Individual and Group Therapy
- CBT, DBT and motivational interviewing, one to one with your therapist
- Process groups with people at various stages of the same problem
- Twelve-step meetings on site and in the community, if you want them
- Nearly everyone gets a combination, set at assessment rather than a standard schedule
Clinically reviewed by
Gigi Price, LMSW, LCDC, Clinical Director, Houston
Last reviewed August 2026
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Why both
Individual therapy and group therapy do different things.
Individual therapy is where your specific history gets worked on: what happened, what it turned into, what you want instead. It is private, it moves at your pace, and it is where the treatment plan is built.
Group therapy does something individual work cannot. It puts you in a room with people at various stages of the same problem, which is harder to perform for than one clinician and considerably harder to lie to. It also breaks the isolation that addiction runs on.
Nearly everyone here gets both, and the balance between them comes from your assessment rather than a standard schedule.
What the sessions actually are
Four approaches, doing four different jobs.
Three of these happen one to one and one only works with other people in the room. Most weeks involve all four.
CBT
Cognitive behavioral therapy
A craving rarely arrives out of nowhere. It follows a thought, often the same thought in the same situation for years: that you have earned it, that you cannot get through the evening without it, that one is different from a relapse. CBT works on that sequence directly, and it is the foundation most of the rest of the clinical work sits on.
DBT
Dialectical behavior therapy
Built for people whose emotions move quicker than their ability to handle them. Where CBT works on the thought, DBT works on what to do when the feeling is already at full volume: distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and skills for getting through the twenty minutes in which the damage usually happens.
MI
Motivational interviewing
Almost nobody arrives certain. Most people want to stop and want to keep going at the same time, and being argued out of that has a poor record. MI takes the ambivalence seriously rather than treating it as denial, which is why it is used early, often in the first conversations.
Process groups
A facilitated conversation among people in treatment together, about what is actually happening. People recognize each other’s justifications immediately, having used the same ones, and hearing your own reasoning come out of somebody else’s mouth is a specific and useful experience. You are never required to speak before you are ready.
Twelve-step facilitation
AA and NA, alongside the clinical work rather than instead of it.
This is the one people ask about by name, and usually the question is practical. Are there meetings here, can I keep going to the ones I already attend, and what happens to all of that when I leave.
Twelve-step involvement is available both on site and through community meetings, at facilities across our network. If you already have a home group and a sponsor, that relationship is treated as something to protect rather than something to pause for the duration of treatment.
Offered, never required
Twelve-step work suits a lot of people and not everyone. It is one route through rather than the route through, and if you have never been to a meeting, nobody will require it of you.
The part that outlasts the stay
Treatment ends and the meetings do not. For many people the community built during a stay is the part still standing a year later, which is why it belongs in the plan rather than in the discharge paperwork.
How they fit together
A typical week has several of these running at once.
Reading a page like this can make it sound as though you pick a modality. You do not. They run alongside each other, doing different jobs on the same problem.
Motivational interviewing
Often in the first conversations, before the deeper clinical work starts.
CBT and DBT
One working on the thinking, the other on the reacting.
Process groups
The accountability that makes the individual work stick.
Twelve-step, if you want it
Treatment ends. The meetings do not. This is the part designed to outlast the stay.
Which combination you get is set at assessment and revised as you go, by your clinical team. It is not a fixed curriculum, and it is not the same as the person in the next room.
Common questions
Questions people ask about therapy sessions
Anything not answered here, ask on the call. There is no obligation.
(866) 461-3339- What is CBT and how does it help with addiction?
- Cognitive behavioral therapy helps identify the thought patterns that drive substance use and cravings, and replace them with something else. It is one of the most widely used, evidence-based approaches in addiction treatment, and it is aimed directly at what people call us about most: cravings, near-misses and the fear of relapsing again.
- What is the difference between individual and group therapy in rehab?
- Individual therapy is one-to-one work focused on your specific history and goals, and it is where the treatment plan is actually built. Group therapy builds peer accountability and connection with people who understand what you are going through. Most treatment plans include both, working together rather than as separate tracks.
- Do you offer 12-step programming like AA or NA?
- Yes. Twelve-step involvement is available both on site and through community meetings, integrated alongside the clinical therapy rather than replacing it. If you already have a home group and a sponsor, that relationship is something to protect rather than pause. Our team can walk you through what it looks like at your specific level of care.
- What if I do not want to do the 12 steps?
- Then you do not have to. Twelve-step work suits a lot of people and not everyone, and it is offered as one route through rather than the route through. Nobody will require it of you, and the clinical programme does not depend on it. Say so on the first call and it simply is not part of your plan.
- What is motivational interviewing?
- It is an approach that helps you find your own reasons for change rather than being handed someone else’s. It is especially useful early in treatment, when motivation can be mixed or uncertain, and it treats ambivalence as a normal part of the process rather than as denial.
- How often will I have individual therapy sessions?
- Frequency depends on your treatment plan and your level of care, and our clinical team will walk you through exactly what to expect once you are admitted. It is built around what your assessment found rather than a fixed schedule everyone follows.
- Will I have to talk in group therapy if I am not comfortable yet?
- You are never forced to share before you are ready. Groups are structured to build trust over time, and your clinical team supports you at your own pace. Plenty of people spend their first few sessions listening, and that is a normal way to start rather than a problem.
- Does insurance cover individual and group therapy as part of treatment?
- These therapies are typically included as part of your overall treatment plan, and most major insurance plans cover them when treatment is clinically appropriate. Our team can verify your specific benefits quickly and at no cost.
You are allowed to ask
If you are calling for someone else
Most people who call us are calling about someone they love. You can ask about the options and check their insurance on their behalf, and it stays a conversation until you decide otherwise.
Related reading
All therapies at Virtue
The full set, including the experiential work that does not happen in a chair.
Read the guide →Trauma-focused therapy
EMDR and CPT, for when the substance use started as a way to manage something else.
Read the guide →Relapse prevention and family
What holds after discharge, and how the people you go home to are brought in.
Read the guide →Dual diagnosis
Anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD treated in the same plan by the same team.
Read the guide →Insurance
We accept most major insurance plans.
And most PPO plans. Coverage varies by plan and by facility, so if your carrier is not shown, ask rather than assume.
- Free, and there is no obligation at the end of it
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- You can check on behalf of someone else
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- No insurance? Ask about private pay options. Nobody is turned away without knowing their next step.
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Ask what a week actually looks like, how much of it is group, and whether the meetings you already go to can carry on. A real person answers at any hour, and none of it commits you to anything.
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