A professional addiction counseling service for individuals and their families who are ready to make a change.
Depending on the client and the situation, I do borrow perspectives and techniques from other well-established counseling theories. To name a few:
Solution-focused. People generally seek out counseling with an immediate need to alleviate some current, on-going stressor.
This therapy essentially:
assesses where you are
reviews your values and goals
develops an action plan for achieving a more satisfying life that reflects your true values.
This therapy is generally targeted, time-limited, and operates largely on a behavioral basis. i.e. What are you going to do about your problem?
Motivational interviewing is designed to identify a person's resources and motivation for change.
This theoretic style:
enhances innate motivation for change by exploring and resolving ambivalence (decision-making paralysis/inability to make a choice)
attempts to free clients from the ambivalence that entraps them in repetitive cycles of self-defeating or self-destructive behavior
helps clients to recognize the discrepancy between present behavior and important goals, values, and/or principles.
Cognitive-behavioral theory helps clients better understand the connection between how they monitor and instruct themselves and interpret events and how they feel and act.
This insight-focused therapy:
emphasizes challenging and changing mistaken notions, faulty assumptions, irrational thoughts, and maladaptive beliefs
suggests that a person's painful feelings and questionable behaviors are largely the result of his/her choice of thoughts
and further postulates that a change in how you think about a particular subject…results in a change of feelings and behaviors in response to that different outlook.
The Greek philosopher Plato theorized as far back as his lifetime (429-347 B.C.) that:
powerful emotional forces have the potential to overwhelm a person's everyday behavior
conflicts exist between different parts of the psyche, accounting for the dissonance that often arises between a person's rational side (desired) and the surge of emotional feelings
mental disorders do not result from simple ignorance, but from irrational superstitions, erroneous beliefs, and faulty cognitions.
Reality therapy is largely behavioral in its approach, challenging clients to evaluate what they are doing and whether their behavior is fulfilling their basic needs (belonging, power, freedom, fun, physical survival) without harming themselves or others.
This theory proposes that:
people have freedom to make choices, and then must contend with the subsequent responsibilities that result from those choices
behavior is in fact all-encompassing of the acts of doing, thinking, feeling, and physically being, meaning clients are responsible for choosing not only what they are doing but also what they are thinking, feeling, and experiencing physically
clients focus on what they are able and willing to do in the present to change their behavior.
Emphasized are the client's self-evaluation, a plan of action, and a commitment to change (following through).
Existential therapy is a process of searching for value and meaning in life.
This approach:
emphasizes our freedom to choose what to make of our circumstances
is grounded on the assumption that we are living in a free society and therefore responsible for our choices and actions
stands on the premise that we are not victims of circumstance, because to a large extent we are what we choose to be.
The therapist's task is to encourage clients to explore their options for creating a meaningful existence.
Family systems approach views the family from an interactive and systemic perspective, which sees an individual's dysfunctional behavior as a manifestation of dysfunctional behavior within the system or as affecting the system negatively.
This view stresses the importance of addressing all parts of a system if positive change is to take place and be maintained. Virginia Satir's rules and roles within a family are explored, as well as ineffective and/or non-existent communication patterns. Individuals are always seen as parts of a whole (family unit), rather than as identified patients, separate and distinct.
Most relapses back to chemical use will occur in the first six months following treatment. The Continuing Care Program is a 25-session program that provides support, education, and coping skills during this critical period.
Experience has shown that simply stopping chemical use is not enough. Only the First Step is about chemical use. The rest of the Steps are about changing your life and building a spiritual nature. You will be returning home to a life where chemical use may have been a "normal" event. You may be faced with many of the problems you had when you left for treatment - legal, financial, emotional, family, relationships, or employment. Your Continuing Care group will help you with this adjustment.
Your Continuing Care group is a support group for you. Group is typically two hours in length, and meets once each week. It is not a self-help group like AA or NA. It is a group where you, your continuing care LCDC counselor, and other group members will work on:
Is for clients whom have completed individual therapy and/or continual therapy and want to continue to have an accountability professional services.
Recovery Coaching is an ongoing professional relationship that helps folks who are in or who are considering recovery from addiction to produce extraordinary results in their lives, careers, businesses, or organizations—while advancing their recovery from addiction.
Recovery Coaches affirm that there is innate health and wellness in each of our clients. We hold our clients creative and resourceful. We do not promote or endorse any single or particular way of achieving or maintaining sobriety, abstinence, or serenity or of reducing suffering from addiction. Our focus is on coaching our clients to create and sustain great and meaningful lives.
Through the process of Recovery Coaching, clients deepen their learning, improve their performance, and enhance their quality of life. In each meeting, the client chooses the focus of conversation, while the coach listens and contributes observations and questions. This interaction creates clarity and moves the client toward action. Recovery Coaching accelerates the client's progress in recovery by providing greater focus and awareness of choices, actions, and responsibility. Coaching concentrates on where clients are now and what they are willing to do to enjoy a better tomorrow.
Dr. Punjabi in Northwest Austin, Texas
RJ García is a Central Texan with over twenty years of serving the recovery community. RJ earned a Master of Arts in Addiction Counseling from the world-renowned Hazelden Graduate School of Addiction Studies at the Center City, Minnesota alcohol and drug addiction treatment center. HGSAS offered a unique curriculum that integrates theory, science and clinical practice. RJ is a current member of the American Counseling Association. And a 2010 winner of the ACA Foundation's Graduate Student Essay Competition. RJ is bilingual speaks both English and Spanish.
RJ has a special blend of experience in addiction services, education and development, business development and public health expertise. RJ has a unique ability to work with a variety of life experiences and work closely with you to define a collaborative treatment approach. RJ is familiar with several in-patient and outpatient services to assist you with issues that are beyond services offered.
RJ will work with you as an addiction therapist along with a physician/psychiatrist and/or counselor so that services are designed for you to assure continuity of care.
RJ is a practitioner who strives daily to help to people who have recently completed primary treatment and are transitioning back into everyday home and work life. Some of the difficulties treated include:
HAZELDEN
Daily Meditations for Women
Food for Thought
Daily Meditations for Overeaters
Language of Letting Go
Daily Meditations on Codependency
Today's Gift
Daily Meditations for Families
Touchstones
Daily Meditations for Men
Twenty-Four Hours a Day
The Little Black Book