Counseling Substance Abuse

Leadem Counseling & Consulting Services believes that Alcoholism and other forms of Substance Dependency represent the single greatest threat to an individual's physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. It matters little whether you are the addicted person or someone who cares about one. The devastating cost to the human quality of life has moved addiction to the position of the nation's number one health problem. We are prepared to help you and those you love develop a sober and fulfilling life style through comprehensive Counseling for Substance Abuse. A service for Counseling Substance Abuse should consider all possible addictive disorders, not merely those problems that warrant Substance Abuse Counseling.

Alcoholism Defined *

Alcoholism is a primary, chronic disease with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. The disease is often progressive and fatal. It is characterized by continuous or periodic: impaired control over drinking, preoccupation with the drug alcohol, use of alcohol despite adverse consequences, and distortions in thinking, most notably denial.

• Primary refers to the nature of alcoholism as a disease entity in addition to and separate from other pathophysiologic states which may be associated with it and suggests that alcoholism, as an addiction, is not a symptom of an underlying disease state.
• Disease means an involuntary disability. It represents the sum of the abnormal phenomena displayed by a group of individuals. These phenomena are associated with a specified common set of characteristics by which these individuals differ from the norm, and which places them at a disadvantage.
• Often progressive and fatal means that the disease persists over time and that physical, emotional, and social changes are often cumulative and may progress as drinking continues. Alcoholism causes premature death through overdose, organic complications involving the brain, liver, heart and many other organs, and by contributing to suicide, homicide, motor vehicle crashes, and other traumatic events.
• Impaired control means the inability to limit alcohol use or to consistently limit on any drinking occasion the duration of the episode, the quantity consumed, and/or the behavioral consequences of drinking.
• Preoccupation in association with alcohol use indicates excessive, focused attention given to the drug alcohol, its effects, and/or its use. The relative value thus assigned to alcohol by the individual often leads to a diversion of energies away from important life concerns.
• Adverse consequences are alcohol-related problems or impairments in such areas as: physical health (e.g., alcohol withdrawal syndromes, liver disease, gastritis, anemia, neurological disorders); psychological functioning (e.g., impairments in cognition, changes in mood and behavior); interpersonal functioning (e.g., marital problems and child abuse, impaired social relationships); occupational functioning (e.g., scholastic or job problems); and legal, financial, or spiritual problems.
• Denial is used here not only in the psychoanalytic sense of a single psychological defense mechanism disavowing the significance of events, but more broadly to include a range of psychological maneuvers designed to reduce awareness of the fact that alcohol use is the cause of an individual's problems rather than a solution to those problems. Denial becomes an integral part of the disease and a major obstacle to recovery.

Approved by the Boards of Directors of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (February 3, 1990) and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (February 25, 1990). This definition was prepared by the Joint Committee to Study the Definition and Criteria for the Diagnosis of Alcoholism of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence and the American Society of Addiction Medicine

Areas of Focus

Leadem Counseling & Consulting Services offers private and confidential counseling services to individuals and families whose lives have been touched by Alcoholism or other forms of Substance Dependency. This page highlights some of the areas of counseling focus in which our clients have usually expressed interest in.

• Practicing The Principles Of 12 Step Recovery In All Our Affairs
• Healing A Troubled Marriage through Counseling for Substance Abuse
• Developing and Maintaining Intimate Friendships And Romantic Relationships
• Completion Of Specific Steps In The Recovery Process with the help of Counseling Substance Abuse
• Improving Troubled Relationships With Our Children
• Helping A Loved One Get Help For Their Problem
• Navigating The Spiritual Desert
• Detachment With Love with the help of Substance Abuse Counseling
• Improving Communication
• Understanding Parental Alcoholism
• Rising Above Co-Dependency
• Working With At-Risk Teens
• Parent Coaching Using The 12 Steps

Treatment Options

The Leadem Counseling & Consulting Services is 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 Substance Abuse 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 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 Substance Abuse

  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 closed ended which promotes optimum confidentiality and group cohesiveness since all group members will commit to weekly attendance for a predetermined period of time. Once group begins, no new members will be admitted to the group until graduation.

• Family Counseling for Substance Abuse

  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 can not be successful. Our staff practice 12 Step oriented family therapy from an model which 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.

• Substance Abuse Counseling for Couple's

  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.

• Substance Dependency Assessment in Substance Abuse Counseling

  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 Substance Abuse
  

  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.
• Substance Abuse 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 Substance Abuse 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

Self-Help Resources

12 Step Guides & Books

John & Elaine Leadem are pleased to present the first of their 12-Step Guides to recovery: Feeling Guide Through A Personal Inventory - 4th Step Guide

Many other books to aid you in your journey may be found in our Self-Help Store.

Support Groups

We encourage you to visit our Links Page for 12-Step Support Groups and further addiction and recovery information.