Life Skills and Employment Support Services
NorthStar Regional schedules life skills training in Minnesota into the treatment week, because a stable life protects recovery. Budgeting, resumes, benefits paperwork, and communication all get rebuilt while there is still a team around you. Skills groups sit in the normal schedule at our Twin Cities residential campuses, and the work continues through outpatient. The persistence that got you through active addiction is the same persistence that can make you successful at work. We accept Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and most major insurers, and this is the part of treatment where you get your keys back.
Life skills at a glance
Skills groups
Financial literacy, job skills, communication, and recovery capital groups. They sit in the normal schedule, next to the clinical work.
The paperwork sessions
Benefits forms, budgeting with your real numbers, and the specific snags of your own case. You work through them with staff who deal with these systems every day.
The launch checklist
Resume done, interviews practiced, benefits in motion. Budget built, housing planned.
Inpatient Rehabilitation
Life skills groups inside the full residential schedule. That is where the rebuilding starts.
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 this service
What Life Skills Programming Does
“Recovery is about the freedom to function.”
John McGinnis, LADC, Chief Mission Officer, NorthStar Regional
Addiction can cost you your health and your stability. Bills went unopened, jobs ended badly, licenses lapsed, and paperwork piled up until it felt like too much. Many people arrive at treatment having survived things most people can’t imagine, yet a benefits form still feels impossible. Life skills programming is designed to close that gap. It covers budgeting and money basics, resumes and job readiness, communication, and rebuilding the support you need to keep your life steady. It’s scheduled into the treatment week because we treat it as part of your clinical care.
Employment gets the most attention. The work starts from a simple idea. The effort and persistence it took to get through active addiction are the same qualities that can make you successful at work. That hard work was real. It was just aimed at the wrong goal. By discharge, the aim is to leave with things already moving: a resume that tells your story honestly, interview practice behind you, benefits sorted out, and a budget that works on your actual income. For many clients, it also means a bed in sober housing, where they can keep building on that progress.
Is this right for you?
Signs Life Skills Support Should Be Part of Your Plan
Most people in treatment can use some life skills support. These signs mean it should be a bigger part of your plan.
You’ve Been Avoiding The Mail
You have unopened envelopes, lapsed licenses, or forms you never filed. The worry about the paperwork is often worse than the paperwork itself, and we work through both with you.
Your Work History Has a Gap
Maybe you have missing years, damaged relationships, or jobs that ended badly. A resume can tell that story honestly and still help you get hired.
Money Disappears
Even sober, your paycheck is gone and you can’t say where it went. Budgeting is a skill you can learn, often in just a few weeks.
You’ve Never Done The Basics Sober
Meals, laundry, appointments, and rent keep coming around, and now you handle them without a substance. You can learn a routine, and with practice, it lasts.
The Paperwork Is Overwhelming
Medical Assistance (Medicaid) applications, general assistance, child support, and court dates each come with their own rules. Our team knows how these systems work, and we teach you how to handle them.
Life After Treatment Scares You More Than Treatment
If handling life afterward feels like the hardest part, that fear shows us where to focus. This program is designed to help with it.
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
Life Skills for Addiction and Mental Health
Depression makes the mail impossible to open. Addiction makes it irrelevant. Anxiety makes it terrifying. Rebuilding daily function is co-occurring work by nature, which is why life skills are built into the whole plan instead of added on the side. Whatever you are carrying, it has its own page and its own place in the treatment.
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
Life Skills in Our Programs
They’re part of your care from your first week to your last.
Skills Groups Built Into The Week
Groups on financial literacy, job skills, communication, and recovery capital (the people and resources that support your recovery) are part of your regular schedule, alongside clinical care.
One-On-One Help With Your Paperwork
Staff who handle these systems every day help you with benefits forms, a budget based on your real numbers, and any problems specific to your case.
What You Leave With
The goal is to leave with your resume done, interviews practiced, benefits in process, a budget in place, and housing planned.
Where You'll Find It at NorthStar Regional
Where Life Skills Programming Happens
Strongest where there is time: the residential stages and the housing that follows.
Residential
Inpatient Rehabilitation
Life skills groups inside the full residential schedule. That is where the rebuilding starts.
Extended care
Low-Intensity Residential Treatment
With residential and detox, clients most often reach 85 to 105 days of connected care. That is time for skills to become habits.
The next address
Sober Living Pathway
Many clients move into sober housing through our partner, A Way Out Sober Living. There, the routines keep running.
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 Life Skills
What are life skills in addiction treatment?
Life skills in addiction treatment are the practical skills you need to live on your own. They include budgeting and money skills, job skills and resumes, benefits paperwork, communication, and the daily tasks that may have slipped during addiction. A stable daily life can help prevent relapse, so we treat life skills as part of treatment.
Why does treatment include resume help?
Leaving treatment without a job can make early recovery harder. Work gives you structure, income, and a sense of purpose, and each of those can help protect against relapse. In our employment skills groups, you build a resume, practice interviews, and learn how to present your work history to employers.
What if my work history is mostly the addiction years?
You likely have more transferable skills than you realize. The persistence and problem-solving it took to get through those years can also help you succeed at work. We help you describe those skills honestly on your resume and in interviews.
What does financial literacy cover?
Financial literacy covers budgeting on a real income, understanding and repairing money problems from the years of using, filling out benefits forms, and working out the real costs of rent, transportation, and bills. Money stress is a common relapse trigger, so we work on these before you leave treatment.
What happens with these skills after treatment?
You take them with you when you leave, ideally into a setting with structure. Many clients move into sober housing through our partner, A Way Out Sober Living. There, you can keep practicing the routines you started in treatment in a stable place.
Will insurance cover treatment that includes life skills work?
Generally, yes. Life skills and job programming are part of your treatment program, so they’re typically covered along with it. We accept Medical Assistance (Medicaid) and most major insurers, and our team can walk you through what your plan covers.
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.