Addiction Therapy & Counselling for Adults & Teens
Personalized support for alcohol, drug, gambling, and behavioural addictions.
Evidence-Based Therapy for Alcohol, Drug, and Behavioural Addictions
Addiction can feel like a silent force that pulls your life off course, gradually at first, then all at once. Whether you’re struggling with alcohol use, drug dependence, or compulsive behaviours like gambling or sex, you’re not alone. At Thrive, we offer compassionate, evidence-informed therapy to help you understand the root of your addiction and build a path toward freedom.
We don’t just treat symptoms, we get to the source.
Understanding Addiction: More Than A Habit
Addiction isn’t a failure of willpower. It’s often a deeply rooted response to pain, trauma, disconnection, or emotional overwhelm. Many of our clients come to us having tried to quit on their own, sometimes many times. They’re exhausted, ashamed, and unsure what recovery even looks like anymore. Our approach to addiction therapy recognizes the complexity of each person’s experience. We explore what the addiction is doing for you before we ask what it’s doing to you.
What You'll Find At Thrive
- Experienced counsellor specializing in alcohol & drug rehab
- Holistic therapy: CBT, DBT, EMDR, trauma-informed care
- Licensed therapists familiar with local recovery community
- Flexible in-person & online sessions to suit your schedule
Addiction Counselling Vancouver: A Practical Guide to Getting Started
Addiction counselling Vancouver at Thrive is outpatient therapy for people who want to change their relationship with alcohol, drugs or compulsive behaviours, at a pace that respects where they are right now. This guide covers the signs that it may be time to reach out, the goals you can bring, what sessions actually involve, and how to protect your progress between appointments.
On this page
Signs It May Be Time to Reach Out
You do not need a diagnosis, a label or a rock bottom to deserve support. Many people start therapy simply because something feels less in their control than it used to. Common signs include:
- Using more, or for longer, than you meant to, even after promising yourself otherwise.
- Trying to cut back and finding it harder than you expected.
- Spending a lot of time planning, using or recovering from use.
- Strong cravings or urges that crowd out other thoughts.
- Needing more of a substance or behaviour to get the same effect.
- Hiding how much you drink, bet, spend or scroll from people close to you.
- Relying on a substance to sleep, socialize, calm anxiety or numb painful memories.
- Work, money, health or relationships starting to strain, while stopping still feels out of reach.
If several of these sound familiar, a conversation with a counsellor can help you understand what is happening without shame. You set the pace, and nothing is decided for you.
A note on physical safety
Stopping some substances suddenly, including alcohol and benzodiazepines, can cause withdrawal that is medically dangerous. Please talk with a doctor before you quit, and ask about medical supports that may ease the process. HealthLink BC offers free health advice by calling 8-1-1. If you or someone you know uses opioids, keeping a take-home naloxone kit nearby is a simple harm reduction step. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 in an emergency.
Goals You Can Bring to Therapy
People arrive with very different hopes, and all of them are welcome. Your counsellor will help you clarify what you want, rather than handing you a script.
Stopping completely
For many people, especially when use has caused serious harm, abstinence feels like the clearest and safest path. Therapy can support the early weeks, when cravings and emotions often feel loud, and the longer work of building a life that does not need the substance or behaviour.
Cutting back
Some people want to reduce how often or how much they use. Counselling can help you set specific limits, notice when they slip, and decide honestly whether moderation is working. For some substances and health conditions, moderation is not medically advisable, so your doctor’s input matters.
Reducing harm
Harm reduction meets you where you are. It might mean safer use practices, never using alone, or protecting sleep, work and relationships while you decide what comes next. Goals can shift over time, and changing your mind is part of the process, not a failure.
How Thrive Approaches Recovery
Thrive’s therapists work from a shared framework called the Thrive Formula. It reflects a simple belief: the urge to use makes sense in light of what you have lived through, and it can change when you feel safer and more connected.
Regulate: calming the nervous system
Cravings are often a body in distress looking for relief. Early sessions focus on skills that settle your system, such as paced breathing, grounding through the senses, and riding out an urge by noticing it rise, peak and fall. Some therapists, such as Joel Myers, also bring body-based practices like breathwork and meditation.
Reveal: understanding what the use has been doing for you
With more stability in place, therapy turns towards the roots. Depending on your counsellor, this might include:
- CBT to map the thoughts, situations and beliefs that tend to come before use.
- DBT skills for tolerating distress and riding intense emotion without acting on it.
- EMDR to process traumatic memories that may be fuelling the need to escape. Learn more about EMDR therapy at Thrive.
- Internal Family Systems, which views the part of you that reaches for a substance as a protector trying to shield you from pain, rather than an enemy.
- Emotion-Focused Therapy to help you feel and name emotions that may have been avoided for years.
Reclaim: building a life that supports change
Insight becomes practical. You and your therapist work on needs, boundaries, routines, relationships and meaning, so that recovery is about moving towards something, not only away from something.
What Sessions Look Like
Your first session
The first meeting is a chance to tell your story in your own words. Your counsellor will ask about your use, your health, what has helped before, and what you hope will change. You can share as much or as little as feels right.
Ongoing sessions
Over time, sessions tend to move between present-day challenges and deeper patterns. One week might focus on a hard weekend; the next might explore an old wound that keeps resurfacing. Your therapist will check in regularly about whether the work feels useful.
Between sessions
Small experiments between appointments often make the biggest difference: tracking urges, trying a new response to a trigger, or reaching out to a supportive person. Nothing is assigned as a test, and there is no failing.
Building a Relapse Prevention Plan
A written plan turns hard-won insight into something you can reach for on a difficult day. Many clients build theirs gradually with their therapist. It often includes:
- Early warning signs. Shifts in sleep, mood, isolation or thinking that tend to show up before use.
- High-risk situations. People, places, times of day and feelings that raise your vulnerability. Being hungry, angry, lonely or tired is a common combination.
- Go-to coping steps. Three or four concrete things to do in the first hour of a strong craving.
- People to contact. Names and numbers of those you can reach, including peer support.
- A lapse plan. What you will do if you do use, so that one slip is met with curiosity and care rather than a spiral of shame.
Peer groups can complement counselling well. Some people find SMART Recovery helpful, while others prefer twelve-step or community groups.
Support for Families and Partners
Loving someone who is struggling with substance use can be exhausting and frightening. You may swing between rescuing, pleading and pulling away. Your own counselling can help you set boundaries without ultimatums, look after your own health, and respond in ways that keep the door open. When both people are ready, couples counselling can support repair after trust has been hurt.
Choosing the Right Counsellor for You
Research suggests that the relationship with your counsellor is one of the strongest influences on how helpful therapy feels. During a free consult, it is completely reasonable to ask questions such as:
- How do you work with people who are unsure whether they want to stop or cut back?
- What is your experience with the substance or behaviour I am concerned about?
- How do you handle a lapse, and what happens in session afterwards?
- Do you work with trauma, anxiety or ADHD alongside substance use?
Notice how you feel while they answer. Feeling respected and understood is a good sign.
How Addiction Counselling Vancouver Works at Thrive
- Book a free 15 minute consult. Share a little about what is going on and what you are looking for.
- Get matched or choose. We can match you with a therapist, or you can browse our team and pick someone whose approach resonates.
- Attend your first session. Meet in person at 470 Granville Street, steps from Granville SkyTrain Station, or online by secure video.
- Shape a plan together. You and your counsellor agree on goals, pacing and any other supports, such as medical care, detox or residential programs if they are needed.
Many clients mix formats, choosing online counselling on busy weeks and in-person sessions when they want a space set apart from home.
Costs and Insurance
Fees vary by service, and current rates are shown when you book or on our contact page. Many extended health plans reimburse counselling by registered counsellors, so check your plan for coverage details and any referral requirements. If cost is a barrier, ask about low-cost counselling with supervised intern counsellors.
Myths That Keep People From Getting Help
Myth: you have to hit rock bottom first
Waiting for things to fall apart only raises the cost of change. Reaching out early, while you still have health, work and relationships to protect, is a sign of self-respect.
Myth: you must quit before starting therapy
Therapy can begin wherever you are, including while you are still using or unsure what you want. Clarity usually comes through the work, not before it.
Myth: behavioural compulsions are not real problems
Gambling, gaming, porn and spending can hijack the same reward systems as substances and cause just as much pain. They deserve the same care and seriousness.
More Questions About Getting Started
Do I have to be sober to attend a session?
It helps to arrive without being intoxicated, because you will get more from the conversation and remember it afterwards. If that is hard right now, say so. It is useful information, not a reason to be turned away from support.
Will my counsellor share what I say?
Counselling is confidential. Your therapist will explain the legal limits at the start, such as serious risk of harm to yourself or others, or concerns about a child’s safety.
Can counselling work alongside medication or a support group?
Yes. Many people combine therapy with medical care, prescribed treatment and peer support. Your counsellor can help you fit the pieces together.
What if I am not sure I have a problem?
That uncertainty is a fine place to start. Exploring your use with curiosity, without committing to any particular goal, is often the first helpful step.
Where can I learn more about substances and treatment in Canada?
Health Canada’s substance use resources explain common substances, risks and support options nationwide.
Take the First Step With Addiction Counselling Vancouver
Change is possible, and you do not have to work it out alone. To book a free 15 minute consult, reach out through our contact page or call 604-227-0297. We will listen without judgement, answer your questions, and help you find a therapist who feels like the right fit.
Meet Joel Myers, RTC
Joel is a trauma-informed addiction therapist who blends clinical skill with deep empathy and lived experience. He supports individuals navigating addictive behaviours, existential pain, and unresolved trauma, offering a space that is non-judgmental, attuned, and deeply human.
Joel works from a holistic, integrative perspective that extends beyond traditional talk therapy. His sessions often incorporate body-based approaches like breathwork, meditation, and sound healing, helping clients reconnect to themselves in a grounded, embodied way. Whether you’re facing overwhelming emotions, unhelpful patterns, or simply need someone to truly listen, Joel is here to walk with you, toward healing, clarity, and a more connected life.
Therapy for Alcohol and Substance Use
Whether you’re trying to cut back or completely stop, our counsellors offer personalized support for alcohol addiction and drug dependence. We use therapeutic approaches like CBT, DBT, and trauma-informed care to help you identify triggers, build new coping tools, and stay grounded during cravings. We also supports harm reduction goals, and we’re deeply familiar with the local landscape of detox, rehab, and support groups if additional care is needed.
Support for Behavioural and Process Addictions
Not all addictions involve substances. Some of the most misunderstood and shame-loaded addictions involve behaviours, compulsive pornography use, gambling, binge eating, shopping, or internet addiction. These behaviours often develop as attempts to self-soothe or manage unspoken emotional pain. At Thrive, we help you to explore the emotional ecosystem beneath the compulsion so that healing happens at the root. You don’t need to do this alone, and you’re not broken.
Addiction and Mental Health: The Dual Diagnosis Lens
Addiction rarely exists in isolation. Many of our clients also struggle with anxiety, depression, trauma, or ADHD. In fact, these underlying issues often fuel the addiction. That’s why our therapists use an integrated model that treats co-occurring disorders simultaneously. You shouldn’t have to choose between healing your mental health or overcoming addiction. They’re part of the same conversation.
A Non-Judgmental Space to Begin Again
We know the courage it takes to walk through the door (or click the link). Many people carry deep shame around addiction, especially when they’ve relapsed, hurt loved ones, or kept it hidden for years. Our job is not to judge. It’s to walk beside you with honesty, clarity, and care. No matter how far gone things feel, it’s not too late. Addiction counselling Vancouver can be the beginning of something new.
Ready To Get Help?
If you’re searching for addiction counselling Vancouver, you’ve already taken a powerful first step. Whether you’re ready to commit to change or simply want to explore what recovery might look like, we’re here. We’ll listen to your story, support your goals, and help you reconnect with who you really are, beyond the addiction.
FAQ, Addiction Counselling Vancouver
What types of addictions do you treat?
We work with substance addictions (alcohol, cocaine, opioids, cannabis, stimulants, etc.) and behavioural addictions (porn, gambling, food, gaming, etc.). We also treat co-occurring disorders like anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
Is this the same as rehab?
No. Our services are outpatient addiction counselling Vancouver, ideal if you’re looking for professional support while maintaining your daily life. We can also help connect you with inpatient programs if needed.
What if I relapse?
Relapse is often part of recovery. We’ll work with you to understand what happened, reduce shame, and get back on track.
Do you offer online addiction counselling in Vancouver?
Yes. We offer secure online sessions, so you can access therapy from the comfort and privacy of your home.
How much does it cost?
Our rate is $175 per session. We provide receipts for insurance reimbursement. More frequently we are able to direct bill insurance companies.
