Addiction therapy in Melbourne.
People arrive at dependence by very different roads. Some started recreationally. Some were self-medicating pain they had no other way to manage. Some were prescribed medication for entirely legitimate reasons — painkillers after surgery, benzodiazepines for anxiety, sleeping pills — and found they needed more and more, until stopping felt impossible.
However you got here, the reasons you started are usually different from the reasons you can't stop — and that's exactly what therapy works on. Our Melbourne psychologists provide non-judgemental, evidence-based addiction therapy at Carlton, St Kilda, Ringwood North and by telehealth.
Why stopping is harder than starting.
Substance use usually persists because it's doing a job — often the job of managing painful thoughts and emotions. That's why willpower alone so rarely works: the substance goes, but the pain it was managing stays. And with prescription dependence, fear of withdrawal keeps many people using long after the original reason has passed. Therapy addresses both sides:
New ways to cope
Learning alternative ways to manage the emotions and situations the substance was handling for you — the real first step toward freedom.
Craving strategies
Practical techniques for managing cravings and the thoughts that lead back to use.
Understanding your pattern
Mapping your triggers, high-risk situations and the role the substance plays in your life.
What's underneath
Treating the anxiety, depression, trauma or sleep problems that so often travel with substance use.
Lapses without collapse
Building a realistic plan where a slip is information, not failure — because change is a process, not a switch.
Working with your doctor
Where withdrawal needs medical management — especially with alcohol or benzodiazepines — we work alongside your GP.
Getting started.
An honest, judgement-free start
Your first session is a conversation, not an interrogation. You set the goals — we don't impose them.
Understanding the pattern
Together we map how the use works — when, why, what it gives you, and what it's costing.
Building the skills
Emotion management, craving strategies and a plan for high-risk moments — practised, not just discussed.
Staying on track
Progress protected: handling lapses, strengthening supports, and treating whatever the substance was masking.
Worried about someone you love?
Raising substance use with someone you care about is delicate, and how you do it matters. Choose a private moment when they're calm and not under the influence. Ask directly but without assumptions, and use "I" statements — "I've been worried" lands very differently to "you have a problem". Listen more than you lecture, and let them know effective help exists when they're ready. If they're not ready to change, encouraging them to reduce harm is still progress — change is a process, and you can't force it. And look after yourself: supporting someone through this is genuinely hard, and your wellbeing matters too. If the conversation goes badly, it wasn't wasted — people often need time to process what they've heard. The Australian Government's Drug Help resources are a good place to start, and we're happy to talk with family members about how to approach things.
Making it affordable.
With a Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP, Medicare rebates apply to up to 10 sessions per year. NDIS funding may also apply for eligible participants. See our fees & funding page, or call and we'll walk you through it.
Frequently asked questions.
Do I have to want to quit completely?
No. Your goals are yours — some people aim for abstinence, others to cut back, others just want to understand their use better. We work with where you are, not where anyone thinks you should be.
Does prescription medication dependence count?
Absolutely. Dependence on painkillers, benzodiazepines or sleeping pills prescribed for legitimate reasons is common, and nothing to be ashamed of. Any medication changes happen with your prescribing doctor; therapy handles the psychological side.
Will anyone find out I'm getting help?
Sessions are confidential — see our confidentiality page for how that works and its limits. Seeking help is between you and your psychologist.
What if I slip up during treatment?
Lapses are a normal part of change, not evidence you've failed. We plan for them — what matters is what happens next, and you won't be judged for it.
Do I need a referral?
No — you can book directly. A GP referral with a Mental Health Treatment Plan is only needed if you'd like to claim the Medicare rebate.
Is addiction a mental health issue?
Yes — addiction is recognised as a mental health condition, not a moral failing or weak will. It typically develops as a solution that became a problem: a way of managing pain, anxiety, trauma or emptiness that gradually took over. That's why effective treatment addresses what the substance or behaviour was doing *for* you, not just taking it away.
What are the main types of addiction?
Substance addictions (alcohol, prescription and illicit drugs, nicotine) and behavioural addictions — gambling most prominently, with gaming, pornography, shopping and others increasingly recognised. The mechanics overlap: short-term relief, mounting costs, loss of control, and continued use despite consequences.
What are common risk factors for addiction?
Family history, early exposure, trauma — the link between adverse childhood experiences and later addiction is one of the strongest in the field — plus co-occurring anxiety, depression or ADHD, chronic pain, isolation, and environments where use is normalised. Risk factors explain vulnerability; they never make addiction inevitable or unchangeable.
Does addiction co-occur with other conditions?
Very often — roughly half of people with substance problems also experience another mental health condition, most commonly anxiety, depression, PTSD or ADHD. Treating both together works far better than either alone, which is why our assessment looks at the whole picture rather than the substance in isolation.
How is addiction treated psychologically?
Evidence-based approaches include motivational interviewing (resolving the ambivalence honestly rather than lecturing it), CBT for the triggers and thought patterns, and relapse-prevention planning — with trauma work where trauma drives the use. Treatment meets you at your goal, whether that's abstinence or regaining control, and lapses are treated as information, not failure.
Change is a process — and it can start today.
Book a session, or call for a confidential conversation about where you're at.
Reviewed by Dr Simon Vincenzi, Clinical Psychologist and Director of Clarity Psychology.