What is Experiential Therapy?
Experiential therapy is all about ‘doing.’ It uses hands-on activities to help you explore and work through past trauma and difficult feelings. Instead of just talking, you engage in physical and creative pursuits that help you understand yourself and your addiction on a deeper level. This approach allows you to access and process feelings that might be hard to put into words.
While traditional therapy focuses on talking, experiential therapy encourages action. By using both your body and mind, you can access parts of yourself that might otherwise be hidden. When you engage in these activities, it can spark a real change in how you think and feel, opening up new, healthier perspectives.
Healing in Action: Our Experiential Therapies
Our program includes a wide range of activities to help you heal completely. These can take place indoors or outdoors and are designed to engage you on a deeper level. Click on any therapy below to learn more about how it works and the unique benefits it offers.
A Deeper Dive Into The Types of Experiential Therapy We Offer
Tai Chi
A gentle Chinese martial art that uses slow, flowing movements to connect your mind and body. It’s proven to improve focus, reduce stress, and calm anxiety, making it a powerful tool for finding peace during the challenges of early recovery and withdrawal.
Animal-Assisted Therapy
Caring for animals, like horses, can be incredibly healing. This therapy helps you find mental relief and build structure. The process of feeding, brushing, and connecting with an animal builds trust, self-esteem, and a powerful non-verbal bond, which is especially helpful if you find it hard to open up to people.
Yoga
Yoga is a powerful tool in recovery. It helps reduce withdrawal symptoms and cravings while providing a healthy way to handle stress. By connecting movement with breath, you become more aware of your body and learn to observe your feelings without judgment, creating a vital pause between a trigger and a potential relapse.
Art Therapy
Art therapy offers a powerful way to express feelings that are too difficult to put into words. It gives you a sense of control and a creative outlet to explore your emotions. This is especially helpful for processing the trauma that often goes hand-in-hand with addiction.
Adventure Therapy
Activities like hiking and climbing in the beautiful Asheville outdoors help build teamwork, communication, and trust. By overcoming challenges in a natural setting, you build real-world resilience and self-confidence, proving to yourself that you are strong enough to overcome obstacles without turning to substances.
Acupuncture
This traditional practice can be very effective in addiction treatment. It helps reduce withdrawal symptoms, ease cravings, and calm the anxiety that comes with early recovery. By balancing your body’s systems, acupuncture provides a sense of peace that makes the emotional work of therapy more manageable.
Who Can Benefit from Experiential Therapy?
This therapy is especially helpful for people who find themselves ‘stuck in their head,’ overthinking or trying to rationalize their addiction. Instead of just talking, these hands-on activities help you bypass those mental roadblocks and get straight to the core emotions, leading to real breakthroughs.
Does Insurance Cover Experiential Therapy?
Coverage for experiential therapy should be at least partially provided through health insurance when used as part of a rehabilitation treatment plan. Your coverage provider will determine whether this is the case. Under the Affordable Care Act, all health plans sold through the Health Insurance Marketplace must provide 10 essential health care services, including mental health and substance abuse services.
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Begin Healing Through Action Today
If you or a loved one is suffering from substance abuse, our specialists are ready to help. Contact us today to learn more about our experiential therapies and our unique, hybrid treatment method. You do not have to do it alone.
