About Therapy

Family counseling is often sought due to a life change or stress negatively affecting one or all areas of family closeness, family structure (rules and roles) or communication style. This mode of counseling can take a variety of forms. Sometimes it is best to see an entire family together for several sessions.  And other sessions may just include 1 or 2 family members at a time.  Common issues addressed in family counseling are concerns around parenting, sibling conflict, loss of family members, new members entering the family, dealing with a major move or a general change affecting the family system. 

Grief is…

“… a reaction to any form of loss… [that] encompass a range of feelings from deep sadness to anger, and the process of adapting to a significant loss can vary dramatically from one person to another, depending on his or her background, beliefs, relationship to what was lost, and other factors.”
(Mastrangelo & Wood, 2016)

Although you may be most familiar with the idea of grief as a response to the death of a loved one, the definition here is much broader: “… a reaction to any form of loss”.  Thus, grief is something that can be experienced in a wide range of situations, including the death of a loved one or pet, divorce or the dissolution of a marriage, estrangement or abandonment from or with a family member, and any other kind of significant loss.

Grief counseling is intended to help the client grieve in a healthy manner, to understand and cope with the emotions they experience, and to ultimately progress on with confidence in understanding the changed you.

Addiction counselors will generally use several clinical tools and screening methods in order to provide the ideal treatment and steps towards helping you fight your addiction.  Addictions can include but are not limited too; alcohol, drug abuse, pornography, over-eating, and any other addiction that consumes your thoughts or actions and limits you from connecting to others and prevents regular healthy daily living. Although addictions are sometimes rooted in identical situations, they are still very different. This is because each individual is unique in the way they critically think due to their environmental upbringing and culture. Family and loved ones are encouraged to aid in the process to support their loved one while receiving addictions counseling.  And although difficult for the client to hear, family members can provide the closest and most accurate personal insight to the individual, as well as information on how the addiction has affected the clients’ close family members and friends.

The longer one waits to seek professional help in dealing with an addiction the harder it will become.  As time progresses without help; medical, mental, and psychological disorders begin to develop over time with continued use of the addiction.

When an addict enters into a recovery treatment therapy program, they can expect the following services from their addiction counselor.

• An initial patient screening and evaluation to determine the patient’s needs.
• An orientation session with the addiction counselor to define the counseling regulations and rules.
• An evaluation to help personalize and focus the type of therapy treatment.
• A comprehensive treatment plan and schedule to define the patient’s needed outcomes and measurable goals.