Serving men across the Austin metro

Looking for sex addiction therapy in Austin? That page has the schedule, the clinic and how to begin. This one covers why Austin needed a program like this, and who it serves.

Most men searching for sex addiction counseling in Austin find individual therapists first --- valuable work, but often not enough on its own for a pattern that has already survived repeated attempts to stop. Iron Ridge Recovery is the only intensive outpatient program in Austin built exclusively for compulsive sexual behavior. The program is eight weeks. It is gender-specific. It is out-of-network, with PPO billing, superbills or private pay. It is delivered in person in Austin, with the option of virtual sessions for Austin-metro patients whose work or family circumstances require occasional flexibility.

Why Austin needs this program

Until Iron Ridge, a man in Austin who recognized a compulsive sexual behavior pattern in himself had a small number of options, none of them adequate.

Iron Ridge fills the gap that has been there for a long time: an Austin-based, intensive outpatient level of care, built specifically for CSBD, staffed by clinicians with the relevant certifications, with a partner support program grounded in the partner trauma model and APSATS clinical standards.

What the program is

Iron Ridge's intensive outpatient program is an eight-week clinical arc structured in three phases:

• Stabilization (weeks 1--3) --- safety, behavioral interruption, baseline assessment.

• Trauma processing (weeks 4--6) --- the underlying material the compulsive pattern has been organizing around.

• Relapse prevention (weeks 7--8) --- consolidation, post-discharge planning, situational rehearsal.

Programming runs 9--12 clinical hours per week. Total clinical exposure across the arc is 72--96 hours. Assessment is conducted at baseline, week 4, week 8, and 6-month follow-up. A mid-treatment progress letter is issued at week 4. The program is gender-specific and admits men only.

Clinical leadership

The clinical program is directed by Ian Birdwell, LPC, CSAT --- a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Sex Addiction Therapist trained through the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals. Partner programming is directed by Roxcy Brown, LMFT-Associate, CCPS-C, supervised by Billy Myers, LMFT-S (Texas license 201183) --- a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate and Certified Clinical Partner Specialist Candidate. Both clinicians hold the credentials that are the standard of care for their respective scopes of work.

Partner programming

Partner programming is offered alongside the IOP and is available to partners whether or not the man in the patient role is admitted to Iron Ridge's program. The work is grounded in the partner-specific trauma model and the APSATS clinical standards. It includes individual sessions with a CCPS or CCPS-C clinician, partner-specific group work, and trauma-focused support for the partner during the period following discovery. The partner's clinical record is maintained separately from the CSBD partner's record.

Pornography addiction

Pornography is the single most common presenting behavior in Iron Ridge's Austin program --- more common than affairs, anonymous encounters, or any other single pattern. It is treated inside the same eight-week arc, not as a separate track, because clinically it is the same loss-of-control pattern with a different object. What is specific to pornography --- escalation in content, the role of the device, why deleting the apps alone has never been the answer --- is covered on the pornography addiction page.

Logistics: where, when, how

The Austin in-person program is delivered at our Austin clinical site. Programming is scheduled to be sustainable alongside ordinary work and family commitments. Patients who occasionally need to attend virtually --- a work trip, a family obligation --- may do so for individual sessions, subject to clinical appropriateness. The program is not designed as a fully virtual offering for Austin patients; the in-person component is part of why the program works.

Patients outside the Austin metro who cannot attend in person should see our Virtual IOP Texas page, which describes the statewide telehealth option. For men who work in North Austin's tech corridor near the Domain specifically, this covers what discretion looks like from that side of town.

Cost and confidentiality

Iron Ridge is out of network with all commercial insurers. PPO patients can have us bill their plan out of network, or receive a superbill to submit themselves. Patients who require their treatment to remain off the insurance record --- for reasons of professional standing, custody considerations, security clearance, or personal preference --- can pay privately instead, in which case we file no claim and report nothing to insurance.

Iron Ridge is not a substance use disorder facility. CSBD is classified in the ICD-11 under impulse control disorders, not under substance-related and addictive disorders. 42 CFR Part 2 does not apply. Standard HIPAA protections apply.

Who the program admits

Iron Ridge admits adult men who meet criteria for Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder and who can safely participate in an outpatient level of care.

Admission is based on clinical appropriateness, safety, and whether the patient's needs match an outpatient level of care.

We do not admit patients with untreated severe mental illness requiring a higher level of care or patients whose presentation is primarily a paraphilic disorder. For those presentations we refer to appropriate care, and the consultation call is where that determination is made.

What happens next

If you are in Austin and what you have read describes where you are, the next step is a confidential consultation. It is a clinical conversation. It is not a sales call. The purpose of the consultation is to determine whether Iron Ridge is the right level of care for what you are dealing with --- and if it is not, to point you toward what is.