Alpine Behavior Therapy — Post-Accident Behavioral Health in Fort Collins

Northern Colorado accident patients seen at CCC's Loveland clinic, or living in the Fort Collins, Greeley, or Loveland area, shouldn't have to make the drive to Denver for psychological care following an accident. Alpine Behavior Therapy in Fort Collins provides behavioral therapy, PTSD counseling, and anxiety treatment locally, keeping the psychological component of recovery accessible for northern Colorado patients.

The same psychological injury presentation that affects Denver metro accident survivors affects northern Colorado patients equally. The referral pathway is the same. The clinical care is local.

Provider Contact

Website: alpinebehaviortherapy.com Phone: 970-372-9987

What Alpine Behavior Therapy Offers

Behavioral Therapy

Behavioral therapy targets the observable patterns of behavior that psychological symptoms produce and uses structured, evidence-based techniques to change them. For car accident survivors, the behavioral manifestations are often the most limiting: avoidance of driving, restriction of social activities, withdrawal from work and family responsibilities, and disrupted routines.

Behavioral therapy addresses these patterns directly:

• Behavioral activation: For depression that reduces motivation and withdrawal from previously valued activities. Structured behavioral activation systematically re-engages patients with activities that provide meaning and positive reinforcement.
• Exposure-based approaches: For anxiety, PTSD, and driving phobia, gradual and systematic approach to feared situations reduces avoidance and restores function. Exposure is done in structured, supported steps, not all at once.
• Functional assessment: Documenting how psychological symptoms affect work capacity, daily activities, driving, and functional status. This assessment becomes part of your medical record.

PTSD Counseling

Evidence-based PTSD treatment using Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) and trauma-focused approaches designed for motor vehicle accident trauma. CPT specifically targets the "stuck points": trauma-related beliefs about safety, responsibility, power, and trust that maintain PTSD long after the traumatic event.

PTSD following a car accident is not a character flaw or a weakness. It's a neurological response to trauma: intrusive memories, hypervigilance, avoidance, emotional numbing that develops when the brain's threat-processing system remains activated after the danger has passed. CPT provides a structured path out.

Anxiety Treatment

Post-accident anxiety ranges from specific driving phobia to generalized anxiety about safety, the future, and the injury recovery process itself. Alpine Behavior Therapy addresses both through:

• Cognitive restructuring: Identifying and modifying the anxiety-maintaining thought patterns that car accident trauma produces. "I'm not safe in a car" and "my body is permanently broken" are cognitive distortions that anxiety amplifies; cognitive restructuring challenges them with evidence.
• Relaxation and grounding techniques: Practical skills for managing anxiety in the moment: breathing techniques, progressive muscle relaxation, grounding exercises that interrupt the anxiety response.
• Systematic desensitization: For driving phobia specifically, gradual re-exposure to driving situations in structured steps that build confidence and reduce avoidance without overwhelming the nervous system.

Functional Assessment and Documentation

Formal psychological assessment establishing the diagnosis, symptom severity, and functional impact of psychological injuries from the accident. This documentation is part of your medical record, the same way imaging reports and physical examination findings document physical injury.

Location

Alpine Behavior Therapy 1100 E. Horsetooth Rd., Suite 204, Fort Collins, CO 80525 (Serving northern Colorado including Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, and Windsor)

When CCC's Loveland Clinic Refers to Alpine Behavior Therapy

Your managing physician at CCC's Loveland clinic screens for psychological symptoms at every visit. Referral to Alpine Behavior Therapy occurs when:

• PTSD or anxiety symptoms are affecting daily function: Driving avoidance, intrusive memories, sleep disruption, hypervigilance, or emotional numbing that limits work, activities, or rehabilitation participation.
• Depression is interfering with physical recovery: Reduced motivation for physical therapy, missed appointments, withdrawal from activities, or mood changes that affect how fully you're engaging in your recovery.
• Geographic appropriateness: For Loveland-area patients, Alpine Behavior Therapy in Fort Collins is the appropriate psychology partner, keeping care in the northern Colorado area rather than requiring trips south to Denver.
• Documentation of psychological injury is needed: When formal psychological evaluation and diagnosis are indicated as part of the complete medical record.

How Psychological Care Integrates with Your Loveland Care Team

Alpine Behavior Therapy communicates directly with your managing physician at CCC's Loveland clinic. Treatment progress notes and evaluation findings return to your care team, coordinating psychological treatment with the physical rehabilitation timeline.

This communication ensures that your managing physician understands the psychological dimension of your recovery, and that your therapist understands what's happening with your physical treatment. The two tracks aren't separate; they're coordinated.

Frequently Asked Questions