Addiction and Harm Reduction Counseling

We understand how difficult it can be to identify a problem and seek help. That's why we offer counseling services tailored specifically to your needs. You're not alone in this, and we're here to help you every step of the way.

“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” - Fred Devito

What is Addiction?

Addiction is when you have tried to stop or reduce use without success and you cannot stop irregardless of any possible consequences. Addiction is a powerful adversary that wants and will be the center of one’s life satisfying harmful and destructive behaviors at the cost of that individual. Addiction is cunning, deceptive, and its ultimate objective is to run your life into the ground. Break the lies and bounds of addiction by joining the fight to fight daily to overcome.

A licensed chemical dependency counselor (LCDC) is trained to assist individuals and families struggling with substance abuse disorders (alcohol and drugs). We educate individuals to better understand addiction and its problematic emotional, physical, and psychological affects. LCDC’s motivate individuals through the stages of change to determine one’s readiness for therapy. Additionally, initial evaluations are conducted to determine an individual’s scope and severity of their substance abuse issues and history. Moreover, LCDC’s play a vital role in providing guidance and emotional support to individuals as they walk the road of sobriety or harm reduction. Clients and clinicians develop an effective and achievable treatment plan to foster their desired goals of recovery or harm reduction. Therapy will assist individuals in developing healthy coping mechanism, trigger identification, and obstacles and situations that can hinder their recovery journey. Lastly, LCDC’s encourage individuals to keep working and fighting to maintain and achieve a better lifestyle and you.

The Stages of Change

Stage One: Precontemplation

At this stage, a person is not likely to respond positively to anyone (family or professional) being confronted or demanding change.

  • Total resistance to doing anything
  • No willingness to meet, talk to a professional or get assessed
  • Angry at any indication from another that there is a problem
  • Blaming others
  • “Everything is okay” statements
  • Willingness to work on other things, but not the specific problem
  • Refuse to let a professional in and work with him/her
  • Lack of awareness

Stage Two: Contemplation

Once the person has some awareness of the problem, then the person enters the stage called Contemplation. It is an ambivalent state where the individual considers change and rejects it. If allowed to talk about it, the person goes back and forth about the need to change without justification.

  • Saying one thing, doing another
  • Rationalizing, minimizing
  • Anxiety rises while trying some things that do not work
  • Both talking about change and arguing against it

Stage Three: Preparation

The person is ready to change. This is a window of opportunity when the person resolves the ambivalence enough to look at making change.

  • Admitting the need for change
  • Accepting negative ramifications of their behavior
  • Asking for help
  • Starting to look at alternatives

Stage Four: Action

The person engages in particular actions that intend to bring about change.

  • Starting to work out a plan
  • Making changes in behavior
  • Asking for professional help, or using professional help to make their plan more successful

Stage Five: Maintenance

The person identifies and implements strategies to maintain progress and to reduce the likelihood of slips or full relapse into old behaviors.

  • Making the long-term life changes needed to “actualize” the changes made in the action stage
  • Focusing less on refraining from old behavior and more on a “recovery” lifestyle

Stage Six: Relapse

The person has a slip or returns to behavior at a level higher than acceptable to either the person or family. At times, the person might slip and not regard it as serious enough to be concerned, yet someone may be at risk. A professional needs to help the person holistically look at the situation.

  • Repeating behavior that they are trying to change
  • Engaging in different but equally problematic behavior.
  • Feeling shame about behavior

You can find the original source for this information here.

 

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