“Recovery rates were not good enough. So we built something that could be there when the therapist can’t.”
—Dr. Jarrod Reisweber, Clinical Psychologist, VCU

The Retreat That Follows You Home

When Dr. Jarrod Reisweber talks about addiction treatment in America, he doesn’t wear rose-colored glasses.

“Some recovery rates are as low as 4%,” he says. “What we have is not good enough.”

A clinical psychologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, Reisweber works closely with the Veterans Health Administration. He has spent much of his career treating people who return from service to lives still full of battles: trauma, depression and substance use. What troubled him wasn’t any lack of compassion — it was the limited methods for delivering support. Therapy happened at 2 p.m. on a Tuesday. Cravings and triggers did not.

“Daily life can be loud, crowded, stressful and chaotic,” he says. “And your therapist can’t always be there. So we asked, what if the support could always be there?”

The answer became The Retreat.

Round-the-Clock Support 

The Retreat, formally called Transcending Self Therapy (TST), is a virtual world to support recovery. Patients put on a VR headset and find themselves at a lakeside cabin surrounded by calm and quiet. Inside this world, they take guided sessions led by Reisweber himself — learning to breathe through cravings, observe thoughts, and connect with others in recovery.

“It’s not meant to replace therapy,” he says. “It’s meant to extend it. To be there at 2 a.m. when the trigger shows up.”

In other words, real life is unpredictable. Support for recovery needs to be portable — and available 24/7.

The VCU Difference

“At VCU, every time I had an idea, there was space for it to breathe,” Reisweber says. “I came from an Ivy League institution. Great place. But here, there’s a spirit of ‘let’s figure it out.’”

That mindset, paired with support from VCU’s Office of Innovation and Research, helped move his idea from concept to product. What started as a novel approach inside the Veterans Health Administration is now being studied, refined and prepared for wider use.

“It’s VCU taking on something the field wasn’t solving fast enough,” he says.

Built for Veterans, Scaled for Everyone

The Retreat began with veterans. Reisweber noticed that when he arrived at his hospital system that there wasn’t any evidence informing open group protocols for substance misuse designed to address the whole person. 

“With the help of VCU and VA Innovation programs, we built one,” he says.

With VCU’s help, Transcending Self Therapy became both an individual and group program, complete with patient manuals and facilitator guides. Research soon followed — and the results were striking. Patients using TST showed recovery rates two to three times higher than standard treatment. Depression dropped. Relapse rates fell. More patients completed care.

Still, the question remained: “Those gains happen in session,” Reisweber says. “What happens at home? What happens when it’s the middle of the night and someone is triggered?”

VR became the next evolution.

Unavailable? Send The Retreat

“Addiction is a horrible disease,” he says. “And it strikes at the most inconvenient times.”

Now, with a VR headset, patients can enter a calming virtual space any time they need it. They can listen, learn and practice coping skills on demand. It’s a way to extend therapy’s reach — and make care more equitable.

A veteran in residential treatment can use it. A patient in rural Virginia can use it. A person too embarrassed to walk back into a clinic can use it.

“In VR, we can be there when the human therapist can’t,” he says. “That’s the power.”

His Care Runs Deep

Reisweber’s commitment to addiction recovery is personal. He’s lost family to addiction and seen its ripple effects firsthand.

His grandfather, a World War II bomber pilot, came home without the kind of treatment options available today. “I wish that treatments like the ones we’re developing at VCU were available,” he says.

That perspective drives him. “Having seen what addiction can do to a family,” he says, “you don’t accept 4% recovery rates. You build something better.”

The Future Is Unlimited

Reisweber admits he doesn’t know exactly where this work will go next — but he knows it’s only beginning. Clinical trials are underway. Expansion beyond veterans is planned. And more VR environments are already in development.

The mission remains the same: Reach people where they are and make recovery possible.

“What I do know,” he says, “is that we’ll keep pushing for treatments that fit real lives.”

That is the heart of VCU’s uncommon spirit — not innovation for its own sake, but innovation that meets people at their hardest moments.

 Proof that even in virtual worlds, VCU’s impact is undeniably real.

As a top 20% global university, Virginia Commonwealth University is an unparalleled powerhouse of innovation and creative problem solving. VCU attacks challenges as opportunities to do what others can’t. Or won’t. It’s truly a university unlike any you’ve ever seen.