Forward Counseling & Consultation

When a person is exposed to a traumatic or stressful event, how they experience it greatly influences the long-lasting adverse effects of carrying the weight of the traumatic event(s).  Trauma involves exposure to a deeply distressing experience, such as death, serious injury, or violence. This can occur either through directly experiencing the traumatic event or witnessing it happen to others. Traumatic experiences can have a lasting impact on a person’s physical, emotional, and social well-being.  Several types of trauma disorders can develop as experience because of distressing experience.  Some of the most common trauma disorders include:

• Acute stress disorder
• Adjustment disorder
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD)
• Reactive attachment disorder (RAD)

Forward Counseling and Consultation (FCC) therapists specialize in treatment of trauma and stress related concerns and are trained in specific modalities to work with individuals in their journey of healing from experiences of traumatic events. FCC therapist will work with you on trauma stabilization, building skills and tools around management of symptoms while collaborating on best approaches to treatment and healing.

Individual and family therapy are an important part of substance use counseling and treatment for overall recovery. Forward Counseling and Consultation (FCC) therapists specialize in treatment of substance use and are all trained in treatment of co-occurring concerns; trauma, mental health and substance use and have experience working with medication assisted treatment, OWI assessments and driver safety plans, recovery groups and assisting individuals to transition to levels of care dependent on recovery needs. FCC staff provide outpatient substance use counseling and services for individual counseling, family therapy and recovery groups which allow the individual to cut down and/or stop substance use, build coping skills, increase distress tolerance, improve relationships and family systems, understand the relationship to substance use and change behaviors and/or lifestyle choices in addition to treatment any underlying and unresolved mental health and/or trauma concerns. 

Levels of Care for Substance Use Treatment

1. Inpatient (or outpatient) Detoxification
2. Inpatient Treatment (long-term: 60-90 days) (short-term: 10-30 days)
3. Outpatient Treatment (day treatment, intensive outpatient, general and/or non-intensive outpatient treatment) 
4. Support Groups, peer support, self-help

FCC focused on outpatient treatment in the form of individual therapy, couple and family therapy and therapeutic skills-based, recovery orientated groups.

Many people experience dissociation (dissociate) during their life.  If you dissociate you may feel disconnected from yourself and the world around, you.  When assessing for dissociation we need to look at the spectrum of dissociation, the level of distress and the individuals unique experience.  When dissociation involves problems with memory, identity, emotion, perception, behavior, and sense of self we look at what treatment options best fit the individual.   Dissociative symptoms can potentially disrupt every area of mental functioning.  Examples of dissociative symptoms include the experience of detachment or feeling as if one is outside, one’s body, and loss of memory or amnesia. Dissociative disorders are frequently associated with previous experience of trauma(s).  There are three types of dissociative disorders:

• Dissociative identity disorder
• Dissociative amnesia
• Depersonalization/derealization disorder

Forward Counseling and Consultation (FCC) therapists have extensive experience working with individuals who are experiencing dissociation on a spectrum. We will meet you were you are at to work on providing psychoeducation, skills and stabilization while working towards integration and healing.

Just as people experience grieving in different manners, there are also multiple ways to process our grief and express experiences of mourning. Grief therapy techniques offer varying approaches to dealing with loss. Depending on your experience, type of grief you are experiencing and whether it is traumatic grief, complicated or prolonged will determine next steps for healing and treatment. Grief represents the thoughts and feeling experienced following a loss and is a common and normal response. Grief includes an acute phase, which happens shortly after a loss which can include symptoms of sadness, longing to be with the person, thoughts and memories, anxiety and anger. If the feeling of grief do not lesson overtime this can be a sign of complicated grief. Complicated grief does not follow the normal pattern of grief and can prevent a person from healing and/or returning to usual functioning and can cause long-term distress. Mourning a loss can be an important, yet painful process of the bereavement process and can vary from person to person. The process of mourning allows a person to form long-term memories of a loved one, and includes adapting and learning new ways to carry on without a person they care deeply about.

Another form of grief which is often not discussed is disenfranchised grief which is generally grief that is not openly acknowledged, socially accepted or publicly mourned. Some examples of disenfranchised grief are loss of a loved one who is not blood related, perinatal losses, dementia, loss of safety, independence, loss of mobility or health, loss a pet, job or career, break up of long-term relationship, long-term illness and chronic pain.

We meet individuals were they are at in the grief process and allow space for all forms of grief and mourning which allows individuals to join in on the process of healing and recovery around their experience of loss.