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Therapy Modalities for Veterans In Orange County

Miramar Health provides superior evidence-based addiction and mental health treatment programs for veterans, active-duty military and their families. Our staff can treat both the psychological and physical aspects of a substance use disorder (SUD). 

Our compassionate, comprehensive, and trauma-informed care focuses solely on veterans and active-duty military personnel on the path to recovery from substance abuse and mental health challenges.

Evidence-Based Treatment for Veterans

We provide a range of evidence-based therapy approaches including:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is a structured, evidence-based therapy that helps individuals identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. By changing these patterns, CBT improves emotional regulation and coping skills, effectively treating anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

Originally derived from CBT for borderline personality disorder, it helps individuals manage intense emotions, reduce self-harm, and improve relationships. It also teaches mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness.

Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT is a mindfulness-based approach that helps individuals accept difficult thoughts and feelings rather than resist them. It helps individuals commit to personal values, develop psychological flexibility, achieve mindful acceptance, then take action to foster meaningful life changes, rather than struggling to remove negative emotions or experiences.

Family Therapy

At our client’s request and if agreed to by the family, we offer in-person or virtual family therapy. It focuses on the overall family system to provide psychoeducation, insight and guidance on repairing ruptures, improving problem solving and enhancing communication patterns. Our goal is to help families to learn how to best support their veteran loved one.

Trauma-Informed Care for Veterans and Military

Trauma can have a significant influence on the development of substance abuse. Substance abuse also enhances the probability of a veteran being re-traumatized as they participate in high-risk behavior, reducing their ability to cope with thoughts connected to trauma. 

Our treatment programs at Miramar Health are guided by the principles of trauma-informed care:

Safety

Choice

Collaboration

Trustworthiness

Empowerment

Resilience

In our programs, tailored for each client, we treat substance abuse and co-occurring mental health conditions, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Among other mental health conditions, we treat:

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Trauma — with a focus on military/veteran populations
  • Acute Stress Disorder
  • Combat and Operational Stress
  • Substance abuse
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • OCD
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • ADHD
  • Borderline Personality Disorder
  • Co-occurring disorders
  • Personality Disorders
  • Schizophrenia
  • Self-Harm
  • Suicidality
  • Codependency
  • Grief and Loss
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Group Therapy

In this form of psychotherapy, small, structured groups meet regularly with a trained therapist where participants can share their experiences, provide mutual support, and improve coping skills. It develops connection, reduces isolation, and supports healing through group discussion and feedback.

Meditation & Mindfulness

Meditation and Mindfulness involve breathing, meditation, and body scan practices to focus attention and present-moment awareness, helping to calm the mind and reduce stress. Practices enhance emotional regulation, clarity, and relaxation, promoting mental well-being and resilience in daily life.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

As a client-centered counseling approach, MI helps individuals explore and resolve ambivalence about making changes, such as quitting an addictive behavior. It encourages self-motivation and commitment, and empowers clients to adopt positive behaviors.

Solution-Focused Therapy

As a brief, goal-directed approach, Solution-Focused Therapy emphasizes clients’ strengths and resources rather than problems. It helps individuals develop practical solutions and achieve meaningful change quickly by exploring past successes and envisioning desired futures.

Creative Expression

Creative expression—such as drawing, painting, or music—helps individuals explore emotions, reduce stress, and improve self-awareness. It aids mental health and emotional healing by bridging verbal and non-verbal communication.

Holistic Activities

Holistic activities treat the whole person—mind, body, and spirit are offered on an individual basis.. The focus is not just on treating symptoms, but to restore balance, enhance well-being, and address root causes of illness.

The Social Model

The Social Model is a peer-oriented process of rehabilitation and healing. This philosophy permeates our program activities. These programs:

  • Emphasize experiential knowledge used to help peers in addiction recovery.
  • Develop connections within a positive group membership.
  • Group membership norms of semi-autonomy and interdependency.
  • Use a supportive environment to encourage abstinence.

Our goal is to provide our clients a launching pad back into life from 24/7 residential care. So aside from group curriculum and medications, the social model helps clients assimilate back into life by socializing with others and involving themselves within the community through these activities..

The Social Model is designed to address and eradicate barriers that prevent veterans from participating in society and living independently. Miramar Health’s Residential Program is built to help veterans:

  • Become proactive toward building a safe network
  • Identify healthy interests
  • Prepare them to launch back into life absent of substance abuse and addiction

Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT)

MAT combines FDA-approved medications (e.g., methadone, buprenorphine) with counseling to treat substance use disorders. It reduces cravings, prevents withdrawal, and stabilizes brain chemistry, supporting long-term recovery from opioids, alcohol, or other addictions.

Relapse Prevention and Long-Term Recovery Support

Each veteran struggling with substance abuse and addiction is exposed to the goal of reducing and eliminating their substance abuse. This is done by implementing relapse prevention. This gradual process assists the veteran in:

  • Identifying the early stages of change
  • Processing personal growth
  • Identifying triggers and risks associated with their substance abuse
  • Recognizing healthy coping tools they can begin to use towards maintaining their goal of sobriety

In our daily programs we focus on group work to prevent relapse which requires a combination of strategies, support systems, and skill-building therapies. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps individuals recognize triggers and develop coping mechanisms, while Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)  enhances emotional regulation. 

Support groups like AA, NA, and SMART Recovery provide peer accountability and shared experiences. Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) can reduce cravings for substance use disorders. 

Building a strong sober network, engaging in healthy routines, and practicing stress management further reduce relapse risks. Long-term recovery thrives on continuous support, therapy, and lifestyle changes, ensuring sustained sobriety and personal growth. Commitment to these strategies fosters resilience and lasting recovery.

Discharge Planning

  • Post-discharge planning is conducted by our case managers to ensure housing, outpatient services and connection to the community. Clients are also introduced to community-based 12 step recovery models such as AA and NA or SMART Recovery.

Does Insurance Cover Veteran Therapy?

Miramar Health is a veteran-owned and operated treatment center and an in-network provider through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Community Care Network (CCN) via TriWest Healthcare Alliance.

We are authorized to provide Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment to eligible veterans nationwide, with access granted through referral by VA case managers. We also accept Tricare for active-duty members and their families.

We also accept most major commercial policies

Verify Your Insurance Coverage

Stories of Hope

Brian Johnson, USMC

So, I’ve been to Miramar twice now. Once for a weeklong detox, and a second time for detox and actual residential rehabilitation. Before coming to Miramar, I was at my lowest point when I came to my drinking career. What initially started out as only drinking on the weekends soon transitioned to drinking every day, before work, on my lunch breaks and as soon as I got home. The first time I came to the detox program, I only wanted to physically detox and when I refused to stay at the request of the staff, I went home and went right back to drinking. Over the next few months, I lost my job and everyone around me was starting to distance themselves. I knew I needed a change and because I knew Miramar existed, I went back. It was the best decision I could have ever made. I admitted I was powerless and followed the guidance of the program best I could. I first found out about the Miramar program from while in the ER at the West LA VA Hospital. I had uber’d to the hospital because I was depressed, heavily drinking, and desperate for help. The hospital offered to send me to this program where I was well taken care of, given all the food, medicine, and help I needed physically and emotionally. Like I said, the first time around I was impatient, overconfident, and thought I could get a handle on my drinking alone. When I finally committed to sobriety, that’s when things inside me and around me started to change for the better. Being the person I am, the structure of the program really helped me focus and take each day as it came in increments. In each class, I learned not only about alcoholism and addiction, but also looking back at my life, all the things that led me to this moment in time. The therapy I received at Miramar also helped me make emotional breakthroughs that I never even knew I was capable of. The staff from top to bottoms focus is veterans’ health, happiness, safety, and recovery through and through. I don’t plan on coming back, but if I ever need help again, I know I have a safe place to call my second home. Shout out to each and every staff member for their selflessness, and continued desire to see us all succeed in life. As veterans, a lot of us struggle with healthcare and disability issues. Miramar made it a top priority to help coordinate and manage my medications, doctors’ appointments, disability ratings, and extended care after leaving. Trust the program, help uplift your fellow veterans and keep fighting the good fight!

Fady F

My life before connecting with Miramar Health could only be described as chaotic. I was like a roaring  tornado, destroying everyone’s lives if they ever got close enough to mine. I only cared about using  drugs — whichever came my way — and I didn’t care who I had to screw over or manipulate to get my  fix. Everything else in life, including my sister and my parents, came second to drugs. I was homeless,  broke, selfish, self-centered — a manipulator, a liar, a cheat, and a thief. I couldn’t — or wouldn’t — do anything without first making sure I had enough drugs to complete the task. I was completely  dependent on drugs, shackled by the handcuffs of addiction.  
My emotional bottom came crashing down when my parents — the very people who had loved and  supported me through everything — finally told me I was dead to them. Those words hit harder than  any withdrawal, any cold night on the streets, or any betrayal I had ever faced. It was as if the last thread  tethering me to the world had been violently cut. I had become a ghost — invisible, unwanted, and  utterly alone. The loneliness was suffocating, a dark, endless pit that swallowed me whole.  

For the first time, I realized that if I didn’t change, there wouldn’t be anything left of me to save. A part  of me — the part that still remembered what love felt like, what family meant — whispered that a  different life was possible. That whisper was enough. In that emptiness, in that unbearable silence, the  seed of change was planted. I knew something had to give — and this time, it had to be me.  

I called the VA, desperate for help. With the support of my social worker, Nathalie, and by constantly  advocating for myself, I was able to secure a referral to Miramar Health in just one week — something  that normally would have been almost impossible. It was the first real step toward saving my life.  
At Miramar Health, I finally felt supported — truly seen for who I was, not just my mistakes. The groups  gave me the strength to open up and the courage to start healing. Individual therapy helped me face the  wreckage I had caused and begin rebuilding from the inside out.  

I’ll always be grateful to the staff who never gave up on me. Special thanks to Emily, Jeff, Christina, Cindy,  George, Annalisa, and Gianna — you helped me find hope when I thought there was none left.  
Miramar Health helped me stay connected to the VA by making sure I had a plan for after treatment.  They worked closely with me to arrange my transition into the VA CORE Program, ensuring I had stable  housing and support — so I wouldn’t end up back on the streets. They didn’t just help me get clean;  they helped me build a real future.  
To any veterans out there who feel lost: There is hope, and there is help. You have fought for your  country, now it’s time for you to fight for yourself. It’s never too late to change your story and take your  life back — one step at a time.

Johnny Trammell

I should’ve been dead by now… Hold on, I should go back to my life before Miramar. My name is Johnny Trammell, and I was a homeless junkie for many years. Every aspect of my life revolved around using drugs, and individuals to get those drugs. It started with doctor prescribed Vicodin which led to shooting up meth and fentanyl in the same needle. As far as my mental health went, I used drugs to mask all the trauma I went through as a kid and while in combat. Of course, I see now all that the drugs did was deteriorate my mental and physical health. 

When I was ready to get clean, I told my family members along with the homeless liaison from my hometown. It took a village all together and by the grace of God, Jen Loa the liaison and her work partner, drove about 10 hours to get me to Miramar Health. Miramar Health has now helped me transfer from Fresno VA to Loma Linda VA. 
From the very first day staff didn’t just tell me I had support here but showed me by their actions every day that I had the full support system for someone with such a troubled past would need to be able to get and stay sober. Both individual and group sessions were crucial components in my treatment plan. One-on-one with my therapist was beneficial in learning how to plan out my next steps; while groups were good for me to learn to open up and not be ashamed of my past decisions or myself. Meeting with Dr. Desanto helped me realize I do not have to be on medications for the rest of my life to stay sober or to stop the cravings or the hold opioids had on me and my mind. I can honestly say each and every staff member deserved credit for helping me with my recovery. Due to limitations from the length of my legacy letter, I can’t shout out everyone but a special thanks to the following: Bobby for always driving us around without complaining. Doug for cleaning up my “special mess.” Lisa, for cooking breakfast for me on so many occasions. Chad for always being chill. Felipe for being a fellow devil dog. The twins Anna and Gianna, Anna for baking the best cookies, Gianna for introducing me to the funniest things on tv, and together for all the laughs we shared. Jorge, for getting me back into working out again and trusting me enough to sponsor his brother“ whenever he’s ready. Will, for laughing at all my jokes. Linda, for being the only one who could crack jokes on my level and the only one who could get on my level in basketball “NOICE!” Jeff, for teaching me patience, tolerance, and obedience. Emily, for cracking the whip and helping me gain more tools and insight than I knew existed to help me in all aspects of staying sober. My case manager Cindy, who put up with my laundry list of to do’s and taught me to be a grown man again like a true mom would, which is why I call her mom now. Christina, who since day one, has seen to it that I have not only a goal but also a plan for my future as well as giving me the idea of writing a book one day. To everyone I did not get to, thank you all for being a steppingstone towards a better future in my sobriety. I love you all and will never forget what you’ve done for me here at Miramar. 

To all my fellow vets here, remember the determination and strength you used to serve this country. Put that towards your sobriety. If you put ONLY half that energy into your sobriety then you are the only one who could make yourself fail. Give it everything you got, you all got this!

Michael H

Before getting connected with Miramar I was in total darkness and ignorance. I thought I knew about life! I discovered I knew nothing at all. I got in touch with the Loma Linda VA representative, a retired admiral who treated me like a son and helped me get into treatment. I felt supported at Miramar and my counselor saved my life!!! Miramar has helped me by writing letters and taking me to my appointments. Thank God for the VA! I would recommend Miramar to anyone struggling, they saved my life!! God bless Miramar Recovery!

Scott Wolfe

Before I got connected with Miramar Health, my life was stressful. Every minute of every day revolved around getting money by whatever means to get drugs and gamble at the casinos. I had zero hope and was literally killing myself. I developed an unbelievably bad case of Pneumonia and was on a ventilator for 3 weeks. I had a 30% chance of survival. That means that I had a 70% chance of dying at the age of thirty-seven from Pneumonia caused by my drug use. Not a great legacy story. I got in touch with Loma Linda VA and this is my second time at Miramar Health. The time I was here in 2022, I left having reservations to smoke weed and drink wine with my family and friends. That was a bad thing. This led to a relapse shortly after completing my 90 days. Those reservations have left me, and it gives me hope. I am working with a sponsor who is a fellow Vet and Meth/Heroin user in recovery. He resides in San Diego and that is where I will be living after discharging from Miramar. Being able to be a part of my son’s life now is a dream come true. Being grateful and content is my current state. Thank you to Shireen, Kristal, and Kianah. Kianah helped me stay happy and positive while being here at the center. Shireen is by far the easiest therapist to talk with and helped me so much. Kristal helped me with getting important things done and I am moving on feeling complete. Thank you to Annalissa and Giannah for helping me feel like it is OK to be here again, and to not be embarrassed about my relapse. My future will be beyond great. Thank you, Miramar.

Trent M

My drinking career started around the time I was 20 years old. Although I was a heavy drinker, I never considered it a genuine problem. It wasn’t until I was discharged from the army in 2022 that my habitual drinking turned into physical dependency and blacked out isolated nights. The overwhelming transition back into civilian life was a problem and liquor was my solution. Soon, I was having to visit the ER frequently and my addiction became blatantly obvious to my girlfriend. A few months and a DUI later, I decided to give treatment a try. I figured a break from liquor and a reality check might do me some good. On my last hospital visit, a social worker approached my hospital bed and asked if I was willing to go to treatment. I had given the STAR program a brief attempt a few weeks earlier but came to the quick realization that video conference calls with someone who had no “real” experience with alcohol wasn’t going to resonate with me. The social worker told me about a residential treatment program in Laguna Hills called Miramar Health. Fearful of my bad health and quick to prove myself to my family and girlfriend, I accepted the offer.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is co-occurring disorder treatment?

Also known as dual diagnosis, it is simultaneous treatment for both substance use and mental health disorders (e.g., depression and addiction) as they are often closely coupled.

Therapy identifies triggers, develops coping skills to deal with them, and works with underlying issues like trauma or anxiety fueling substance use.

Medication Assisted Therapy (MAT) reduces cravings and stabilizes mental health, with its combination of medications and therapy.

Offering accountability with peers, shared experiences, and long term community-based support, for many, these groups provide a lifeline to prevent relapse.

Relapse is common in recovery. One of the main goals of therapy is to help clients learn from setbacks and strengthen resilience.

Miramar Health is a veteran-owned and operated treatment center and an in-network provider through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Community Care Network (CCN) via TriWest Healthcare Alliance.

We are authorized to provide Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment to eligible veterans nationwide, with access granted through referral by VA case managers. We also accept Tricare for active-duty members and their families.