Individual Psychotherapy
Individual Psychotherapy services are available for individuals struggling with depression, anxiety, difficulty adjusting to life stressors, and interpersonal difficulties. Typically, individual psychotherapy consists of weekly or biweekly meetings that are 45 to 60 minutes in length. Treatment duration varies, most often lasting between 2 months and 1 year. Psychotherapy is provided by licensed counselors, psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists, as well as advanced interns in these fields. Therapists use a range of techniques, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, solution-focused therapy, and behavior therapy.
Psychotherapy appointments are made through the department’s appointment line, 210-450-6450. Services are provided in the 7th-floor clinic at Medical School and at the University Plaza clinic located at 7526 Louis Pasteur, Dr, 78249.
Group Psychotherapy
Group Psychotherapy enables individuals to learn and gain support from others who are struggling with similar issues, while also providing the expertise of a trained group psychotherapist. The Department currently offers the following groups:
Meetings via Zoom, including drop-in groups. Potential patients go to the NOW Clinic page on groups: https://nowclinicsa.org/psychiatry-and-therapy-services/
Anxiety and Depression Group
Offered each Wednesday from 1-2 PM at the University Plaza Clinic. This group helps participants to identify effective coping techniques, build insight into factors that improve or aggravate symptoms and learn from one another. This an “open” group, meaning that current UT Health Physicians patients do not need to be scheduled to attend the group. Patients may simply come to the University Plaza Clinic, room 318, ten minutes before group start time to check-in.
Meetings via Zoom, including drop-in groups. Potential patients go to the NOW Clinic page on groups: https://nowclinicsa.org/psychiatry-and-therapy-services/
Mindfulness Group
Offered each Thursday from 4-5 PM at the University Plaza Clinic. This group provides education and experiential learning in mindfulness techniques, such as deep breathing and building awareness and control over one’s thoughts. Mindfulness practice has a wide range of health benefits, including decreased stress, anxiety and depression, and improved mood.
Meetings via Zoom, including drop-in groups. Potential patients go to the NOW Clinic page on groups: https://nowclinicsa.org/psychiatry-and-therapy-services/
Chronic Pain Group
Offered each Monday from 3-4 PM at the University Plaza Clinic. This group is designed for those with chronic pain conditions, such as arthritis, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and others. It teaches evidence-based approaches for managing chronic pain and helps people learn how to live a life of value, even with pain.
Meetings via Zoom, including drop-in groups. Potential patients go to the NOW Clinic page on groups: https://nowclinicsa.org/psychiatry-and-therapy-services/
Specialty Psychotherapy Programs
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a structured treatment for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This 12–18 week individual therapy has been shown to reduce PTSD symptoms in over 70% of patients. CPT is provided by specially trained clinicians. For more information, please call the CPT coordinator Elisa Medellin 210-562-5262.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is a treatment for people who experience strong swings of emotion, often including anger, and who may have difficulty in relationships. Often, these difficulties relate to difficult early family experiences. DBT therapy includes Group Skills Training and Individual Psychotherapy. For more information, please email the DBT coordinator at dbt@uthscsa.edu or call the DBT coordinator at 210-450-8673.
The Living Room
The Living Room provides brief counseling and skills coaching to people who are experiencing a psychiatric crisis and would prefer to not go to the Emergency Department. The Living Room is available to all current patients of the UT Health Psychiatry from 8 AM–5 PM. For more information about this program, please call 210-450-6450 .
Cognitive Adaptive Training (CAT)
Cognitive Adaptive Training (CAT) is an evidence-based psychosocial intervention designed to bypass cognitive and motivational impairments associated with serious mental illness in an effort to improve functional outcomes. CAT interventions include environmental supports such as signs, checklists, alarms, pill containers, and the organization of belongings to cue and sequence adaptive behaviors in the client’s home. The interventions are individualized based upon a standardized assessment of each person’s needs and challenges. For more information, please call CAT coordinator Kevin Miles, LPC, at 210-450-8082 .
The Transitional Care Clinic (TCC)
The Transitional Care Clinic (TCC) is dedicated to improving the quality of peoples’ lives by engaging them in mental health services, promoting growth toward personal goals, decreasing the need for psychiatric hospitalization, and linking them to long-term services. It provides short-term (about 3 months) medication, counseling and case management services for patients who are referred from designated San Antonio hospitals after treatment on an inpatient unit or in the emergency department. Patients can only access the TCC through direct referral from University Hospital. For more information about this program, please call the TCC Clinic Manager, Katie Thompson-Moyer, at 210-450-6450, or visit the TCC website.