Alcohol Addiction Treatment Options

The Leadem Counseling & Consulting Services’s commitment to the provision of a comprehensive array of services has come from the breath of experience that we have accumulated in the treatment of addicted people and their loved ones. It is our aim to share in the design of your therapy program in a way that puts your needs first. The following modalities are available at each of our offices:

Individual Alcohol Addiction Counseling

Individual therapy is designed to provide analysis, direction, and support in a therapeutic relationship whose hallmark feature will be mutual respect and responsibility. We believe that a therapy session should be guided by the needs of the client and treatment plans are designed around the needs the client presents. The frequency of sessions and the duration of the therapy relationship are determined by the client. Our staff has an experiential orientation and a personal working knowledge of the 12 Steps. This combination ensures that sessions will focus on real life problems and solutions with numerous opportunities for clients to practice change outside of the therapy session.

Group Counseling for Alcohol Addiction

Group therapy provides a melting pot of personalities for each of the group’s members to develop skills needed to relate to a diverse population of people. As 12 Step oriented experiential therapists, our staff guides the group process through real life problems. Extensive training in Gestalt Therapy, Psychodrama, and Family Systems Dynamics combined with vast experience in the treatment of Addictive Disorders ensures that our recovering staff will bring a wide breadth and depth of skills to the treatment experience. Groups are generally designed as either closed ended which promotes optimum confidentiality and group cohesiveness since all group members will commit to weekly attendance for a predetermined period of time or as a treatment group that allows rolling admission.

Family Counseling for Alcohol Addiction

Effective family therapy must begin with the bonding of values between therapist and family members. Therapy should never dictate the values to which the family members must subscribe. When the values between therapist and family are incompatible then therapy cannot be successful. Our staff practice 12 Step oriented family therapy from a model that combines theories of natural and logical consequences with the spiritual principles of recovery used by 12 Step Groups. In this approach all family members share a responsibility for the upkeep of the family and responsibility for the quality of their respective relationships with other family members. Children are not permitted to disregard their responsibility for family’s well-being simply because they are “kids.” Likewise, parents are not permitted to avoid being held accountable by their children by hiding behind the “because I am the parent and I said so” rule.

Alcohol Addiction Counseling for Couples

The development and maintenance of a rewarding romantic relationship will involve an intense commitment to the 12 Steps and a willingness to address the challenges that each member has brought to the union. Our staff will work to assist the members in resolving immediate conflicts while working to uncover the antecedents to the current difficulty.

Alcohol Addiction Assessment

An assessment to determine if an individual is suffering with Alcoholism or some other form of Substance Dependency should involve a comprehensive investigation into the individual’s developmental relationship with mood-altering substances. The use of simple screening inventories should be avoided as it is far too easy for the dependent person to manipulate his/her answers. A comprehensive diagnostic assessment should include the following components:

Review of past/present medical history
Review of all previous records related to substance use treatment or education
Review of all records related to psychiatric or other mental health treatment
Review records or history related to involvement in the criminal justice system
Extensive interviews with significant others in the substance user’s life
In-depth review of individual’s historical use of mood-altering substances and the impact on all areas of functioning
Systematic review of potential symptoms as they relate to the DSM IV TR

Intervention Training in Counseling for Alcohol Addiction

While it is true that the chemically dependent person is the master of manipulation and a brilliant escape artist, a well-trained team of caring people can get through the wall of “denial” where individual efforts have failed. The following goals are appropriate expectations for an intervention:

Help the addictive person see the truth about the consequences of his/her use of mood altering chemicals or obsessive behavior and accept help.

Help the individual team members to develop strategies for living that serve to empower them to make changes in their lives that free them from the web created by addictive disorders.

Alcohol Addiction Counseling Aftercare Support

Our after-care support services are intended to provide therapeutic services to substance dependent people and their families who are completing residential treatment and require transition support to stabilize their early recovery efforts. The focus of aftercare support is primarily on bridging the gap to 12 Step Groups and developing a relapse prevention plan. Aftercare can be provided in individual, group, and family settings.

Parent/Child/Sibling Alcohol Addiction Counseling

In many families, recovery from addictive disorders is concentrated on the adult relationships that have been injured. It is unfortunate when parents believe that their children will get well as the adults recover. While it is true that the child living in addiction will enjoy a greater level of safety when his/her parent is in recovery, it is not true that children recover along with their parents. If your children have been forgotten, we can help. These services focus therapeutic support on the following issues:

Substance Dependency Education for School Age Children
Developing Insight Into the Ways In Which the Children Have Been Impacted By The Disease
Methods for Explaining Parental Involvement In a 12 Step Program
Methods for Rebuilding Trust
Parenting Through the 12 Steps