How NTH Uses Art and Music Therapy in Addiction Recovery
Art & Music Therapy · 9 min read
Board-certified art therapy and music therapy are not recreational add-ons at NTH — they are licensed clinical modalities with decades of outcomes research. This piece, written by our director of creative arts therapies, walks through the neuroscience of why verbal therapy alone cannot reach some kinds of trauma, the specific research supporting art therapy for emotional regulation, and how our studio time is integrated into the clinical treatment plan for every residential patient.
5 Myths About Medication-Assisted Treatment — Debunked
Medication Myths · 8 min read
"MAT is just trading one addiction for another" is the most common thing we hear — and the most thoroughly disproven. This post takes on five common MAT myths with references to peer-reviewed research, explains when our medical director does and does not prescribe MAT, and clarifies what the 20+ years of buprenorphine and methadone outcome data actually show about all-cause mortality.
Mindfulness Practice in Early Recovery: What Works, What Doesn't
Mindfulness & Meditation · 7 min read
Not all mindfulness practices are equal, especially in early recovery. Some, like Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP), have strong research support. Others, like long silent retreats, can destabilize patients with trauma histories. This post walks through which mindfulness practices our clinicians recommend in the first 90 days, which ones we caution against, and why we pair meditation with creative-arts work rather than treating it as a standalone intervention.
Veterans in Recovery: A Bay Area Guide
Veterans Recovery · 10 min read
The Bay Area has one of the densest concentrations of VA resources, veterans service organizations, and peer communities in the country. For veterans in or approaching treatment, navigating those resources alongside private-sector programs like NTH can be confusing. This guide, written with input from our veteran alumni, maps the key VA outpatient programs, Vet Center locations in San Francisco and the East Bay, and how we coordinate care with VA providers during and after residential treatment.