Dr. Goschi's Blog

Opioid Crisis and Children

Posted on January 22, 2018 at 7:55 pm in Addiction Counseling Chicago, Depression Counseling Chicago, Family Counseling Chicago, Licensed clinical psychologist Chicago

The Opioid Crisis and Children

This month’s American Psychological Association’s journal “Monitor on Psychology” has an interesting article written by Lorna Collier on the population that is perhaps most profoundly affected by the opioid addiction in our country. Very often kids who grow up in families with one or both parents addicted to opioids often end up in foster homes. “Parental substance use was cited as a factor in about 32% of all foster placements, a rise of 10% from 2005” (Monitor on Psychology, January 2018).

Foster homes although sounding like a safe place for kids lead to further problems for children. These children often move through the system for years. Going from one home to another. The children in foster care may also be separated from their siblings. The “lucky” children stay in one home with foster parents who actually look after their interests and are willing to keep siblings together.

“Lucky” children from addicted households end up with families that grow to love them and eventually want to adopt the child(ren) if parents don’t recover. However, foster homes are not created equal. Some foster homes provide excellent care while others offer the bare minimum. I’ve heard and witnessed so many incidents with foster care children where they feel lost, abandoned and even abused setting them up for life long struggles.

How do we change this problem? Of course, we have to have better treatment for the opioid epidemic in our country. The article in “Monitor on Psychology” has some good ideas. They talk about how a child does far better when they stay with their parents even when those situations are highly dysfunctional. Instead, we should look for ways to provide the families counseling. Perhaps more active participation in the home through home visits and expecting parents to be engaged in active treatment. Children always do better when they stay with their family. Kids advance in life if they learn how to cope with the difficulties facing them at an early age through individual and family counseling. We should be providing them with empathy and warm, nurturing place to talk about their issues while teaching them how to self-advocate. Individual therapy can help these children grow into successful adults.

If you or a loved one is dealing with an opioid crisis please call Dr. Goschi for addictions counseling, individual counseling or family therapy at (312)595-1787. I’m here to help!

Keeping Our 2018 Resolutions

Posted on January 18, 2018 at 2:16 pm in Individual Coaching & Counseling, Individual Counseling, Licensed clinical psychologist Chicago, Relationship Issues Counseling

Keeping Our 2018 Resolutions

Every year many of us set resolutions on New Year’s Eve only to be broken within the first three weeks. What’s happening? Can it be that so many of us have absolutely no resolve to meet the goals that we set for ourselves? Are we just all quitters?

Hardly! Many of us set unrealistic goals that are impossible to meet. Rather we should look at setting more attainable objectives for ourselves. Also, celebrating small achievements that lead to ultimately getting us closer to our targets becomes ever more significant.

So, what to do? Look at the goals that we set. Make sure they aren’t “pie in the sky” ideas. Our desired destination should be attainable. For example, when it comes to weight loss look at what is realistic for you. Not so glamorous but far more reasonable. Let’s say that losing a pound a week can be a highly attainable goal. This would include making some healthy changes to your diet without the severe deprivation that some diets require.

Individual therapy can help you identify what changes need to be made in your life in order to realize your dreams. Whether it’s finding a new job, more balance in your life, to increasing your social contacts. Individual counseling can help you attain these goals by looking at the desired result and work backwards from there (Covey, 1990). Divide the process in to smaller attainable objectives which ideally get you closer to your bigger objective.

Celebrate each achievement you complete along the way. One mistake we often make is when we beat ourselves up for imperfect execution. Maybe we’ve not met one of the benchmarks that we’ve set up for ourselves. Thus, we end up devaluing ourselves as incapable of staying focused on the prize. Individual therapy teaches you to forgive yourself. Counseling helps you look at what interferes with your goal attainment and controls for that going forward. We sometimes learn the most about ourselves through examining our failures. Use your failures as moments for growth.

Good luck in the New Year and may you reach all of your goals. If you need help getting there or have discovered something about yourself that you would like to change don’t hesitate to call Dr. Goschi (312)595-1787 to schedule your individual counseling. I’m here to help!

Dealing with loss in the New Year

Posted on January 2, 2018 at 7:40 pm in Anxiety Counseling, Depression Counseling Chicago, Individual Coaching & Counseling, Individual Counseling, Relationship Issues Counseling, Seasonal Affective Disorder

Dealing with loss in the New Year

Having lost someone in 2017 shapes the way we view the New Year.  We view everything through the lense of loss.  Rather than looking forward to upcoming events we see these functions as sorrowful, even meaningless.  “It’s the first celebration without them.”  Which, of course, diminishes the occasion. 

Feelings of sadness, anger, denial, isolation and sometimes guilt rule our days.  While experiencing these painful emotions can help us move through the grief process we need appropriate outlets so we don’t get stuck in any one of these stages (Kubler-Ross, 1969).  We want to eventually get to a place of acceptance so we can heal and once again tolerate positive emotions.  Guilt over feeling happy can interfere with our receptivity to love and support from others.  Try to open yourself to others kind works and gestures of love.

Normalizing your life helps you get beyond the grief.  Fill your life with plenty of positive activities.  Partaking in exercise, work, dinners with family move us forward.  Look for those situations that allow you to find balance between felling, self-expression and acceptance.  If we dwell only on the loss this keeps us stuck in the process of grieving.

Allow yourself to feel.  We move through various emotions while grieving.  Not surprisingly we feel sad one day and perhaps angry the next.  Embrace the fact that while grieving we feel many complex emotions which constantly fluctuate.

Don’t hesitate to call friends who can offer an empathic ear.  People worry that reaching out too often will burden their relationships.  True intimate relationships have a large capacity for love and empathy.  If you experience rejection when attempting to reach out then you probably need to assess the health of your friendships.

Lastly, be kind to yourself in 2018.   You will find your way out of the emotional fog.  Be patient it takes time to heal.  If you need more help don’t hesitate to call!  Dr. Goschi is here to help (312)595-1787.