You don't need to hit rock bottom to deserve help.
Alcohol & Addiction Therapy in Berkeley
What started as a way to cope is starting to cost you.
The drink to take the edge off. The cannabis to wind down. The hours that disappear into your phone. They worked, at first, they helped you cope, relax, or feel something other than stress. That's not a character flaw. It's how these patterns get their hook in.
The problem is what they're costing you now: the mornings you're not proud of, the strain on the people you love, the sense that this isn't who you want to be. You don't have to hit some dramatic bottom for it to be worth looking at.
Drinking or smoking more than you meant to, more often than you'd like
Telling yourself you'll cut back, then not sticking with it
Tension or distance with the people closest to you
Scrolling, gaming, or other habits you use to check out
Spending so much time with AI you’re losing yourself
You're ready for some relief.
How therapy works
Sobriety, moderation, or still deciding, you're welcome here.
Some people come in wanting to quit or stay sober. Others want to cut back, take a break, or better understand their relationship with alcohol, cannabis, or a habit like scrolling, gambling, or AI use. I work with all of it, and I won't push you toward an outcome you didn't choose.
On the practical side, I draw on Motivational Interviewing, the leading evidence-based approach for addiction, to work through the pull of wanting to change and not wanting to, and to build motivation that lasts because it comes from you, not from someone lecturing you. Alongside that, we look at what the drinking, using, or habit is really for: the stress it manages, the feelings it numbs, the patterns underneath it. That's the part that leads to clarity and makes change hold.
I've done this work for years, while also supervising others and training groups, across community mental health, veterans services, and a harm-reduction residential program. Very little surprises me, and there's nothing you could tell me that would make me judge you.
Therapy for alcohol and addiction can help you…
Get honest about your drinking or use, without the shame
Figure out whether cutting back or quitting fits your life
Repair the strain it's put on your relationships
Feel back in control, on your own terms
Common Questions
Frequently asked questions about addiction therapy
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No. Many of the people I work with want to cut back, take a break, stay sober, or simply better understand their relationship with alcohol or a substance. I won't push you toward an outcome you didn't choose, your goals lead. Learn more.
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Both. Alongside alcohol and cannabis, I work with behavioral patterns like gambling, compulsive scrolling or gaming, and technology or AI overuse. The underlying work is often similar: understanding what the habit is doing for you, working out what you want to change, and how. Learn more.
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Yes. More and more people find that time spent talking to AI, scrolling, or gaming has quietly taken over, becoming the main way they cope or check out, until it starts crowding out the rest of their life. It responds to the same approach I use for other habits: understanding what it's doing for you, without judgment, and figuring out what you want to change. Some people are also leaning on AI for the comfort or companionship they're really missing from people, and part of the work can be understanding that need and finding steadier ways to meet it. Learn more.
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If it's on your mind enough to be reading this, it's worth a conversation. You don't have to hit a crisis or fit a label to look at your relationship with alcohol. Plenty of people benefit from this work long before things reach a breaking point. Learn more.
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Yes. Sometimes the person most affected by someone's drinking or substance use is the one ready to reach out, a partner, parent, or adult child trying to figure out how to cope, set boundaries, or stop organizing their life around someone else's use. I work with that, whether on your own or, when it makes sense, together with the person you're worried about. For couples, substance use can create a rupture that feels a lot like the betrayal of an affair, with broken trust, broken promises, and secrecy. Rebuilding from there is something we can work on together. Learn more