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Monima Wellness Center is a trauma-focused treatment center for women and female-identifying individuals in San Diego, offering a unique leve of mental health and substance use care through our Partial Hospitalization (PHP) and Intensive Outpatient (IOP) programs. Trauma-focused treatment is not one service among many at Monima—it’s the clinical foundation that shapes every aspect of how care is delivered. Whether you are navigating a recent crisis, longstanding patterns you can’t explain, or the quiet weight of experiences you’ve never quite been able to name, our approach was designed with your full complexity in mind.
Many people who would benefit most from trauma-focused support hesitate to seek treatment because they don’t believe their experiences are considered “trauma,” or they believe they’re not serious enough. Many people may not even have a single defining event to point to; they may have grown up in environments where the harm was subtle—emotional neglect, chronic instability, relationships that left them doubting their own perceptions. Over time, that kind of pain leaves a real impression.
Trauma-focused treatment may be beneficial if you are experiencing:
Perhaps most importantly, it’s crucial to know that you do not need a formal trauma or PTSD diagnosis to benefit from trauma-focused care. If any of the above resonates, it may be worth exploring whether this approach could help you.
Monima offers two levels of structured, trauma-focused care—addressing mental health, trauma, and substance use in an integrated way. Your clinical team will help determine which level fits your needs, and many women move between programs as they progress in recovery.
The main difference is time and intensity. PHP provides full-day programming, while IOP offers morning sessions with a flexible weekly schedule. Both programs offer access to the same services—on-site psychiatric care, 2–3 individual sessions per week, neuropsychological testing, and weekly acupuncture—with PHP providing more intensive support for those who need it.
Monima’s Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) was built for women seeking part-time treatment for moderate to severe mental health, trauma, or substance use issues. IOP is designed specifically for women stepping down from a higher level of care, balancing treatment with work or school, or needing intensive support while maintaining their daily responsibilities. IOP clients attend treatment three to five days per week in the mornings, providing both structure and some flexibility with daily responsibilities.
Our Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) is the highest level of care available at Monima. PHP is best suited for clients with severe mental health, trauma, or substance use challenges that have begun to interfere with daily life and continue to persist despite therapy or medication. Most clients take a leave of absence from work, school, or their daily routines to fully commit themselves to the program. While in PHP, clients will be engaged in treatment five days per week from morning through afternoon.
For women who need a stable living environment during or after treatment, Monima partners with Ohana Recovery Residences. Ohana offers women-only sober living with 24-hour staffing, meals, medication support for those who need it, and transportation to and from treatment. Ohana is located just a short drive from Monima Wellness and is designed to complement healing through our outpatient programming.
At Monima Wellness Center, our alumni program fosters a supportive community for women beyond treatment, emphasizing connection, wellness, and ongoing personal growth. Through monthly wellness events, weekly virtual meetings, and access to our exclusive Monima app, alumni remain connected to a network that offers encouragement, accountability, and guidance for thriving after cocaine addiction recovery.
Not sure which level of support fits your situation? Verify your insurance to understand your options, and our team can help guide you.
Let us help you verify that your or your loved one’s insurance provider can provide financial assistance.
Trauma is not addressed in isolation at Monima. It shapes how groups are structured, how individual therapy is approached, and how the clinical team collaborates to build your treatment plan.
PHP and IOP at Monima include:
While trauma is the thread running through everything, not every session is focused on processing it. There is room to build skills, learn, and reconnect with yourself alongside the deeper work.
If you’d like to learn more about what a typical week looks like in our San Diego PHP or IOP, our team is happy to walk you through it. Contact us today or let us verify your insurance coverage.
Monima’s clinical approach to mental health and substance use treatment draws on a range of evidence-based therapies, selected specifically for their effectiveness with trauma, and used in combination to promote healing both mind and body.
Somatic Experiencing (SE) helps the body release stress and tension that trauma leaves behind. Instead of focusing only on talking through experiences, SE works directly with physical sensations and nervous system responses as part of the healing process.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a therapy that helps you understand and work with different parts of yourself—including the parts that developed to protect you from pain. It is a compassionate approach that reduces self-criticism and builds a stronger sense of inner trust.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) helps you identify and gently challenge the beliefs trauma has shaped—things like feeling unsafe, untrusting of others, or responsible for what happened to you. CPT is structured, evidence-based, and widely used for PTSD and complex trauma.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) helps the brain process memories that feel stuck or overwhelming. Through a guided bilateral process, distressing experiences become easier to hold over time.
Attachment-based therapy looks at how early relationships and experiences have shaped the way you connect with others—and helps rebuild a sense of safety and security in relationships. For many people with trauma histories, this work is where lasting relational change begins.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) supports the body’s natural ability to regulate and heal alongside the clinical work happening in sessions. Each appointment is guided by what your body needs—whether that’s acupuncture, cupping, or other holistic healing practices.
Trauma does not only live in the mind. It lives in the body, in the nervous system, and in the ways we learned to relate to ourselves and others. This combination of approaches is designed to reach all of it.
At Monima, psychiatric care, medication management, and holistic treatment are all coordinated under one roof by a team that communicates closely. Dr. Sarita Shah, our on-site psychiatrist with specialized training in women’s and reproductive mental health, works directly with your clinical team to ensure that any medication support complements your therapeutic work rather than replacing it. For clients who may benefit from medication-assisted treatment, that is available as well.
Most outpatient programs do not offer this level of integration. At Monima, nothing works in isolation.
Monima accepts most PPO insurance plans, and all clinical services—therapy, psychiatric care, neuropsychological testing, somatic modalities, and traditional Chinese medicine—are included as part of our PHP and IOP programs.
If you’re unsure about your coverage, our team can help. Reach out, and we’ll verify your insurance so you have a clear picture of your options before you take any next steps. We are unable to accept Medicare or Medi-Cal at this time.
Monima Wellness Center is licensed by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), accredited by The Joint Commission, and certified as a Conscious Recovery center. These credentials reflect our commitment to the highest standards of care, integrating evidence-based clinical practices with holistic healing modalities.
If you are considering trauma-focused treatment in San Diego and want to understand your options, our team is here to help.
You can reach our compassionate team at 858-500-1542 or verify your insurance coverage to take the first step. Your information is always kept private and confidential.
Contact us today at 858-422-1860 to begin your path to healing.
Trauma-focused treatments are therapies specifically designed to address the effects of trauma—emotionally, psychologically, and physically. What sets them apart from general mental health treatment is that trauma is treated as the root of what someone is experiencing, not just a backdrop to it. At Monima Wellness, therapies like Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, CPT, and IFS are woven into both individual and group sessions throughout PHP and IOP.
C-PTSD stands for Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It refers to the impact of trauma that was prolonged or repeated over time—things like childhood neglect, emotional abuse, or chronic relational harm—rather than a single event. People with C-PTSD often struggle with emotional dysregulation, deep shame, difficulty trusting others, and a negative sense of self. It is not always formally diagnosed, but many people find it clarifying when a standard PTSD diagnosis does not quite fit their experience.
Both CPT and EMDR are evidence-based and well-researched for trauma—neither is universally better than the other. CPT tends to focus on the beliefs trauma has shaped, while EMDR works more directly with memory and nervous system response. Which one is more helpful really depends on the person and their history. At Monima Wellness, both EMDR and CPT are available, and your treatment plan is built around what makes sense for you and your unique experiences.
Trauma does not only live in the mind—it gets stored in the nervous system and shows up as physical symptoms, tension, and dysregulation. Somatic therapies like Somatic Experiencing work directly with the body to help release what has been held there. At Monima, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine, trauma-informed yoga, sound healing, and other holistic practices all support this process too. For a lot of people, healing through the body is not a secondary thing—it’s where the real healing begins.
No, and this is a really common concern. Trauma can live in the body and nervous system in ways that produce real symptoms even when memories are incomplete or absent. Somatic approaches in particular do not require you to recall or recount specific experiences to be effective. You don’t need all the answers to begin treatment.
Trauma-informed care means providers understand trauma and take steps to avoid retraumatization. That’s essential, and it should be the baseline for quality mental health care. It influences things like communication, environment, and how people are supported day to day.
Trauma-focused care goes a step further. It means trauma is actively treated—not just accommodated—using evidence-based approaches like EMDR, CPT, Somatic Experiencing, and IFS that are designed to help process and resolve it. It also shows up beyond the therapy room. In a trauma-focused setting, the entire team is trained to meet you in difficult moments—not just during sessions, but throughout the day. You’re not just in an environment that understands trauma; you’re in one that’s equipped to help you move through it.