IN THIS SECTION…
Mark Falango, LCSW, CSAT-S offers a sequential track for the treatment of sex addiction. The core of the program is based in state-of-the-art, evidence-based recovery work structured to help establish and maintain a healthy relationship to sex that is free of compulsion and shame. The following are the key components of this multidimensional approach:
New Client Assessment
The initial goal is to provide you with the most comprehensive assessment of your needs. This initial clinical evaluation will help us determine the appropriate course of treatment and explore options for care. The assessment process may include psychological testing and, in some cases, a psychiatric evaluation.
New Beginnings Group: Embracing Change, Building Intimacy
Addiction is the dark passenger of the soul. In treatment and recovery we are asked to take a journey to look at our dark passenger and make choices as to whether we want this internal self to continue to accompany us. There are difficult choices to be made, challenging personal issues to explore, and new paths to venture onto. Many people in recovery find it beneficial to work in group therapy to better understand their addiction, explore shame-based behaviors, and develop skills to become emotionally intimate with others in a meaningful way.
Embracing Change, Building Intimacy is an 12-week group designed for people beginning recovery from sex addiction. It is open to men of all sexual orientations.
The group explores issues of honesty and accountability while promoting shame reduction. Through psycho-education and therapeutic support, participants learn about sexual compulsivity, the impact of trauma, and how addiction affects the brain. The goals of the group include learning skills to prevent relapse, reduce physical and emotional harm, create a path to sobriety, and develop a plan to restore healthy sexuality in participants’ lives.
The work in this group is meant to complement other forms of treatment such as individual psychotherapy and 12-step fellowship. A commitment to attend all sessions is required.
Early Recovery Group
In the early stages of recovery from sex addiction, addicts struggle with managing compulsive behaviors while dealing with painful emotions and rebuilding relationships devastated by the trauma of addiction. The addict needs to establish new ways of being in the world. Anger, depression, and shame are common feelings associated with this period of recovery. It is those emotions that may lead the addict to act out and restart his destructive cycle. The Early Recovery Group offers its members an opportunity to unpack these emotions, fight isolation, and build a community of support. The addict works through the early phase of recovery with others on the same path. The group dynamic creates a powerful way to heal from the chaos and shame of sex addiction in a confidential, nonjudgmental environment.
The Early Recovery Group is structured to help the addict maintain sobriety, create a healthy relationship with sex, and lead a more fulfilling life. The group’s focus is to help you live free of dysfunctional behaviors. Homework assignments are given to support your self-discovery and keep you focused on making positive changes.
Partners Support Group
Learning that your spouse or partner is addicted to sex can be emotionally and physically devastating. Often this follows a discovery of the loved one’s acting out behaviors including affairs, prostitution, and excessive online chat or use of pornography. You may wonder if you will ever by able to recover from the sense of betrayal and loss.
The Partners Support Group is designed to promote self-care and help you reclaim your sense of self. The group does not focus on how to change the sex addict but on how to develop your own plan to regain your emotional health and confidence. By learning the skills of healthy detachment and how to cope with feelings of anger and betrayal you can begin to chart a course for your own emotional recovery. This short-term weekly support group will give you the tools to manage the turmoil of your partner’s addiction recovery, establish boundaries, and implement a healthy sexual recovery plan.