Comprehensive Assessment Program

Individualized Treatment Experience

Comprehensive Assessment Program

Every client who comes to Luna brings a unique story, history, and set of challenges. Our role is to listen carefully, assess thoughtfully, and collaborate closely with each individual and their family to design a treatment experience that supports meaningful and lasting change.

Advanced Psychological Testing

Understanding what's really driving a person's symptoms takes more than a single conversation. That is why each assessment client meets with our Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Rose Yang, PsyD, to determine what parts of the full battery they should complete.

Each client can receive any or all parts of a psychological battery of testing, depending on what the treating psychologist determines in their individual sessions.

This battery may draw from instruments that assess:

  • Personality structure and coping style — how someone characteristically responds to stress, conflict, and emotional pain
  • Mood and affective functioning — the presence and severity of depression, anxiety, or mood dysregulation
  • Trauma history and its physiological footprint — how past trauma may be showing up in present-day symptoms, even when a client hasn't consciously connected the two
  • Cognitive functioning — attention, memory, and executive functioning, which can be affected by both substance use and untreated mental health conditions
  • Risk and diagnostic clarity — distinguishing between conditions that can look similar on the surface but require very different treatment approaches

Why this matters for dual diagnosis treatment

For many clients, substance use isn't the core problem — it's a coping strategy for a mental health condition that was never properly identified or treated. Someone using alcohol to quiet a racing, anxious mind, or opioids to numb the aftershocks of trauma, is often self-medicating a condition that could respond far better to targeted clinical care.

This is precisely where a full testing battery becomes a treatment-planning tool rather than just a diagnostic formality. Results are reviewed by our clinical team and synthesized into a case conceptualization that identifies not just what a client is struggling with, but why — and from there, which combination of therapeutic modalities (EMDR or ART for unresolved trauma, DBT for emotional dysregulation, CBT for distorted thought patterns, ACT for values-driven behavior change) is most likely to address the root cause rather than just the visible symptom.

In dual diagnosis care, this distinction changes everything. Treating the substance use alone, without addressing the psychiatric condition underneath it, tends to produce short-lived results. Testing gives our clinical team the clarity to treat both simultaneously — which is what makes lasting recovery possible.

Integrated Medical & Psychiatric Evaluation

Each client meets individually with both a medically focused practitioner and a psychiatric focused practitioner, ensuring physical health and psychiatric needs are addressed side by side from day one. Medical evaluations are conducted by Dr. Bo Allaire, a dually board-certified internist and addictionologist, while our entire medical department is led by Dr. Jon Stevens, a Harvard-trained physician who oversees every client's medical care throughout treatment.

Upon admission, each client receives a comprehensive medical evaluation which typically includes:

  • A complete medical history and physical examination
  • A private, individualized psychiatric consult to assess medications as part of the treatment plan
  • Laboratory testing and blood panels
  • Ongoing support from our medical and nursing team

Clients also receive a thorough psychiatric evaluation with our psychiatric providers. Our psychiatric team collaborates closely with the clinical staff to ensure that diagnostic clarity, symptom management, and medication considerations are thoughtfully integrated into the overall treatment plan.

Brain-Based Assessment & Neurotechnology

Our comprehensive assessment includes neurobiological tools to evaluate each of our patients' brain health. Luna incorporates advanced brain-based assessment alongside traditional therapy in order to provide another layer of assessing tools into our assessment lens. This allows the treatment team to identify what parts of the brain are being over or under-utilized, which can be instrumental to a successful treatment plan.

Most clients begin with a Quantitative EEG (QEEG) brain map, revealing brainwave patterns linked to anxiety, mood instability, trauma responses, or attention difficulties — often the missing piece behind symptoms that talk therapy alone hasn't resolved.

  1. Recording brainwave activity

    A multi-site electrode cap captures the brain's electrical activity — painless and non-invasive.

  2. Quantitative analysis

    Mathematical methods convert raw signals into measurable metrics by frequency and brain region.

  3. Comparison to a normative database

    Results are compared against age-matched typical brain activity to see what stands out.

  4. Visual brain mapping

    A color-coded map shows activity levels across different regions of the brain.

  5. Clinical interpretation

    Our clinical team uses the map to help shape an individualized treatment approach.

A clinician fitting an EEG electrode cap on a client for a QEEG brain map

Findings may guide targeted interventions such as:

  • Neurofeedback
  • Non-invasive brain stimulation therapies

A healthy, well-regulated brain is the foundation of lasting recovery. These tools help the brain rebuild its natural capacity to self-regulate — supporting real, durable emotional balance and cognitive clarity.

Therapeutic Introduction

Throughout assessment, patients meet with a range of therapists depending on what each stage of findings reveals. This allows patients to take ownership of their recovery process and co-create a therapeutic alliance with their care team. Different modalities are more or less effective depending on the specific symptoms and issues a patient is presenting with — which is why exposure to multiple approaches early on helps shape a truly individualized treatment plan.

Modalities patients may be introduced to include:

  • ACT — Acceptance & Commitment Therapy

    Builds psychological flexibility — accepting difficult thoughts while committing to values-driven action.

  • DBT — Dialectical Behavior Therapy

    Develops distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal skills.

  • CBT — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

    Identifies and reframes distorted thought patterns that drive behavior.

  • EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing

    Uses guided eye movements to help the brain reprocess traumatic memories.

  • ART — Accelerated Resolution Therapy

    A faster, memory-reprocessing approach that doesn't require verbally recounting trauma in detail.

Comprehensive Feedback Session by Dr. Rose Yang

Once assessment is complete, Dr. Rose Yang leads a comprehensive feedback session, aggregating findings from testing, medical and psychiatric evaluation, brain-based assessment, and the therapeutic introduction with the entire treatment team. Together, they synthesize this data into a completely bespoke treatment plan built around each patient's specific presentation. If the patient's assessment shows a specific treatment is required that we do not offer, we utilize our National Referral team to access providers all across the country.

Results and recommendations are relayed directly to the patient, along with any key stakeholders involved in their care — family, friends, referring providers, or other treatment professionals — ensuring everyone is aligned on the path forward.

Clients and staff talking together around a table at Luna

For patients whose needs are best served elsewhere, Luna strategizes with a national network of specialty providers, offering referrals to every level of care in every state. For patients who remain in Luna's care, our fluid continuum — spanning detox, residential, and every level of outpatient treatment — allows care to evolve seamlessly as a patient's needs change, without ever having to start over with a new provider.

Dr. Rose Yang brings deep clinical expertise to this process, having previously run the assessment program at The Menninger Clinic — one of the nation's most respected psychiatric institutions. Her leadership ensures every feedback session reflects the same rigor and individualized care Luna is built on.

Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to common questions about our treatment programs and care model.

Q1 What is a Comprehensive Assessment Program?

A Comprehensive Assessment Program evaluates a person’s medical, psychological, psychiatric, and emotional needs to help inform an individualized treatment plan.

Q2 What does a comprehensive psychological assessment include?

Psychological assessments may examine areas such as personality patterns, emotional regulation, cognitive functioning, and other factors relevant to an individual’s treatment needs.

Q3 What is a QEEG brain map used for?

A QEEG brain map examines patterns of brainwave activity. The information may be considered alongside other clinical assessments when developing an individualized treatment approach.

Q4 Does the assessment include a medical and psychiatric evaluation?

Yes. The program typically includes a medical evaluation and psychiatric assessment, which may involve medical history, physical examination, laboratory testing, symptom review, and medication considerations.

Q5 Will my assessment results affect my treatment plan?

Assessment findings may help the clinical team better understand your individual needs and inform recommendations for an appropriate treatment plan.

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