Empathy, Transformation, and Connection in Counseling

Journey to Becoming a Specialized Counselor

My journey to be in this field started even before I knew I was on that journey. As many of us, I spent my life caring for and witnessing an uncle struggling with addiction during his whole life. I was keenly aware of how much his addiction affected not only him but the whole family. Initially, I avoided working with addictions because I thought that no one could change them—he died from complications of chronic use and I remember him crying and saying that he wanted to stop using. And as many in general population, I did not understand why he couldn’t just stop. When I started practicing in the field, I started working with people struggling with substances use disorders and, to my surprise at that time, they transformed their lives and successfully sustained recovery. That’s when I experience the most joyful feeling I had ever felt in my profession. Seeing someone transform their lives completely gave me hope that others could do it as well and gave me the utmost respect for people in recovery. I started to see that this population would come back to my office, give positive feedback, and be grateful for walking with them during their journey of recovery. That’s when I realized that I was good at that and then I decided to specialize in it. Fast-forward, Millennium Counseling specializes in an individualized treatment approach to addiction, one that caters to the needs of the individual and respects individual pathways to recovery. And that aligned with my views on recovery. We often see treatment approaches that, due to funding and manualized treatments, offer a cookie-cutter type of treatment without integrating the individual necessities of the client into the process. Although there are many benefits for it depending on their stage of recovery, they benefit from having agency into their own treatment.

Balancing Personalization and Counseling Consistency

I do not know if a consistent counseling approach exists, as we tailor it to the clients’ needs and each person interacts with us differently. You can say that I am consistent in the way I am as a person and as a counselor and that influence my counseling approach. I consistently try to maintain hope in and for my clients when their hope is shrinking after many unsuccessful attempts to recover. I see them all as someone valid and important despite their struggles with addiction and because of their resilience and strength in living with addiction. I admire them. I listen to what they are trying to do and want in their lives. I consider the sociocultural aspects that involve addiction, not just themselves. I see mental illnesses and addictions as significantly dependent on the context, and the way I personalize my care is by paying attention to the context in which their disorders emerged and, in turn, the context in which their disorders subside. I then try to tailor my approach to align with the context through which they have experienced health. Research has shown how addiction should be called a connection disorder. Johan Hari says, “The opposite of addiction is not abstinence, the opposite of addiction is connection.” And people in recovery can find connection in other people, purpose, communities, ancestors, common goals and ideas, or spirituality. So, consistently, I address sociocultural contexts in treatment.

Effective Therapeutic Methods for Lasting Recovery

I’ve found that understanding how dominant discourses of society benefit from their addiction is helpful in liberating people from engaging with substances in an addictive manner. In addition, helping them understand their brain and destigmatizing them. They often come with a lot of shame and guilt for living with addiction due to adherence to the moral discourse of addiction. This leads to relapse and worsening of the symptoms. I also find it effective to help them learn to slow down and reconnect with themselves and the world. I say that as long as you are learning about yourself, you are in recovery and that resonates with them.

As far as counseling theories, I use psychodynamic integrated with social justice theories to understand human beings and dysfunctions, so I conduct inner child work, use insight-based techniques, and some cognitive-behavioral techniques that align with this conceptualization. However, I am attuned to how they respond to my initial method and readjust it depending on their feedback. Some people might not be ready yet for deeper work and might need more directive methods and that’s o

Evolution of Counseling and Millennium’s Adaptation

Nowadays, we have seen increased professionalization but reduced regulation of the field (i.e., peer recovery, peer support, minimal education to get a certificate). Although it is important to have peer support easily accessible to them, the lack of regularization and oversight can be dangerous. People in vulnerable state of mind are more susceptible to influences and for professional to not have accountability is risky. To one side, the evolution is that more grassroot professionals and organizations are available that help reduce the stigma of seeking help and allow people to access help for no to no cost, on the other hand, the client needs to be careful with the type of help they are receiving. Millennium Counseling is aware of this and constantly updates clinicians on the trends and needs of the field, one of the owner of MC is also in recovery and aware of the benefits of peer’s involvement in recovery but also aware of its risks. We reinforce partnership and referrals while checking with our clients and directly collaborating with outside providers. Partnership is extremely important. We need to be humble to understand and accept that we don’t own the field, and we might not be sufficient for many people; therefore, referring to and collaborating with different providers is key to address the individual’s needs.

Advice for Future Mental Health Professionals

You need to be passionate about this field to be successful. Mental health, especially the addiction field, encounters many social, political and economic barriers that can lead to burnout. My advice for those who want it is to find like-minded people to talk to and get exposed to people who have had success in their recovery. It can feel lonely at times, but having people who understand, support, and share the same passion for helping people reminds us that we are not alone in this. This is key to maintaining our hope in the field and preventing burnout.