Alcohol and Trauma Treatment in Scottsdale, Arizona
At Redefine Wellness & Treatment, trauma is the driver. Alcohol is what people reach for when the nervous system cannot hold what it is carrying. We treat both in our Scottsdale PHP and IOP from day one.
- Joint Commission Accredited
- Daily Neurofeedback
- Root-Cause Treatment
- Body + Brain + Mind Approach
- Outpatient Programs, No Detox On-Site
Commission
...and many more private plans
- Trauma-Informed Alcohol Recovery
Structured Alcohol and Trauma Treatment in Scottsdale, Arizona
At Redefine, alcohol and trauma treatment targets the nervous system dysregulation trauma leaves behind and the drinking used to quiet it. When the amygdala stays primed and the body cannot settle, alcohol becomes a nightly off-switch that eventually stops working. Our PHP and IOP programs treat the trauma, the alcohol use, and the co-occurring depression, anxiety, or sleep disruption that typically come with them.
- Outpatient, Not Residential Live at home or in our sober residence. Continue work, parenting, or school while treating both conditions.
- Neurofeedback for Nervous System Regulation Daily sessions target the hyperarousal and hypervigilance trauma leaves behind, the same dysregulation that drove the drinking.
- Trauma Therapy From Day One EMDR and somatic work begin in week one, not after a sobriety milestone. You treat the driver while you treat the drinking.
- MAT Coordination When Clinically Indicated Naltrexone or acamprosate can be coordinated with Dr. Michael Yasinski when they support your treatment goals.
- 20+ Modalities Tailored to What Trauma Left Behind Your clinical team builds the modality mix around your trauma history, drinking patterns, and what you have already tried.
Partial Hospitalization Program for Alcohol and Trauma
PHP is the right starting point when the drinking has been holding a trauma-dysregulated nervous system together, or when detox is behind you and the trauma underneath is rising without the alcohol to quiet it. Five days a week, we work both at once: EMDR and somatic therapy for what the drinking was managing, neurofeedback to stabilize the hyperarousal that drives craving, and structured clinical care through the vulnerability of early sobriety. You return home each evening.
- EMDR and trauma-focused therapy
- Neurofeedback for hyperarousal regulation
- Somatic therapy and parts work
- Individual and group therapy
- Step-down from detox when needed
- Return home each evening
Intensive Outpatient Program for Alcohol and Trauma
IOP provides structured trauma and alcohol care three days a week while you continue working, parenting, or maintaining responsibilities. You receive the same core modalities as PHP, including EMDR, neurofeedback, somatic therapy, and group work, at a schedule that fits around your life. IOP is the right entry point when weekly talk therapy has not held the drinking in check, when trauma work outside structured care has destabilized recovery, or as a step-down from PHP.
- EMDR and trauma-focused therapy
- Neurofeedback for hyperarousal regulation
- Somatic therapy and parts work
- Relapse prevention built in
- Continue working during treatment
- Step-down from PHP when ready
Aftercare and Continuing Support for Alcohol and Trauma Recovery
The period after PHP or IOP is when trauma-related drinking risk is highest. Aftercare at Redefine keeps the clinical relationship intact: ongoing EMDR or somatic work as needed, continued neurofeedback, individual therapy, and group support structured around your recovery, not a generic alumni schedule. We stay in it with you through the anniversaries, triggers, and life transitions that trauma work brings forward.
- Continued EMDR and somatic access
- Continued neurofeedback
- Ongoing individual therapy
- Trauma trigger response planning
- Frequency adjusts as you stabilize
- Same clinical team throughout
- Integrated Trauma and Alcohol Care
Our Alcohol and Trauma Treatment Programs
Do I Need Detox Before Alcohol and Trauma Treatment?
Redefine does not provide medical detox on-site. For alcohol and trauma treatment, the detox question matters twice: first for medical safety, then because removing the sedative often brings trauma symptoms forward. Here is how we work with that.
Alcohol Withdrawal Timeline
Medical detox for alcohol typically takes 3 to 7 days and can be medically serious. For people with trauma, the first week off alcohol also tends to bring a surge in hypervigilance, nightmares, and flashbacks as the nervous system recalibrates. Do not stop abruptly without medical supervision.
We Coordinate the Transition
Our admissions team works with medical detox facilities to plan your transition into PHP. The handoff matters most when trauma symptoms typically spike in week two, so EMDR and somatic work can begin right away instead of waiting for sobriety to stabilize.
Already Sober, Now Trauma Is Rising?
Many people arrive already stopped drinking, only to find the trauma is louder without the alcohol to quiet it. That is exactly when structured treatment helps most. Call us to talk through where you are and the right starting point.
If you are unsure whether you need detox first, or worried about what stopping drinking will bring up, our admissions team can talk it through before you commit to anything.
Calling on behalf of someone you love? Calls are completely confidential and require no commitment.
PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder Treatment in Scottsdale, Arizona
Our Approach
At Redefine, PTSD and alcohol use disorder are treated concurrently, not in sequence. EMDR processes the traumatic material directly, while neurofeedback targets the hyperarousal that alcohol was managing between drinks. Somatic experiencing supports the body-level dysregulation that keeps both conditions locked together. Treating the drinking first and the trauma later, the traditional model, often leaves the actual driver of the drinking unaddressed, which is why the approach did not hold for so many of the adults who walk in already having tried it.
What Is PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder Co-Occurrence?
Among adults in alcohol treatment, PTSD shows up at rates between 30 and 60 percent. The pattern is recognizable once you know what to look for: the nervous system stays primed for threat long after the threatening event has ended, and alcohol provides temporary sedation of that activation. Over time, alcohol also blunts the brain's capacity to process the trauma, which is why PTSD symptoms often intensify after someone stops drinking. The two conditions reinforce each other biologically and behaviorally.
- Drinking to quiet intrusive memories
- Hypervigilance alcohol temporarily softens
- Nightmares that interrupt sleep
- Avoiding places that trigger memories
- Drinking to feel safe around people
- Emotional numbing paired with heavy use
Complex Trauma and Alcohol Use Treatment in Scottsdale, Arizona
Our Approach
At Redefine, complex trauma and alcohol use are treated through layered, long-arc clinical work. Our program integrates EMDR, somatic experiencing, and Post Induction Therapy to address the fragmented sense of self that prolonged or developmental trauma creates, alongside the drinking that often functioned as an organizing force for daily life. In the framing Gabor Maté has advanced, addiction is less about the substance and more about what the substance is answering, a view our clinical team holds at the center of this work. Neurofeedback stabilizes the underlying nervous system dysregulation across months of treatment.
What Is Complex Trauma and Alcohol Use?
Complex trauma describes repeated or prolonged exposure to trauma, usually in contexts where escape was not possible: ongoing childhood abuse, coercive relationships, sustained combat, or chronic medical trauma. Unlike single-incident PTSD, complex trauma shapes identity, attachment, emotional regulation, and the ability to feel safe in close relationships. Alcohol often becomes the mechanism that makes ordinary life tolerable. Complex trauma rarely resolves through standard PTSD protocols alone, and the drinking rarely resolves without addressing the underlying trauma.
- Persistent sense of something being wrong
- Difficulty tolerating closeness without alcohol
- Emotional flooding drinking contains
- Traumatic stress spanning years
- Feeling disconnected from yourself
- Drinking to function in ordinary situations
Childhood Trauma and Alcohol Use Treatment in Scottsdale, Arizona
Our Approach
At Redefine, we treat alcohol use that traces back to adverse childhood experiences by working with the nervous system where those experiences were stored. As van der Kolk has described, early trauma is held in the body long before it can be understood in words. Somatic experiencing, EMDR, and neurofeedback target the body-level patterns childhood trauma leaves behind, including the hyperreactivity, shame states, and attachment disruption that adults often drink to manage. Parts work through Internal Family Systems helps integrate the younger parts of the self that developed alcohol use as a survival strategy.
What Is Childhood Trauma and Alcohol Use Disorder?
Adverse childhood experiences, including abuse, neglect, parental substance use, and household instability, substantially increase the likelihood of alcohol use disorder in adulthood. The mechanism is not moral or characterological. Childhood trauma alters how the developing nervous system regulates stress, which creates a lifelong vulnerability that alcohol often steps in to manage. For many adults, the drinking makes sense only once the childhood piece is named out loud.
- Drinking that started in adolescence or college
- A childhood that was not safe
- Feeling different or alone around family
- Drinking to feel normal, not to feel high
- Shame that predates the drinking
- Alcohol patterns across generations
Acute Trauma and Alcohol Use Treatment in Scottsdale, Arizona
Our Approach
At Redefine, alcohol use following a specific event, an accident, assault, medical crisis, sudden loss, or other acute trauma, responds well to early intervention. EMDR can be highly effective for single-incident trauma when the person is stable enough to engage with it. Neurofeedback supports nervous system recovery in the weeks and months after the event. Somatic experiencing addresses the activation that sits in the body when the event is over but the response system has not released. Addressing the drinking early, before it consolidates into a longer pattern, changes the trajectory significantly.
What Is Acute Trauma and Alcohol Use?
Acute trauma refers to the psychological and physiological aftermath of a specific traumatic event. In the weeks and months following, the nervous system often remains in a heightened state of activation even after the event has ended. Alcohol is a common and understandable first response. It softens the activation, interrupts intrusive thoughts, and helps with sleep. The risk is that this coping becomes a pattern before the trauma has been processed, at which point the drinking itself becomes part of the problem.
- A recent event that changed how you feel
- Drinking that started or climbed after the event
- Sleep disrupted since the event
- Emotional flooding in familiar situations
- Drinking to keep the memory at bay
- Wondering if what you feel is PTSD
Grief, Loss, and Alcohol Treatment in Scottsdale, Arizona
Our Approach
At Redefine, grief-driven alcohol use is treated with the recognition that grief and trauma share nervous system territory but follow different arcs. Our clinical team includes a dedicated grief specialist, and treatment integrates somatic therapy, EMDR for complicated or traumatic loss, and evidence-based approaches for ambiguous or disenfranchised grief. Neurofeedback supports sleep and emotional regulation during periods when both are typically disrupted. Treatment honors the loss rather than asking you to move past it on someone else's timeline.
What Is Grief, Loss, and Alcohol Use?
Grief, particularly traumatic, sudden, or complicated loss, often produces a nervous system response that overlaps significantly with PTSD. Sleep fragments, appetite shifts, emotional flooding becomes unpredictable. Alcohol is one of the most common ways adults manage the first year after a loss, and sometimes a pattern sets in that outlasts the acute grief. Unresolved grief combined with alcohol use does not resolve with time alone, particularly when the loss itself had traumatic features.
- Drinking that started or escalated after a loss
- Sleep that has not normalized since
- Feeling stuck inside the loss
- Drinking to avoid thinking about the person
- Grief that feels more like trauma
- Drinking around anniversaries or reminders
- How Trauma Shapes the Drinking
Types of Alcohol and Trauma We Treat
Brain & Nervous System
Trauma primes the nervous system for threat and keeps it there, which is what alcohol was quieting at the end of the day. These approaches target the underlying dysregulation directly, not through talk alone. Modalities include:
Trauma-Focused Therapy
Trauma processed through talk alone often leaves the body still activated, which is why somatic approaches became central to this work, a direction Peter Levine's framework formalized. Our therapists are trained in body-based and reprocessing methods that do not require verbal retelling of the traumatic material. Modalities include:
- Somatic Experiencing
- Post Induction Therapy
- Parts work (IFS-informed)
- Trauma-Focused CBT
Reprocessing the Trauma
When trauma stays unprocessed, the body continues to respond to the present as if the past were still happening, which is exactly what alcohol was managing. These evidence-based approaches help the system finally complete what it started. Modalities include:
- EMDR
- Internal Family Systems
- Brainspotting
- Prolonged Exposure (when indicated)
Body & Recovery
Trauma lives in the body, and so does the physical cost of years of drinking: disrupted sleep, tension that does not release, a nervous system that forgot how to settle on its own. These practices restore the physical foundation recovery requires. Modalities include:
- Yoga & Meditation
- Movement Therapy
- Mindfulness Practices
- Lifestyle Coaching
Your treatment plan is built around what the drinking was managing. Our clinical team uses assessment and neurofeedback data to determine which trauma-focused modalities will serve you best.
(888) 546-5580- More Tools. More Options. Better Outcomes.
Our Approach to Alcohol and Trauma Treatment
- When to Seek Help
Signs You May Need Alcohol and Trauma Treatment
- Your drinking climbed after a specific event, loss, or period you would rather not think about.
- You have tried to stop and the anxiety, anger, or grief underneath was more than you could handle sober.
- Weekly therapy has not moved the drinking, or you have left sessions more activated than when you arrived.
- Sleep without alcohol means nightmares, night sweats, or waking at 3 a.m. wired and unable to settle.
- You know what the drinking is about, and you still cannot stop.
- You have tried to treat the trauma and the drinking separately, and neither one held.
- Levels of Care
Which Program Is Right for You?
- Our Team
The Redefine Clinical Team
Dr. Michael
Yasinski, MD
Trauma-Informed Psychiatrist
Lindsey Dunning,
PMHNP-BC
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
Brenna Gonzales, LPC, SEP, CMAT
Trauma-Informed Therapist
How Alcohol and Trauma Treatment Works
Consultation
Free, confidential call to understand your situation
Assessment
Evaluation covering the drinking, the trauma, and how they connect
Care Plan
One plan for both conditions, not two separate tracks
Treatment
Daily work combining brain, body, and behavioral approaches
Integration
Skills for staying stable and preventing old patterns
Real Connection, Support, & Healing
Our Scottsdale outpatient programs combine innovative neuroscience with proven therapeutic approaches.
- Testimonials
Healing in Their Own Words
“They made me feel at ease and understood.”
Chris S.
“Love this place!!”
Christine D.
“Best treatment in my LIFE!”
Dan S.
“Laura is an excellent practitioner”
Dr. Jasmine
“What a blessing to have found and participated in treatment at Redefine Wellness.”
Jen C.
“I have never experienced such a professional and caring staff.”
Hunter B.
“The staff is so friendly and the facility is clean. ”
Gwen J.
“I love this facility. I have been coming here for several months.”
Robert B.
“I was lost, unable to stand up for myself and stuck in anxiety.”
Presley P.
“The wellness center is stunning and the whole team has been very kind and helpful.”
Mackenzie K.
“I’m so happy to say I would 100% recommend this place over and over”
briana medley
“The staff here are wonderful and compassionate. I definitely recommend this clinic!”
Beaunerism
“Receiving treatments here was 100% a game changer, I strongly recommend!”
Jae S.
“Highly recommend if you’re looking for something focused and personal.”
Scott Forbes
“Highly recommend!”
Jenna Wolf
“The entire staff at Redefine is amazing. ”
Brittany Whitley
“The staff is incredible—super friendly”
Jon Driscoll
“A beautiful location with wonderful staff”
Matt Sheehan
“They made me feel at ease and understood.”
Chris S.
“Love this place!!”
Christine D.
“Best treatment in my LIFE!”
Dan S.
“Laura is an excellent practitioner”
Dr. Jasmine
“What a blessing to have found and participated in treatment at Redefine Wellness.”
Jen C.
“I have never experienced such a professional and caring staff.”
Hunter B.
- FAQs
Your Questions, Answered
Do I need to complete detox before starting alcohol and trauma treatment?
If you are drinking at a level that requires medical withdrawal support, yes. Alcohol detox can be medically serious and must be supervised. We coordinate with detox partners and step you into PHP as soon as you are medically stable, usually within days, so the trauma symptoms that typically rise in the first week sober can be met with structured clinical support instead of white-knuckled willpower.
Will I need medication for alcohol and trauma treatment?
What is the difference between IOP and PHP for alcohol and trauma?
Do you treat the trauma underneath the drinking, or just the alcohol use?
What happens after I finish the program?
Our Mission
At Redefine Wellness and Treatment, we empower healing by uniting mind, body, and spirit. Using trauma-informed therapies, neuroscience, and holistic practices, we deliver personalized care that fosters resilience, growth, and lasting transformation.
Our Vision
We aspire to create a world where access to transformative healing is available to all, empowering people to lead fulfilling, balanced lives.
Recognized by
The Research on Alcohol and Trauma
Trauma does not sit next to alcohol use disorder. It drives it. These findings come from peer-reviewed longitudinal studies, large clinical samples, and randomized trials.
Between 30 and 60 percent of adults seeking alcohol treatment also meet criteria for PTSD. The two conditions travel together more often than either arrives alone.
In a clinical sample of 423 adults in substance use treatment, more than a third met full PTSD criteria, compared to a baseline population rate near 6 percent.
In a randomized trial, treating PTSD and alcohol use disorder at the same time produced greater PTSD symptom reduction and higher rates of diagnostic remission, with comparable reductions in drinking.
Why We Treat Both at the Same Time
Treating the alcohol use first and the trauma later is the model most people have already tried. The research points a different direction: concurrent care that works with the nervous system, not around it. At Redefine, EMDR, somatic therapy, and neurofeedback are built into alcohol treatment from week one, because the drinking rarely stops holding until the trauma starts healing.
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