How We Treat Pornography and Sex Addiction at Desert Solace
How We Treat Pornography and Sex Addiction at Desert Solace
If you are considering an inpatient sex addiction treatment program like Desert Solace, you probably have a lot of questions. One of those questions is probably, “How do you treat pornography addiction?” The response to this question is pretty complicated and involves way more than can be put on a website, but hopefully we can provide a general idea of what we do at Desert Solace to help you overcome your addiction.
You’ve probably tried to “fix” your addiction hundreds, if not thousands, of times in the past. You may have gone to 12-step meetings, or seen a therapist. If you’re reading this, it’s likely that everything you’ve tried has failed so far. But overcoming a pornography or sex addiction is a much more complicated process that requires specialized therapy and is much more effective when the addict is removed from his home environment and placed in a residential facility that is free from triggers or from people who have helped keep the individual stuck in his addiction.
At Desert Solace, we’ve developed a residential pornography and sexual addiction treatment program that has helped hundreds of men overcome their addictions and taught them how to thrive in life.
Longer Porn and Sex Addiction Treatment Programs
Desert Solace offers programs of various lengths from 30 day stays up to 120 days. However, our primary program is a 90-day sexual addiction treatment program. Every other porn addiction rehab in the country focuses on shorter treatment options of 28 to 45 days. Most of them don’t even offer programs longer than 45 days.
We have found that the men who go through our 90-day program are more prepared for a life free of sex addiction than those who do shorter treatment programs. Not only have we seen greater results in our 90-day program, but research into addiction treatment supports the fact that longer residential treatment leads to better results. We want our clients to have the best shot possible at long-term recovery, which is why we provide 90 and 120 day programs at a lower daily cost than any other program in the country.
We Treat the Root of the Addiction
For many years people saw addictions as nothing more than poor behaviors that needed to be changed. If we had a dollar for every client we’ve had who has been told to “just stop looking at porn!” we could build another treatment center. Obviously, just changing the behavior doesn’t work, at least not long-term.
At Desert Solace, we recognize that sex addiction or pornography addiction are symptoms of an underlying problem that our client has failed to resolve. For most of our clients, that problem is some type of unresolved trauma from childhood. If it stays unresolved, the pain from that trauma continues to come back, over and over again. Trauma is hard to understand and the pain from it can be difficult to cope with.
To cope with it, children and youth tend to go to the behavior or substance they know will make them feel better and escape the pain. For some people that might be video games, drugs, alcohol, or pornography and masturbation. Many of our clients developed their porn addiction between the ages of 10 and 14. The problem is that with pornography and masturbation comes an overwhelming sense of shame. The shame only causes more pain that the child wants to escape, so they go back to pornography and masturbation. This is the addiction cycle. We’ve found that the best path out of the addiction cycle is by treating the underlying cause of the addiction – the trauma.
Our therapists have been trained to use the latest and most effective therapeutic techniques for resolving trauma. Not only is our clinical director a Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist, but he is also trained to use EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), which helps the client focus on their past traumas and move through them so they no longer have the same power.
Individual Sessions with Therapists and Daily Group Therapy
We have three different therapists on staff to treat our clients. Because we keep the number of clients in our center below 12, that gives each client plenty of therapeutic time with our therapists. Each client is provided with weekly individual therapy sessions to address their issues one-on-one. On top of their individual sessions, the clients are given more than 20 hours of group therapy each week.
The amount of therapy that the clients receive during their stay at Desert Solace is just not available in an outpatient or intensive treatment program. Because of this, our residential treatment program is the most effective way to overcome pornography or sexual addiction and achieve lasting results.
Aftercare Treatment Through Our Outpatient Pornography Addiction Treatment Program
Many people think that going to inpatient rehab is all that is needed to overcome an addiction. While studies have shown that residential treatment over 60 days is the most effective way to start your recovery process, continued therapy and recovery work after rehab are also necessary.
Our Outpatient sex addiction treatment program provides aftercare to our clients after they leave Desert Solace’s Inpatient sex addiction treatment program. Research has shown that the individuals who are able to establish long-term recovery from pornography and sexual addiction are the ones who continue to see a therapist consistently after rehab.
Fortunately, our inpatient therapists also provide outpatient counseling, which means there is no transition period of getting to know a new therapist after leaving residential treatment. Our therapists get to know our clients while they are going through the residential program and are able to continue the recovery process with them after they leave.
Pornography and Sexual Addiction Education and Workbooks
Our clinical director is a Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist (CSAT), which means he has gone through specialized training in research-backed methods for overcoming pornography and other sexual addictions. Our therapist uses that training to educate our clients on pornography and sexual addiction, including how it starts, why it continues to plague them, and the best method to overcome it.
We use industry leading workbooks and materials that are supported by research into pornography and sex addiction. Each of our clients is provided with a set of books and manuals that they work through during their program at Desert Solace and use throughout their recovery. These workbooks help our clients dive deep into their addictive history so they can learn more about themselves and the best tools for breaking sex addiction.
Experiential Activities Like Equine Assisted Therapy and Ropes Courses
Our Equine Assisted Therapy program is one of the most powerful methods we use to help men get to the root of their addiction. Our Equine Director, Julie Forbes, has worked with horses her whole life and has been running equine assisted therapy groups for over a decade.
Our clients also participate in other experiential activities that help them recognize how they show up in life. These activities include ropes courses and recreational activities with our recreational therapy specialist.
Every experiential activity is carefully designed to help our clients get to the root of their addiction and find the strength to overcome it.
Unparalleled Family Support Program
Our family support program at Desert Solace is next to none. Our co-founder, Jerri Jorgensen, is the director of our family support program.
What we’ve learned is that our clients do best when they have the support and understanding of their family members. Whether that is parents, spouses or siblings, it is important for them to be involved in the recovery process and gain an understanding of what their loved one is going through. Often, it is trauma from familial relationships that is contributing to the addictive behavior. Unless the client addresses these traumas, it is very difficult for them to heal from their addiction.
One way that we involve families in the healing process is through our Family Weekends. Once a month, we hold family weekend at Desert Solace. Our clients are permitted to invited their spouse or family members to come experience what they are going through and participate in their healing process.
Family members are also invited to participate in weekly calls with Jerri Jorgensen where they receive support from others who understand what they are going through.
Integration into 12-Step Support Communities
An important part of recovery is developing a network of people who are striving to overcome pornography or sexual addictions. One of the best ways to do this is by attending 12-step meetings in the community.
Our clients get to attend a different 12-step meeting in the St. George area every day. At the end of their 90 day program, they have gone to 90 meetings in 90 days, which is a major accomplishment in the 12-step world. They are also encouraged to begin working the 12-steps themselves and experience the miracle and transformation that brings into their lives.
Learning How to Live a Well-Balanced Life
Part of our program at Desert Solace is teaching our clients how to live a well-balanced life. What we’ve found is that when a client is working their recovery and living a well-balanced life, there is no need for addiction.
Our clients are exposed to many different types of physical activities on a daily basis. We take them on hikes on some of the most amazing trails in the world so they can experience the healing powers of nature. We take them to guided yoga sessions. We take them to the recreation center where they get to exercise in the weight room, play basketball, racquetball or many different physical activities. We also take them to the pickleball courts quite often (some of our clients go home with a pickleball addiction…).
We also provide the men with healthy meals prepared by staff to show them the importance of eating a healthy diet and how that affects their recovery. Our meal plan is approved by a dietician.
Lifetime Recovery Support
At Desert Solace, we don’t see our clients as just clients. We see them as family. Once you walk into our doors, you’re part of our tribe.
We want nothing more than for our clients to thrive after leaving our program. That is why we’ve made it a part of our mission to continue to provide support to every one of our clients for a lifetime. Our co-founder, Mark Jorgensen, holds weekly alumni calls to help our graduates stay focused on their recovery. We also plan regular alumni retreats so our clients can come back and reconnect with the friends they’ve made in their recovery.
One new feature of our lifetime support plan is that we’ve developed a new Desert Solace app for our graduates so they can continue their recovery as soon as they leave the residential program and keep in touch with all of our graduates.
At Desert Solace we understand how important it is in recovery from porn and sex addiction to build and maintain a network of men who are staying strong in their own recovery. That’s why we focus so hard on making our lifetime recovery support program the best it can be!
