Individual Therapy at NorthStar Regional
Group work only reaches what you will say in front of others, so NorthStar Regional runs individual therapy in Minnesota inside every program. Fifty minutes a week run on your agenda: wins, near-misses, and the deeper history when you are ready. Your counselor handles the addiction work, a mental health professional handles the rest, and nobody hands you off. Sessions run inside residential and outpatient care across the Twin Cities, and standalone at our Shakopee clinic. We accept Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and most major insurers, and the client is always the expert in the room.
Individual therapy at a glance
The session
Fifty minutes on your agenda. The week’s wins and near-misses, the deeper history when you are ready, and the skills you need coaching on for your real life.
The co-occurring work
Sessions with the mental health professional on your campus address the depression, anxiety, or trauma. It is all in the same plan as the addiction. There is never a separate referral.
The plan review
You and your counselor keep your treatment plan current. What’s working, what’s next, and what aftercare needs to hold when the program ends.
Inpatient Rehabilitation
Weekly one-on-one sessions, built into your residential treatment. Being stable is what makes the deeper work possible.
Licensed Treatment Programs
Founded 2015
Addiction and mental health care in one system
Multiple Campuses
Across the Twin Cities metro
MN Department of Health: Licensed
MN Department of Human Services: Licensed
Understanding the therapy
What Individual Therapy Does
“We’re person-centered. I’m not going to take your words and make you use my words.”
Jason Vanderscoff, LADC, CEO of NorthStar Regional
Group therapy is the core of treatment, and it has one limit. It only works on what you are willing to say in front of other people. Individual therapy works on the rest. One on one, your counselor can slow down on the specific history, the specific shame, the specific relationship or charge or diagnosis that shaped how you got here. Together you build the parts of your plan that are yours alone.
At NorthStar Regional, individual sessions run weekly inside every program. They are arranged with your groups rather than running on their own. Your counselor handles the addiction work. A mental health professional assigned to your campus handles the co-occurring side. Nobody hands you off, and nothing you are working on falls between providers. You set the agenda, because at NorthStar Regional the client is the expert in their own needs.
Is this right for you?
Signs Individual Therapy Could Help You
Everyone in treatment gets individual sessions. These are the signs that the one-on-one work deserves extra weight in your plan.
Some Parts Of Your Story Need Privacy
A history, a charge, a family secret. If part of your story goes silent when other people are in the room, that part needs its own room.
Someone Needs To Focus On Just You
The group works on the pattern. You need someone working on your particulars: your job, your custody case, your diagnosis, your week.
It’s Hard To Be Honest In Front Of A Crowd
You deflect with humor, competence, or silence. One-on-one, there’s no audience to perform for and nowhere for the real subject to hide.
Addiction Isn’t Your Only Diagnosis
Depression, anxiety, trauma, ADHD. When a mental health condition comes with addiction, private sessions are where the co-occurring plan gets built.
You're Fluent but Not Honest
By now you can tell your story smoothly and reveal nothing. A good counselor hears the difference and works past it.
Your Treatment Plan Gets Reviewed Every Week
Goals drift when no one reviews them with you. Weekly individual sessions keep your treatment plan a living thing, not a stack of intake paperwork.
If even a few of these sound like you, that is reason enough to call. You don’t need to be certain, and you don’t need a diagnosis. A comprehensive assessment will sort out where this fits in your care. Reading this for someone you love? Start with our guide for parents or our guide for spouses and partners.
How It Helps
Individual Therapy for Addiction and Mental Health
Individual sessions are where dual diagnosis care gets specific. That might be the drinking and the depression underneath it, or the meth use and the untreated ADHD behind it. Each is addressed by name, in one plan, with one team. Whatever brought you here, it has its own page and its own place in the session.
For Addiction
Every substance we treat is explained on its own page, from the first assessment through sober living.
For Mental Health
At designated NorthStar Regional programs, these conditions are treated together with addiction as co-occurring care, in one plan. Standalone mental health treatment, no substance use diagnosis needed, is available through our outpatient clinic in Shakopee.
What to expect
What Your Individual Sessions Look Like
A weekly routine that builds on itself: review, work, plan.
The Session
Fifty minutes on your agenda. The week’s wins and near-misses, the deeper history when you are ready, and the skills you need coaching on for your real life.
The Co-Occurring Work
Sessions with the mental health professional on your campus address the depression, anxiety, or trauma. It is all in the same plan as the addiction. There is never a separate referral.
The Plan Review
You and your counselor keep your treatment plan current. What’s working, what’s next, and what aftercare needs to hold when the program ends.
Where You'll Find It at NorthStar Regional
One-on-One Work at Every Level of Care
Every program includes one-on-one therapy, and you can also get it without joining a program.
Residential
Inpatient Rehabilitation
You have one-on-one sessions every week as part of residential treatment. A stable setting makes it possible to go deeper.
Outpatient
Intensive Outpatient and Virtual IOP
You have individual sessions along with group work, in person or from home.
Standalone
Counseling Services
Our outpatient clinic in Shakopee offers one-on-one therapy without enrolling in a program. You don’t need an existing diagnosis to contact us.
Treatment Options
Explore Our Addiction and Mental Health Therapies and Services
Recovery rarely rests on one method. Below are the addiction and mental health therapies and services at NorthStar Regional. Each has its own page. Your comprehensive assessment, the full evaluation that sets your plan, decides which mix of therapies your plan starts with.
Who's behind the work
About NorthStar Regional
NorthStar Regional is Minnesota’s treatment system built around access: alcohol and drug treatment centers and mental health care across multiple Twin Cities metro locations. Founded in 2015, we provide one connected continuum: detox (withdrawal management), residential, outpatient, mental health, and a sober housing pathway. Separate men’s and women’s campuses, co-occurring care at designated programs, and no faith requirement set us apart. We accept Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and most major insurers, and if you are uninsured, our admissions team helps you through enrollment. A person can walk in with nothing and leave with everything they need to build a life.
Paying for Care
Insurance and Payment Options
Our team helps review your benefits and handles the paperwork with you. If you have no insurance, we help walk you through enrolling for benefits. County case managers, probation officers, hospitals, and crisis teams send clients to us because, in their words, we just get it done.
Insurance and State Funding
Commercial plans, Medical Assistance (Medicaid), county placements, and private pay. We verify benefits and handle the paperwork with you.
We Are Here to Help
We help review your benefits, find your right starting point, and schedule you for the same day or the next whenever possible. Then we pick you up anywhere in the Twin Cities metro.
How Admission Works
What Happens From Your First Call to Your First Night
You did the hard part when you picked up the phone. Here is exactly what happens next, so nothing about day one is a mystery.
You Call and a Real Person Answers
A real person answers, usually within seconds, and asks one short question: substance use, or mental health? There is no phone tree, and you don’t have to tell your life story. We ask only what we need and handle the rest.
We Help with the Details
Our team helps review your benefits, and a short screening covers withdrawal risk, medical needs, and mental health, so you land at the right level of care. Then we schedule you, same day or next day whenever possible.
We Pick You Up
You get reminder calls and texts before pickup. For residential, your admissions coordinator and your driver also call you together, so you know who’s coming, what car to look for, and when to expect them. Many of our drivers are in long-term recovery themselves, and yours will help with your bags.
A Real Person Meets You When You Arrive
Your driver walks you inside and introduces you by name to the team member waiting for you. Your intake team completes your application with you. If you’re hungry, there’s a meal waiting. From there, treatment starts, and we help take care of the logistics along the way.
“The client has done the hard work by picking up the phone. We will carry them the rest of the way.”
Sarah Roy, Executive Vice President
Reviews from Google
Why Clients Choose NorthStar Regional
Don’t just take our word for it. Here is what alumni say about their time in treatment.
Keep reading
Related Articles and Resources
Resources
Before You Call
How admissions works, guides for families, and the forms you can complete early. More resources are linked throughout the site, or contact admissions and we’ll send anything by email.
Questions we hear every day
Common Questions About Individual Therapy
What is individual therapy in addiction treatment?
One-on-one sessions with your counselor and, when your plan calls for it, the mental health team. It is the private part of the treatment week where your specific issues get addressed. Group therapy covers most of the daily work, and individual sessions handle the things that are yours alone.
How often will I meet one-on-one at NorthStar Regional?
Individual sessions run weekly across every level of care, from residential through outpatient. They go along with your group schedule. Your counselor can add sessions when the work calls for it.
Who provides individual therapy?
Licensed alcohol and drug counselors lead the addiction work. Each campus has a mental health professional assigned to the co-occurring side. So depression, anxiety, or trauma are treated in the same plan. They are not referred out.
How is this different from counseling services?
It is the same kind of session, reached two different ways. Inside a treatment program, individual therapy is a built-in part of your week. Our standalone counseling services at our outpatient clinic in Shakopee offer one-on-one work. You do not have to enroll in a full program.
Can I get individual therapy without doing groups?
Yes, through outpatient mental health and counseling services at our outpatient clinic in Shakopee. No established diagnosis is needed to contact us. Inside addiction treatment programs, individual and group work run together, because each does what the other can’t.
Will insurance cover individual therapy?
Coverage depends on your plan, the service, eligibility, and authorization requirements. Our team helps review your benefits and available payment options. Benefits verification is not a guarantee of payment.
Admissions
Make the First Call and We'll Take It from There
Confidential, no obligation, and answered by someone who knows what you’re facing and cares to listen.