Our Clinical and Medical Team
Changes Wellness uses an interdisciplinary treatment model, bringing together clinical, medical, nursing, substance-use treatment, case management, wellness, culinary, and support professionals. Each person contributes a different part of the treatment experience, with the team working together around an individualized plan.
To learn more about the vision and philosophy behind Changes Wellness, read about us.
Dr. Lisa Lipton
Owner and Clinical Director
Dr. Lisa Lipton is a psychotherapist and doctoral-level clinician with more than a decade of experience in behavioral health. Her work has included addiction, trauma, co-occurring mental health disorders, individual and family treatment, and work with high-risk and justice-involved populations.
As a Clinical Director, Dr. Lipton has experience overseeing the clinical systems that support treatment, including clinical programming, multidisciplinary teams, treatment planning, supervision, utilization review, regulatory compliance, and coordination between clinical and medical providers.
She earned her doctorate in psychology from The Chicago School and has also served as adjunct faculty, teaching graduate-level psychology. Her work as a published author has examined trauma, institutional environments, learned helplessness, power, and the psychological impact of adverse circumstances.
Dr. Lipton’s clinical foundation is psychodynamic. Her treatment approach also incorporates evidence-based and trauma-informed interventions, including CBT, DBT skills, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Therapy, psychoeducation, and group psychotherapy.
Her professional focus includes substance use disorders, co-occurring mental-health conditions, trauma, anxiety, depression, relationship and family conflict, relapse prevention, anger and emotional regulation, and complex life and legal stressors.
Treatment at Changes Wellness involves more than one type of professional. Clinical care, medical oversight, nursing, case management, substance-use support, wellness, and nutrition each have a role in the residential experience.
Areas of Focus
The needs that bring someone into treatment are rarely limited to substance use alone.
Across the Changes Wellness team, clinical experience encompasses substance use disorders and withdrawal management alongside the mental-health, emotional, relational, and life circumstances that can affect recovery.
The team’s collective areas of focus include:
Substance use disorders and addiction
Withdrawal management
Co-occurring mental-health conditions
Anxiety and depression
Trauma and trauma-related symptoms
Relapse prevention
Emotional regulation
Relationship and family difficulties
Grief, loss, and major life transitions
Stress and burnout
Recovery planning and continuing care
Individual, group, and family-focused treatment
Medication-assisted treatment (MAT)
The Approaches Behind Our Care
The team draws from multiple therapeutic approaches rather than relying on a single method of treatment. Approaches used across the program include:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to work with patterns of thinking and behavior
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills to support emotional regulation and coping
Motivational Interviewing to help explore motivation and readiness for change
Solution-Focused Therapy to identify practical goals and build on strengths
Brief Psychodynamic Therapies to explore patterns and experiences that may influence current difficulties
Mindfulness-based interventions to support awareness and coping
Psychoeducation to help clients better understand substance use, mental health, and recovery
Trauma-informed treatment that takes the effects of trauma into account when planning care
These approaches can be incorporated into individual and group psychotherapy, relapse-prevention work, and broader treatment planning based on the individual’s needs.
Have Questions About Treatment?
Getting to know the people involved in your care can be an important part of deciding where to seek treatment.
If you have questions about Changes Wellness, our admissions team can explain the program, answer questions about the admission process, and help you understand what comes next.
