clients develop the same kindness toward themselves that they might more readily extend to others.
Research on CFT shows significant reductions in shame, depression, anxiety, and self-criticism. For many clients in recovery — who carry enormous guilt about the impact of their addiction on themselves and their families — CFT can be transformative.
Art Therapy and Creative Expression
Art therapy uses the creative process — drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, or other visual media — as a therapeutic tool. It does not require artistic skill or experience. The value of art therapy is not the product but the process: creative expression can access emotions and experiences that verbal communication sometimes cannot reach.
Art therapy is particularly useful for clients with trauma histories, for whom the verbal recounting of experiences may be difficult or re-traumatizing. It is also effective for children and adolescents, and for clients who find traditional talk therapy formats frustrating or limiting.
Family Therapy
Addiction and mental health conditions do not happen in isolation — they affect families, partners, and close relationships. Family therapy at Rising Phoenix involves the client’s identified loved ones in the treatment process, addressing communication patterns, relationship dynamics, enabling behaviors, and the shared impact of the client’s condition on the family system.
Family involvement in treatment is one of the strongest predictors of long-term recovery. When family members understand addiction and mental health as conditions rather than moral failures — and learn how to support recovery rather than inadvertently undermining it — outcomes improve dramatically for everyone in the family, not just the client.