Addiction counseling · Hopkins, Minnesota
Addiction Counseling Services in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Individual sessions with your own licensed alcohol and drug counselor, built into outpatient addiction and mental health treatment rather than bolted on.
Northwoods Haven Recovery provides addiction counseling for adults in Minneapolis, Hopkins, and the Twin Cities as part of its outpatient programs. Every client in the Intensive Outpatient Program and the Relapse Prevention Program is matched with a licensed alcohol and drug counselor (LADC) who meets with them individually, builds the treatment plan with them, and stays with them from the first week through the step-down.
Group is where you learn alongside other people. Individual counseling is where the work gets personal: your history, your triggers, your co-occurring conditions, your plan.
Your counselor
A licensed alcohol and drug counselor (LADC)
Where it happens
Inside IOP and the Relapse Prevention Program
How it starts
With a chemical use assessment, then intake
Continuity
The same counselor through both levels of care
What it is
Counseling that knows your whole story
Addiction counseling is individual work with a licensed alcohol and drug counselor focused on substance use and everything tangled up with it. An LADC is a Minnesota-licensed clinician trained specifically to assess and treat substance use disorders, including the co-occurring mental health conditions that so often travel with them. At Northwoods Haven Recovery your counselor completes or reviews your assessment, writes your treatment plan with you, and meets with you individually throughout the program.
Counseling here is part of outpatient treatment, not a standalone weekly appointment you schedule on its own. It runs alongside the three-hour groups in the Intensive Outpatient Program and continues through the ten to twelve weeks of the Relapse Prevention Program. That structure is the point: what comes up in group gets worked through individually, and what you practice individually gets tested in group.
What individual sessions cover
- Your treatment plan: the goals you set and how they change as you make progress
- Cravings, triggers, and whatever happened between sessions
- Co-occurring conditions such as depression, anxiety, trauma, bipolar disorder, and ADHD
- Skills from CBT, DBT, acceptance and commitment therapy, and motivational interviewing, applied to your situation
- Family, work, legal matters, and the parts of life that use has damaged
- Your written relapse prevention plan, built and revised with your counselor
What to bring: honesty, mostly. If a medical provider prescribes buprenorphine, methadone, naltrexone, an antidepressant, a mood stabilizer, or ADHD medication for you, tell us during the assessment so your plan accounts for it. We do not prescribe, and people taking medication are welcome here.
How it works
Three steps to your own counselor
Counseling begins with an assessment, because a plan built on a guess does not hold.
01
You complete a chemical use assessment
A licensed alcohol and drug counselor evaluates your substance use, screens for co-occurring mental health conditions, and recommends a level of care. If outpatient treatment fits, intake follows and programming begins right after.
02
You are matched with your counselor
In your first individual sessions you and your LADC build the treatment plan together: what you want to change, what stands in the way, and what progress will look like for you. It is your plan, in your words.
03
You meet regularly through both levels of care
Individual sessions continue throughout IOP and into the Relapse Prevention Program, where the focus shifts to protecting what you have built. Same counselor, start to finish.
Not in a program yet?
Start with the assessment. Counseling follows from what it finds.
We do not offer standalone counseling appointments outside our programs. If you want individual work with an LADC, the first step is a chemical use assessment, which determines whether outpatient treatment here fits. If it does not, we help you find what does.
Read about the first step Chemical use assessments
Why here
Programs are structures. Counselors are the people inside them.
The relationship with your counselor is one of the strongest predictors of whether treatment sticks. We build ours to last.
Licensed and specialized
Every counselor is an LADC, licensed in Minnesota to assess and treat substance use disorders, not a generalist adding addiction to a list.
One counselor, both programs
You do not start over when you step down. The person who knew you in week one is the person helping you protect your progress months later.
Mental health is in the room
Depression, anxiety, trauma, bipolar disorder, and ADHD are worked on alongside substance use, not referred out and forgotten.
Evidence-based, not scripted
CBT, DBT skills, acceptance and commitment therapy, and motivational interviewing, applied to your life rather than read from a workbook.
Your recovery, your definition
Twelve-step, secular, faith-based, or something else entirely. Your counselor works with the approach that works for you.
Family is welcome in the work
With your written permission, your counselor can bring family into the conversation and help them understand how to support you without taking over.
What to expect
What your counselor owes you, and what you owe the work
You can expect a counselor who listens more than they talk, who does not lecture, and who tells you the truth even when it is uncomfortable. What you share is confidential, protected under federal and Minnesota law, and released only where you authorize it in writing or where the law requires it. You can expect a plan that is yours rather than a template, and honest feedback about how it is going.
What is expected of you is showing up, saying what is actually happening, and doing the work between sessions. If you use again, that belongs in the room, not hidden from it. Counseling cannot help with what it does not know about, and your counselor has heard harder things than whatever you are afraid to say.
- Sessions are confidential and released only with your written authorization or as the law requires
- Your counselor will be direct with you and expects the same in return
- Progress is measured against your plan, not against anyone else's
Where counseling lives
Two levels of care, one counselor
Individual counseling is woven through both outpatient programs, so the person who helped you build your plan is the same person helping you protect it. Everything is scheduled around work and family, and you go home after every session. Insurance is verified on the first call.
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Three-hour groups most programming days plus individual sessions with your LADC. Co-occurring mental health treatment runs throughout. About two to four months.
Relapse Prevention Program
Ten to twelve weeks of low-intensity outpatient care with the same counselor, focused on your written relapse prevention plan and the life you are building.
Conditions we treat
Alcohol, opioids, methamphetamine, cocaine, benzodiazepines, marijuana, prescription drugs, and more, each with counseling shaped to the substance and to you.
Co-occurring mental health care
Trauma and PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and ADHD addressed in your individual sessions alongside substance use.
Assessments and services
Assessments and services that get you into the right care
Everything begins with an assessment. These are the services around our two levels of outpatient care.
The hour that turns a worry into a diagnosis and a level of care. Where everyone starts.
A clinical evaluation for Minnesota DWI court, probation, and licensing requirements, with written documentation.
Individual counseling with your own licensed alcohol and drug counselor, inside every level of care here.
Therapies
Evidence-based therapies we use, taught as options
Seven approaches, one plan built with you. Your counselor teaches you what each one does and you decide what belongs in your recovery lifestyle.
Catch the thought that comes before the drink or the drug, test it, and practice a different move before Friday.
Skills for intense emotion, urges, and relationships: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness.
Make room for the craving or the feeling without acting on it, and build a life around what you value.
Find your own reasons to change, at your own pace. Includes motivational enhancement therapy, the structured short form.
The same people each session, so accountability is real. Where most of the traction in outpatient treatment comes from.
Every group and session run on predictability, choice, and safety, because most people carry something older than the substance.
Mental health, relationships, work, and purpose treated as one picture, with a recovery lifestyle you define.
You do not choose a therapy from a menu. Your counselor teaches you all of them as options and the plan uses what works for you.
Paying for treatment
Insurance-covered addiction treatment that's accessible to anyone who wants it.
Medicaid was the first network we joined, on purpose. We’re also in-network with major commercial plans. We’ll verify your benefits and tell you plainly what your plan covers before you commit to anything.
Minnesota Medicaid
Blue Cross Blue Shield
HealthPartners
UnitedHealthcare
Medica
Hennepin Health
Private pay accepted
Not listed? Call and we'll check.
Common questions
Questions about addiction counseling
Most people have never worked with an addiction counselor before. Here is what they usually want to know first.
LegitScript Certified
Verified addiction treatment provider
What is a licensed alcohol and drug counselor (LADC)?
An LADC is a clinician licensed by the State of Minnesota to assess, diagnose, and treat substance use disorders. Licensure requires specific education in chemical dependency counseling, supervised clinical hours, and an examination. Every counselor at Northwoods Haven Recovery holds this license.
Can I schedule addiction counseling without joining a program?
No. Individual counseling at Northwoods Haven Recovery is part of the Intensive Outpatient Program and the Relapse Prevention Program, and it begins after a chemical use assessment. We do not offer standalone counseling appointments. If that is what you need, we will help you find a provider who does.
How is addiction counseling different from seeing a psychologist or therapist?
An LADC specializes in substance use and the mental health conditions that travel with it, and works inside a structured treatment program with group and a written plan. A psychologist or general therapist typically provides broader mental health care in a weekly office setting. Many people benefit from both, and we coordinate with outside providers when you authorize it.
Is what I say in counseling confidential?
Yes. Substance use treatment records are protected under federal confidentiality rules and Minnesota law. Your counselor releases information only where you authorize it in writing or where the law requires it, such as an immediate threat to someone’s safety. Your counselor explains the limits before you begin.
How often will I meet with my counselor?
Individual sessions are scheduled regularly throughout the Intensive Outpatient Program and the Relapse Prevention Program. The frequency is set in your treatment plan and adjusts as you progress. Group sessions run three hours most programming days during IOP; individual counseling runs alongside them.
Will my counselor treat my depression or anxiety too?
Yes. Trauma and PTSD, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and ADHD are treated alongside substance use in both programs, and they come up directly in your individual sessions. If your needs are mental-health-primary with no substance use diagnosis, a program built for that will serve you better and we will help you find one.
Does insurance cover addiction counseling?
Counseling is part of the outpatient programs, which we bill to insurance. We are in-network with Minnesota Medicaid, Blue Cross Blue Shield, HealthPartners, UnitedHealthcare, and Medica, and we verify your benefits on the first call so you know what coverage looks like before you start.
Can my family be involved in counseling?
With your written permission, yes. Your counselor can help you bring family members into the conversation, explain how substance use disorders work, and help them understand how to support you. About half of our calls come from a family member, so working with families is part of how we operate.
Related articles
Related reading on counseling, planning, and support
Your team
Meet the counselors who answer the phone and guide your treatment.
Getting started
How to get started: four steps, no waiting eleven days.
Reaching out doesn’t commit you to anything. It means you asked a question, and we answered it.
01
Call
We listen to what’s going on and where you are in the process. No script, no pressure.
02
Chemical use assessment
A comprehensive assessment to determine diagnosis and the level of care that fits.
03
Referral to the right care
Ideally with us. If another program fits you better, we’ll connect you to it.
04
Intake
Programming starts immediately after intake. Already have an assessment? Send it over and we’ll review it.
Take the first step
When you're ready, we're here.
Reaching out doesn’t mean you’ve committed to anything. It means you’re asking a question, and we’ll answer it honestly, even if the answer points somewhere else.
100% confidential
Insurance verified fast
No commitment to ask
Outpatient only
Referring professionals
Send a comprehensive assessment, plus treatment plan reviews, discharge summary, med list, and insurance information if applicable. A list, not a portal.
Visit us in Hopkins
Northwoods Haven Recovery
5900 Green Oak Drive, Ste 306
Hopkins, MN 55343