Addiction & Recovery
Recovery that addresses what drove the addiction.
Specialized treatment for substance use disorders and behavioral addictions. Both harm reduction and abstinence-based approaches, tailored to where you are.
Addiction is a complex and multifaceted disease with genetic, biological, neurological, and environmental roots. As such, it requires an empathetic and individualized therapeutic approach. Therapy will explore precipitating and aggravating factors, unhealthy behaviors and patterns, and integrate relapse prevention.
Recovery can be intimidating and downright scary. Rest assured, you are in capable and compassionate hands. With years of personal and professional experience in this field, Jeffrey will navigate the ebbs and flows of treatment with you.
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
— Carl Bard
Overview
What is addiction and recovery?
Addiction is a chronic brain disorder characterized by compulsive substance seeking and use, or performing an activity, despite harmful consequences. It is a complex disease, not a lack of willpower, and can affect your physical and mental health as well as every aspect of your life.
Some of the main characteristics include compulsion and cravings, loss of control, a need for more of a substance or behavior as the brain adapts, physical withdrawal symptoms, and continued use despite harm. Addiction can be caused by genetics, environmental factors, and lifestyle factors.
Recovery is a process of change through which individuals can improve their health and wellness, live self-directed lives, and strive to reach their full potential. Even people with severe and chronic substance use disorders can overcome their illness and live a fulfilling life.
Conditions & Concerns
What can addiction therapy address?
Addiction therapy addresses substance use disorders including drug and alcohol addiction, as well as behavioral addictions like gambling. It also addresses the co-occurring conditions that frequently accompany addiction, such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and trauma.
During your session, you can break the cycle of addiction, learn more about addiction as a disease, uncover any underlying co-occurring disorders, develop coping skills, rebuild relationships, create healthy boundaries, and gain healthy habits.
Benefits
What are the benefits of treatment?
With Jeffrey, you can trust you will have a partner to help you through your recovery journey. He will work with you to develop a recovery plan tailored to your situation, compassionately guide you through treatment, and give you steps to cope with triggers and prevent relapse.
Because Jeffrey is a licensed clinician with years as Associate Clinical Director at Alta Mira Recovery Center, the therapeutic work goes deeper than behavior modification. The goal is understanding the roots of your addiction while simultaneously building practical skills for daily life.
What to Expect
What to expect from treatment.
Initial Assessment
During your initial sessions, you will be able to safely discuss your addiction and life struggles. Jeffrey will work with you to develop a recovery plan tailored to your situation.
Ongoing Treatment
Jeffrey will compassionately guide you through treatment as you work toward recovery, providing steps to cope with triggers and prevent relapse. Sessions integrate addiction-specific interventions with psychotherapy.
Virtual / In-Person Options
Addiction therapy is available in person at the Sausalito office, via home visits within Marin County and San Francisco, or via secure video for clients physically located in California at the time of session.
My Approach
Beyond the behavior.
Jeffrey is committed to helping individuals lead more fulfilling and meaningful lives. He works collaboratively with clients to understand the deeper roots of their difficulties and to develop practical strategies for navigating life’s challenges, including addiction.
Whether the goal is healing from past experiences, improving relationships, managing stress, or recovering from negative habitual behaviors, his aim is to create a safe environment where clients feel empowered to take an active role in their healing process, such that lasting change can take root.
When co-occurring conditions like depression, anxiety, or PTSD are present, they are addressed in therapy. If medication management would support your recovery, Jeffrey can refer you to an independent psychiatrist he knows and trusts. Psychiatric services are not part of Channel Psychotherapy; psychiatrists Jeffrey refers to are independent practitioners with no financial relationship to this practice.
Why Jeffrey
Coordinated care for co-occurring conditions.
Many clients struggling with addiction also have co-occurring psychiatric conditions. When medication or diagnostic testing would support your recovery, Jeffrey makes a referral to an independent psychiatrist or neuropsychologist he has worked with directly. Your clinical context is shared (with your written consent) so that the new provider does not have to start from scratch. The referred provider is independent of this practice.
Other ways I can help
FAQs
Common questions about addiction & recovery.
Addiction is a mental health disorder characterized by compulsive substance seeking and use despite harmful consequences. It involves functional changes to the brain’s reward, stress, and self-control circuits, which impair the ability to control use.
Jeffrey’s approach is compassionate, empathetic, and individualized. During therapy, you will explore what led to your substance use, your triggers, and unhealthy behavior patterns, while building practical skills for recovery.
Jeffrey specializes in co-occurring substance use disorders but also works with addictions that occur on their own, including alcohol, drugs, and behavioral addictions like gambling.
Relapse prevention teaches you to identify and manage cravings and triggers and avoid high-risk situations. Jeffrey incorporates these strategies into your personalized treatment plan as part of your therapy sessions.
Yes. While addiction is a chronic condition, therapy and treatment can help you manage it effectively and live a full, substance-free life.
Yes. Jeffrey offers secure video sessions for clients physically located in California at the time of session, as well as home visits within Marin County and San Francisco.
Relapse is a normal part of recovery, not a failure. If you relapse, reach out to schedule an appointment as soon as possible. Jeffrey will work with you to understand what happened and adjust the treatment plan.
Yes. Jeffrey can work with families who have been affected by addiction. Family involvement can be incorporated into specific sessions when clinically appropriate.
Through an individualized treatment plan, Jeffrey helps you address the root cause, whether it is another mental health condition, unhealthy coping mechanisms, genetics, or environmental factors.
Confidentiality is a foundational protection in addiction treatment. The information you share in therapy is protected by HIPAA and by federal substance use disorder confidentiality regulations (42 C.F.R. Part 2), which provide stronger protections than apply to general healthcare information. There are certain legally mandated exceptions to confidentiality — including situations involving imminent risk of harm, suspected abuse of a child or dependent adult, or a court order — which Jeffrey will explain in detail at intake. The written informed consent you sign at the start of treatment describes both the protections and the exceptions.
Ready to get started?
Jeffrey responds personally within 24 hours.
What happens next
Jeffrey reviews your message and responds within 24 hours.
A brief phone conversation to discuss your situation.
If it is a good fit, your first session is scheduled.
If you are in crisis, call or text 988 — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Channel is a private practice and is not a crisis or emergency service.
What happens next
Jeffrey reviews your message and responds within 24 hours.
A brief phone conversation to discuss your situation.
If it is a good fit, your first session is scheduled.
If you are in crisis, call or text 988 — Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Channel is a private practice and is not a crisis or emergency service.