Addiction Psychotherapists in Nairobi

Addiction covers alcohol, other drugs, and behaviours such as gambling. Psychological treatment is only one part of addiction care.

For drug use disorders, the WHO and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime list treatments that work, including cognitive-behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing, contingency management and family therapy ¹.

Guidelines recommend a range of treatments for opioid dependence ². Those include maintenance treatment with methadone or buprenorphine, alongside psychosocial treatment and support.

Detoxification on its own does not treat a drug use disorder. Ask a practitioner what they treat, and where they refer.

Everyone on this page describes their work as psychotherapy. A psychotherapist works through talking with you about your thoughts, feelings and behaviours.

Psychotherapy usually runs longer than counselling and aims for clinical change. It works on patterns that repeat rather than on one current problem.

A psychotherapist trains in psychological treatment rather than in medicine. What that training covers, and which approach a practitioner uses, differ between practitioners. Ask which approach a psychotherapist trained in, and how long they usually work.

Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital - General Mental Health Outpatient Services. Phone +254 20 2337694. Kenya's Social Health Authority covers mental health care in its benefits package. Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital is accredited by the Authority and says so in its own public material. To use that cover you must be registered with the Authority, and what it pays for is set by its benefit rules. The hospital runs an ordinary outpatient clinic from Monday to Friday. Ring the hospital's enquiries line to arrange an appointment. It is an enquiries line, not a crisis line.

See the Kenya page for the professions that do carry a register there.