Experiential Therapy

Experiential therapy provides hands-on activities to help you recover from a drug or alcohol addiction. In this treatment method, you’ll experience these life-changing therapies, learning about yourself and your addiction through physical pursuits. In addition, this type of addiction therapy helps you work through your feelings and emotions while enjoying new ways of keeping yourself focused and healthy. At Red Oak Recovery^®, we are proud to provide a combination of evidence-based and experiential therapy services to our clients. With this combination, many of our clients are able to successfully overcome their condition, allowing them to enter long-term recovery. To learn about the benefits of experiential therapy or to enroll in our addiction treatment programs, please get in touch with Red Oak Recovery^® today at 866.457.7590 or use our convenient online form.

What Is Experiential Therapy?

When most people think of addiction treatment, they may imagine talk therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy or trauma therapy. While these therapeutic modalities are a part of treatment at Red Oak Recovery^®, they are only a part of our treatment programs. Experiential therapy is another integral part of our programs. This treatment involves immersing clients in a variety of experiences, using tools such as:

• Animal interactions
• Psychodrama
• Music, art, or poetry
• Outdoor activities

While traditional therapy focuses on talking out thoughts and feelings, experiential therapy emphasizes action. This treatment is ideal for men, as it allows the individual to engage both their body and mind, so they can access psychological elements that they couldn’t access otherwise. When our clients are able to act, it can be a precursor to change, and each person can begin thinking in new and healthier ways.

How Does Experiential Therapy Work?

Overall, experiential therapy helps adults struggling with drug or alcohol addiction work through their feelings and emotions. Fortunately, you’ll feel like you’re not even going through treatment. This is because experiential therapies take place in comfortable environments like the outdoors or a creative studio. Red Oak Recovery^® in Asheville, North Carolina provides experiential therapies for addiction recovery, including treatment options such as:

• Mixed martial arts, yoga, acupuncture, and mindfulness
• Expressive arts, music therapy, and gardening
• Volunteering
• Backpacking, day hiking, and canoeing
• Fly-fishing, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting
• Ziplining and ropes courses
• Solo camping experience

In experiential therapies, you gain a stronger sense of yourself while overcoming past traumas. You learn how to face life issues and stress without using drugs and alcohol to escape them.

Overcoming Addiction through a Range of Therapies

Talk therapy scares many people. Sometimes it takes time and effort to open up about your thoughts and feelings, especially as an adult finding your place in the world. Furthermore, because men often learn as children to bottle up their feelings, they may have a more difficult time being honest about their challenges. However, in experiential therapies, most people open up more easily because these types of treatment mimic real-life experiences and stress. You learn how to overcome cravings and triggers while taking part in social, physical, or creative activities. Overall, these treatments can give you the necessary skills for relapse prevention. Although these therapies sound like fun and games, they allow you to heal. Therapists guide you through the sessions, including treatment exercises created for your specific needs. Of course, experiential therapies work with other treatment methods as well. Through experiential therapy, you’ll gain new interests, and you’ll participate in activities you never experienced before. As a result, you’ll find pursuits that you really enjoy. This expands your horizons and gives you more opportunities to enjoy life’s adventure.

Using Experiential Therapy as Part of a Dual Diagnosis Treatment Program

Research indicates that mental health conditions often feed into or result from an addiction. Many people feel that they need to use drugs or alcohol to manage their mental health symptoms. However, the body may become dependent on the substance, meaning that it feels it needs the substance to feel normal. Concurrently, the body may begin to develop a tolerance, meaning that the person needs to use higher doses to manage their mental health symptoms. These symptoms may indicate that they have developed an addiction. Alternatively, some substances can lead to mental health issues. For instance, meth use can lead to paranoia and schizophrenia, while alcohol may exacerbate depressive symptoms. Furthermore, as someone begins to grow dependent on a drug, they may put themselves in increasingly dangerous situations to get the substance. In doing so, they may go through a traumatic experience, which, if not dealt with properly, can lead to PTSD. Whether your addiction is caused by or has led to mental health concerns, it is vital to address these conditions concurrently. Experts call this option dual diagnosis treatment. By combining dual diagnosis treatment with experiential therapy, our clients gain the skills they need to remain free of use outside of treatment. Experiential therapies treat a wide range of conditions occurring with addiction. These conditions include:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• OCD
• Disordered eating
• Post-traumatic stress disorder

We use experiential therapy to address many of our clients’ needs in order to give them the best chance for long-term recovery and overall growth.

The Importance of a Holistic Treatment Program

While holistic therapy is part of our treatment programs, it is not the only part of treatment. At Red Oak Recovery^®, we believe in providing a holistic treatment plan for each individual, which we tailor to the needs of each person. Our holistic treatment combines experiential therapy options with traditional talk therapy programs. Experiential therapy allows clients to develop and practice new skills, while talk therapy allows clients to gain an understanding of the underlying issues that led to their addiction. A combination of these treatments is often best for long-term recovery. We use treatments such as:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy
• Dialectical behavior therapy
• Trauma therapy
• Family therapy
• Psychotherapy

Let our team give you the tools to manage your addiction. Contact Red Oak Recovery^® today at 866.457.7590 to learn about our treatment programs.

About Red Oak Recovery^® in Asheville, NC

In Asheville, North Carolina, Red Oak Recovery^® provides men’s and women’s addiction recovery programs for adults. At Red Oak Recovery^®, you gain lasting sobriety alongside peers. This treatment includes hybrid programs which combine outdoor wilderness activities with trauma-focused therapy. The programs at Red Oak Recovery^® include:

• Men’s rehab programs
• 12-step addiction recovery programs
• Addiction therapy programs
• Adult rehab programs
• Mental health treatment programs

At Red Oak Recovery^®, you experience holistic healing for complete wellness after addiction and co-occurring conditions. You join peers in the beauty and safety of North Carolina. At Red Oak Recovery^®, the outdoor wilderness combines with clinical and nutritional programs in the perfect setting for a strong recovery.

Begin Your Journey to Sobriety at Red Oak Recovery^®

Substance use disorders are a reality all too often in the United States today, but with the right treatment programs, there is hope and healing available. By combining holistic treatments, such as experiential therapy, with traditional, evidence-based treatments, you can give yourself the tools you need to overcome your addiction and move into a healthier and brighter future. Do you or someone you know suffer from an addiction? If so, please call Red Oak Recovery^® now at 866.457.7590. The help you need for a better life is available in Asheville, North Carolina.