# Trauma and Addiction Treatment in Spain | Sierra Recovery > Trauma and addiction treated together in Malaga: one 28-day residential programme at a published GBP 9,900, stabilisation first. [Home](/) / [Mental health](/mental-health-and-dual-diagnosis/) / Trauma and addiction Trauma and addiction # Trauma and addiction treatment in Spain A licensed 28-day residential programme in the Málaga countryside, run by an English-speaking team, for people whose drinking or using has been holding down something that was never treated. Both worked in one house by one team, a price published in full, and no referral fees paid to anyone for sending you here. Clinically reviewed by[Nerea Encinas Sánchez](/clinical-team/)Director of the centre, MSc General Health PsychologyRegistered psychologist, COPAO AO13857 Checked for accuracy on 28 July 2026. Next review due July 2027. This page is general information about our programme and is not a substitute for advice about your own situation. Trauma is treated at Sierra Recovery alongside the addiction, in one 28-day residential programme in the Málaga countryside published in full at £9,900, rather than deferred until someone is abstinent. The sequence is stabilisation first, then processing, then reconnection: safety, sleep, routine and distress tolerance come before any work on the memory itself, and nobody is required to describe what happened to them or to disclose anything in a group. Sierra is a registered health centre authorised for addiction healthcare, not a specialist trauma inpatient unit, and any medically supervised withdrawal is completed before arrival. Below is what that actually involves and where the line is. Programme 28 days residential Published price £9,900 Group work 3 sessions a day Room Private, as standard Language English throughout Registration N.I.C.A. 67331 ## Why trauma and addiction belong on the same page Most people arriving for addiction treatment are not treating a chemical preference. They are treating a state. Something happened, or a great many small things happened over years, and the nervous system adapted to survive it. What is left afterwards is a body that reacts as though the danger is still present, and a person who has found something that reliably turns that reaction down. That is the honest description of what a drink or a drug does for someone with untreated trauma. It works. Not well, and not for long, but it works in a way nothing else has, and any account of addiction that ignores this ends up sounding like a lecture on willpower to somebody who is managing something you have not asked about. Trauma is not defined by the size of the event. It is defined by what it did to you, whether that was one incident or the accumulated effect of a childhood spent monitoring somebody else's mood. Both produce the same pattern: an alarm system that no longer switches off, and a set of strategies for coping with that which eventually become their own problem. Trauma work is paced, not forcedNobody at Sierra is required to describe what happened to them, and nothing is prised open on a schedule. Processing trauma before there is stability and safety in place makes people worse, and doing that carelessly is a recognised harm rather than a shortcut. If you are in crisis now, call Samaritans on 116 123 in the UK or 999 in an emergency. ## What untreated trauma looks like day to day What you might notice What it usually means Reacting far more strongly than a situation warrants Hyperarousal. The alarm system is calibrated for a threat that is no longer in the room. Feeling numb, distant, or as though you are watching yourself Dissociation. It is a protective response, and it is one of the strongest predictors of heavy ketamine, cannabis or alcohol use. Not being able to relax without a drink or a drug The substance is regulating a nervous system that has lost its own brake. This is the mechanism, stated plainly. Sleep broken by dreams, or by not being able to let go Extremely common, and one of the first things to change with treatment. Relationships that follow the same painful pattern each time Attachment patterns learned early and repeated. This is treatable, and it is in the curriculum. Anger, shame or self-blame that seems out of proportion Shame is the most common residue of trauma, and it is the reason so many people never mention any of this. Getting sober and finding it all got louder Predictable. The substance was doing a job, and stopping it without addressing the job is why so many relapses happen at three months. If several of those land, our [short self-check](/self-assessment/) takes under a minute and stores nothing. ## Where the treatment actually happens People ask for photographs before they ask about therapy, and they are right to. You are deciding whether you could live somewhere for a month. This is the place, not a stock library. The pool and terrace, open through the day Your own private room, included as standard The veranda, where most groups spill out to Cooked by our Michelin-trained chef, three times a day The horses live here, on the land Forty hectares of working farmland, forty five minutes from Malaga [See the full gallery](/facilities/) · [how people get here](/travelling-to-spain-for-treatment/). ## How trauma is worked here, and in what order Trauma treatment has a sequence, and getting it wrong is how people get hurt. The order is stabilisation first, then processing, then reconnection, and the first stage is not a waiting room for the second. It is most of the work. Stage What happens in it 1. Stabilisation Safety, routine, sleep, food, and the skills to tolerate distress without a substance. The emotions and crisis-management modules, grounding and body-based practice. For a month-long residential stay this is the centre of gravity, and it is not a lesser stage. 2. Processing Working with the memory itself, at a pace set by what you can hold. Trauma-focused cognitive work and EMDR where it is indicated. Nothing is forced open, and nobody has to give an account of what happened in a group. 3. Reconnection Rebuilding relationships, values and a life that is not organised around avoidance. The values, boundaries, loneliness and goals modules, plus the family work and the aftercare plan. Where EMDR is appropriate it is used within that sequence rather than as a standalone product. See [EMDR](/emdr-therapy/) and [the therapies we use](/therapies/). ## What we are, and what we are not Sierra Recovery is entered in the Registro Andaluz de Centros, Servicios y Establecimientos Sanitarios (the Andalusian register of health centres, services and establishments) under N.I.C.A. 67331, authorised by the Junta de Andalucía for the care unit atención sanitaria a drogodependientes (healthcare for drug dependency, authorised care unit U.71). That is a registered health centre with a supervised treatment residence. It is not a psychiatric hospital and it is not a specialist trauma inpatient unit. We treat trauma as it presents alongside addiction, which is how it usually presents. Where complex trauma is the primary condition and there is no substance use, a specialist service may fit you better and we will say so at assessment. You can [check our registration yourself](/regulation-and-licensing/) on the Junta's public register. Where you are physically dependent, a medically supervised withdrawal is completed in an appropriate medical setting before you arrive, billed separately. ### Not sure whether now is the right time for trauma work? That is exactly what the assessment is for, and it happens before you travel. Timing matters more here than almost anywhere, and a clinician will be honest with you about it. [How admission works](/admissions/) [+44 1202 653136](tel:+441202653136) ## What a day here looks like Nobody arrives knowing how twenty eight days are actually spent. This is the real timetable, Monday to Friday. Time What happens 08:00 Breakfast, cooked by a Michelin-trained chef 09:15 Planning: the day is set out together 10:30 Process group, the harder one 12:00 Therapeutic group 13:15 Lunch 14:30 Psychoeducation, working through the curriculum 16:00 Group activity, often outdoors or with the horses 18:30 Dinner 20:00 Day closing, together Saturdays turn to holistic and body-based work. Sundays are a supervised excursion, because reconnecting with the world outside a clinic is part of the treatment rather than a break from it. 28days, the typical stay 3group sessions a day 17curriculum modules 1986PROMIS method, developed in ## What the treatment actually involves The programme runs Monday to Friday on a fixed structure, with Saturdays given to holistic and body-based work and Sundays to a supervised excursion. Rather than list therapy names, here is what each part of the week is for. Group work Psychoeducation One-to-one Holistic Equine Aftercare ### Three group sessions a day, five days a week The day opens with a process group at 10:30, a second therapeutic group runs at midday, and a psychoeducation session follows lunch. A group activity fills the late afternoon and the day closes together in the evening. That is roughly fifteen structured group contacts a week, which is the part most people underestimate before they arrive and value most afterwards. Groups are small, in English, and run by the clinical team. Hearing someone else describe your own thinking back to you does something that individual work cannot, and it is the fastest route out of the isolation that addiction builds. ### A seventeen-module curriculum, not a rest cure The psychoeducation strand moves through a fixed seventeen-module curriculum written by our clinical director. It is the core of what we call the Regulation Model, which is our adaptation of the PROMIS Clinics methodology to this centre rather than a model of our own invention. It covers skills training, communication styles, boundaries and decision-making, trigger recognition, self-esteem and self-concept, dual diagnosis, self-care and habits, emotions, crisis identification and management, suicide prevention, goals, grief, values, trauma and relapse, perfectionism, loneliness and isolation, and cross-addiction. Every module runs the same structure: check-in, theory, an experiential dynamic, shared reflection, and a commitment carried into the week. The cognitive work uses the ABC model, the same structure that underpins cognitive behavioural approaches: the event, the belief you attach to it, and the consequence that follows. It is taught, practised, applied between sessions and reviewed, rather than talked about once. ### Individual therapy alongside the group programme One-to-one sessions run three times a week and are where the material that will not surface in a group gets worked. For most people that is the thing underneath the use rather than the use itself. You are treated by the same small team throughout, in the same house. Nobody is handed between departments, and there is no rotation of therapists mid-stay. ### Yoga, meditation and body-based work Saturdays turn to holistic and body-based practice: yoga, meditation and mindfulness, breathwork, art, and time outdoors on the land. This is not decoration and it is not a spa timetable. Early recovery is a physiological event as much as a psychological one, and sleep, appetite and the ability to sit still are usually the first things to return. The self-care and habits module runs alongside it, treating rest as a right rather than a reward and food as connection rather than control. ### Equine therapy on working farmland The horses live here, on the forty hectares around the house, and equine work is part of the working week. Horses respond to what you are actually feeling rather than what you say you are feeling, which is why the work reaches people who have learned to talk their way around a therapy session. ### What happens when you go home Aftercare is planned before you leave rather than mentioned on the last day. For clients returning to the UK, care continues online or in person at the PROMIS clinics in London, with a weekly session for a full year, more than 48 in the twelve months after discharge, and a written handover to your GP so nothing has to be explained from scratch. For clients elsewhere in Europe we arrange continuity online and help find local services. Alongside that, mutual-aid groups are free, run everywhere, and are worth using whatever else you choose. ## Who will actually treat you A small team, in one house, in English. Continuity matters more in trauma work than in any other kind, and there is no rotation of therapists halfway through your stay. ### Nerea Encinas Sánchez Director · General Health Psychologist MSc General Health Psychology. Leads clinical standards, the assessment you have before you travel, and admissions. ### Berenice Paramés Jones General Health Psychologist Individual and group psychological work inside the house, crisis follow-up and coordination of the group programme. ### Marta Leal Social worker Family mediation, links to services back home, and preparing for independent life after discharge. ### Robin Lefever Founder of Sierra Recovery; MD, PROMIS Clinics UK Founder of Sierra Recovery and Managing Director of PROMIS Clinics, whose method this programme adapts. PROMIS has been treating addiction in the United Kingdom since the mid-1980s, and Robin has worked in addiction treatment for around 35 years, with thousands of patients treated with the PROMIS method in the United Kingdom. [Meet the whole clinical team and their qualifications](/clinical-team/). ## What is treated, and what that looks like day to day What you arrive with How it is worked Hyperarousal Breathwork, grounding, yoga and daily activity outdoors, plus the emotions module. Regulation is trained as a skill rather than described as a goal. Dissociation Body-based work on the holistic days and grounding practised in group. Being present is the prerequisite for everything else, which is why it comes first. Flashbacks and intrusive memories Contained rather than provoked. Processing work happens in individual sessions at a pace you set, never in an open group. Shame The self-esteem, perfectionism and loneliness modules, and the simple fact of being in a room with people who recognise it. Shame does not survive being ordinary. The substance use Treated concurrently, never as a precondition. Nobody is told to come back once they have dealt with the drinking. Attachment and relationships Module six covers attachment and somatisation directly, and the boundaries and communication modules turn it into something practicable. Sleep Fixed hours, daylight, activity and the self-care module. Nightmares and broken sleep are among the earliest things to improve. ## Treatment options for trauma and addiction, and how they compare Residential rehab is one treatment option among several, and it is not automatically the right one. Being straight about that is more useful to you than a page that pretends otherwise. Option What it involves, and who it suits Medical detox Required wherever there is physical dependence, and stabilisation comes before any trauma processing. Residential rehab inpatient treatment Living at the centre for the whole programme. It suits people who have got sober before and found the trauma unbearable without the substance, which is the commonest reason abstinence collapses at three months. Outpatient treatment day programmes and therapy sessions Attending sessions and going home between them. Appropriate where there is stability, safety and an existing therapeutic relationship to build on. Community and NHS services Free local drug and alcohol treatment services, reached through your GP or by self-referral. Waiting times vary and residential placements are rationed, but the support is real and it costs nothing. For many people this is the right first step rather than a lesser one. Mutual aid and support groups Free peer support meeting in person and online, everywhere, with no waiting list and no cost. Worth using alongside whatever else you choose rather than instead of it. A treatment plan should be built around your circumstances. If an outpatient or community route fits you better, we will say so at assessment and we will not charge you for the conversation. ## The therapies used, in plain terms Every centre lists the same acronyms, so here is what each one actually is and where it appears in the week. Therapy What it is, and when you would meet it here Cognitive behavioural therapy CBT, and the related REBT Evidence-based work on the link between an event, the belief you attach to it and what you then do. Taught through the ABC model in psychoeducation, practised in group therapy and applied between sessions. It is the backbone of the cognitive work rather than an optional extra. Acceptance and commitment therapy ACT Learning to have a difficult feeling without having to act on it, and choosing behaviour by your values instead. Module eight, on emotions, is built on it. Dialectical behaviour therapy DBT Distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal skills, used where emotions arrive faster and larger than they can be managed. See [DBT](/dialectical-behaviour-therapy/). EMDR A structured trauma therapy, used where trauma is driving the use and always after stabilisation rather than before it. See [EMDR](/emdr-therapy/). Group therapy Three group sessions a day, five days a week: a process group, a therapeutic group and psychoeducation. It is the largest single component of the treatment programme. See [group therapy](/group-therapy-for-addiction/). Individual therapy one-to-one counselling Three therapy sessions a week with the same clinician throughout, where material that will not surface in a group gets worked. Family therapy Offered where it is wanted, in person or online, because the people around you are part of what happens next. See [the family programme](/family-programme/). Motivational interviewing Used throughout rather than booked as a session. It is the stance the team takes: working with your reasons for change rather than arguing you into someone else’s. Holistic therapies Yoga, mindfulness and meditation, breathwork, art and equine work, on Saturdays and through the week. See [equine therapy](/equine-therapy/) and [all our therapies](/therapies/). Every element above is delivered by the clinical team as part of the residential programme. Your treatment plan sets out which of them apply to you, and it is reviewed during the stay rather than fixed on day one. ## Where else to get help, free Not everyone needs residential rehab, and nobody should be waiting on a private programme before they get any support at all. Everything below is free, and none of these organisations pays or receives a fee from us. Organisation What they do [NHS talking therapies](https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/talking-therapies-and-counselling/nhs-talking-therapies/) Free psychological therapy for anxiety and depression in England, available by self-referral without going through your GP first. [Mind](https://www.mind.org.uk/) Mental health information, advocacy and local services across England and Wales. [Samaritans](https://www.samaritans.org/) Free and confidential, 24 hours a day on 116 123, for anyone struggling to cope or having thoughts of suicide. [NHS drug and alcohol services](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/addiction-support/drug-addiction-getting-help/) Free local treatment services, reached through your GP or by self-referral. The usual starting point for community-based drug and alcohol treatment. [We Are With You](https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/) Free, confidential support for drug, alcohol and mental health problems, in person in many areas and by webchat. [Adfam](https://adfam.org.uk/) Support and information for families and friends affected by someone else’s drug, alcohol or gambling use. Sierra Recovery neither pays nor accepts referral fees, so nothing on this list depends on where you go. If a free or community service is the right fit for you, use it. ## How to get ready - Compare on licence, not on photographsAsk any centre abroad for its registration number and the register it sits on, then look it up yourself. Ours is N.I.C.A. 67331 on the Junta de Andalucía register. - Get the medical picture togetherCurrent medications, any previous withdrawal, and any diagnosed conditions. This is what the pre-travel assessment needs, and it is what decides whether a detox is required first. - Ask what the price actually includesOurs is published: private room, meals, the core therapy programme, and a year of weekly UK aftercare, with medical, psychiatric, laboratory and hospital costs quoted separately. You get an itemised written quotation before admission. - You do not have to write it downSome people arrive with a full history and some arrive able to say only that something happened. Both are workable. There is no requirement to disclose detail to be admitted, and no requirement to disclose it in a group at any point. - Bring what has been triedPrevious therapy, what helped, what made things worse, and any diagnosis. Knowing what has gone badly before is as useful as knowing what has gone well. ## How Sierra compares with treating each separately at home What you get Sierra Recovery Typical private residential clinic Trauma and addiction treated together One programme, one team, one house Usually two services, and trauma work often deferred until abstinent 28-day residential programme GBP 9,900, published in full UK GBP 12,000–GBP 40,000 · Australia A$30,000–A$50,000 Required to disclose in a group No, never Varies Your own private room Included as standard Often an upgrade Referral fees paid to third parties None Common Continuity of therapist through the stay Same small team throughout Often rotates Written itemised quotation before admission Yes Varies Comparison figures are the published ranges collected on our [cost calculator](/cost-calculator/): the United Kingdom at roughly £12,000 to £40,000 a month, Australia at roughly A$30,000 to A$50,000, and the United States at roughly $20,000 to $40,000 for a 30-day programme. New Zealand, South African and Canadian ranges are set out on the [country cost guides](/local-treatment-guides/). Indicative, not a quotation. Every clinic sets its own fees. ## Why it is not left until after the addiction is treated The traditional sequence, get clean first and deal with the trauma later, sounds prudent and produces a predictable outcome. Someone stops using, the state the substance was managing returns undiluted, there is nothing yet in place to hold it, and they relapse. Then the relapse is read as a lack of commitment rather than as the entirely foreseeable consequence of removing the only coping strategy available. Running the trauma work alongside the addiction work does not mean opening everything up in week one. It means that from the first day, the thing underneath is acknowledged, and the skills to manage it are being built at the same rate the substance is being removed. See [dual diagnosis](/dual-diagnosis-rehab-spain/) and [PTSD](/ptsd-treatment/). ## When is it time? If you have got sober before and found it unbearable rather than freeing, if the same pattern keeps repeating, or if you have never told anyone the actual reason, that is enough. You do not need to be sure it counts as trauma. That is a judgement for an assessment, not a threshold you have to clear before you are allowed to ask. ### Talk to a clinician today You will speak to our admissions team, all of them clinicians. Confidential, no obligation, and we will tell you honestly whether this programme fits or whether something closer to home would serve you better. [See how admission works](/admissions/) [What £9,900 covers](/pricing/) ## Questions people actually ask Will I have to talk about what happened? No. Nobody at Sierra is required to describe what happened to them, and nothing is opened up on a schedule. Processing work, where it is appropriate, happens in individual sessions at a pace you set, never in an open group. A great deal of effective trauma treatment involves no detailed retelling at all. Should trauma be treated before or after the addiction? Together. The traditional sequence of getting clean first and dealing with trauma later removes the coping strategy while leaving the reason for it intact, which is why so many relapses happen a few months into abstinence. What comes first is stabilisation: safety, sleep, routine and distress tolerance, alongside any medically supervised withdrawal. Do you offer EMDR? EMDR is used where it is clinically indicated, within a stabilisation-first sequence rather than as a standalone service. It is one approach among several, alongside trauma-focused cognitive work, ACT-based skills and body-based practice. Our [EMDR page](/emdr-therapy/) explains how it fits. What if my trauma is from childhood rather than one event? That is what most people here are working with, and it is what the attachment, boundaries and self-esteem modules are designed around. Trauma is defined by its effect rather than by the size or number of the events, and the accumulated version is at least as damaging as the single-incident kind. Is Sierra a specialist trauma unit? No. Sierra is a registered health centre authorised for addiction healthcare, and we treat trauma as it presents alongside addiction, which is how it usually presents. Where complex trauma is the primary condition and there is no substance use, a specialist service may fit you better and we will tell you so at assessment. How long is the programme and what does it cost? It is a 28-day residential programme, published in full at GBP 9,900. That covers a private room, meals, the core therapy programme, and a year of weekly UK aftercare. Psychiatric, medical, laboratory and hospital detox costs are quoted separately. You get an itemised written quotation before admission. How do I get help for trauma and addiction? The first step towards recovery is an assessment, and ours is free and carries no obligation. You can also seek help through your GP, through a free local drug and alcohol treatment service, or through a mutual aid group, and none of those routes costs anything. If you want to talk it through with a clinician, call +44 1202 653136 and you will reach our admissions team. What does trauma and addiction treatment involve, from start to finish? The course of treatment runs in four stages. An assessment before you travel, which decides whether a medically supervised detox is needed first. Any detox, completed in an appropriate medical setting and billed separately. Then the 28-day residential treatment programme itself: three group therapy sessions a day, individual therapy three times a week and the seventeen-module curriculum. Then aftercare, agreed before you leave and continuing online or in person in London. How much does trauma rehab cost, and what affects the price? Sierra publishes a single figure: GBP 9,900 for the 28-day residential programme, with a private room included. What changes the total is whether you need a medically supervised detox, which is arranged and billed separately, and any medical, psychiatric or laboratory costs. Private residential rehab elsewhere commonly runs from around GBP 12,000 to GBP 40,000 a month in the United Kingdom and from roughly A$30,000 to A$50,000 in Australia. You get an itemised written quotation before admission, and we neither pay nor accept referral fees. What are the signs and symptoms of trauma and addiction? The signs of untreated trauma are reacting far more strongly than a situation warrants, feeling numb or detached, not being able to relax without a drink or a drug, broken sleep, and relationships that follow the same painful pattern. Getting sober and finding it all got louder is the most telling one. Is lasting recovery from trauma and addiction actually possible? Yes, and the evidence is better than the public conversation suggests. What predicts long-term recovery is not willpower but what is in place afterwards: continuing therapy, a treated mental health condition, a support network and a relapse plan that was written before it was needed. That is why completing trauma rehab matters less on its own than what follows it, and why aftercare is planned during the stay, so it is in place before you leave. How can I help someone with trauma and addiction? Start by getting support for yourself, because living alongside someone with an addiction is its own burden and Adfam and Al-Anon exist for exactly that. Beyond that: raise it when they are not intoxicated, be specific about what you have seen rather than general about what they are, and offer a concrete next step such as an assessment or a call to a free service. Ultimatums delivered in anger rarely work. We speak to families every day and that conversation costs nothing. + ## Talk to a clinician today You will speak to our admissions team, English-speaking clinicians who know the programme and the people in it. Callback within 24 hours. Step 1 of 3 Confidential, and no obligation Registered health centre. Authorised by the Junta de Andalucía, N.I.C.A. 67331. ### Related pages [The Regulation Model](/the-regulation-model/)[Assessment & detox](/medical-assessment-and-detox/)[Our programme](/our-programme-at-sierra-recovery/)[Dual diagnosis](/dual-diagnosis-rehab-spain/)[Pricing](/pricing/)[Admissions](/admissions/) --- Source: https://sierrarecoveryspain.com/trauma-and-addiction-rehab-spain/ Retrieved: 2026-08-27 Canonical HTML version of this page: https://sierrarecoveryspain.com/trauma-and-addiction-rehab-spain/