Counseling for Substance Abuse in Fairfield, Connecticut

At ND Counseling for Hope and Growth, LLC, we help patients who need counseling for substance abuse. From our location in Darien, Connecticut, we'll help you on the road to recovery. Learn about who we are and how we help here. 

As a licensed counselor who is in long term recovery from opioid dependence, this practice brings compassion and understanding to our substance abuse clients. We understand the emotional toll that addiction takes on the individual and the family. The stigma and secrecy that surround addiction keep people in the shadows where the addiction does more damage. Our clinicians have worked in inpatient rehabilitation programs, intensive outpatient programs, inner city faith missions, private sober houses, and private practice. We bring excellence in treating addiction and connection to sober resources. If you are a parent of an individual struggling with addiction in Fairfield county, please email me for information about the weekly New Canaan Parent Support or to set up an appointment. Family support and connecting with people with the same experience can be life changing.

It is normal for people who are struggling with an uncomfortable mental state to seek relief from their turmoil. It is healthy and proactive to seek relief. It is important to have compassion for the reason someone is drug seeking. Oftentimes it is anxiety, depression, or boredom that lead us to self-medicate with legal medications like Xanax and Adderall, Alcohol, and illegal substances such as Cocaine and Heroin. The dilemma of the addicted person is that often the substance works very well for a short time. It floods their brain with euphoric feelings and sometimes makes them feel more comfortable than they have ever been. The problem occurs when the parts of their brain that manufacture good feelings are taken offline because of the presence of the outside drug. Over time our natural brain centers become less and less active, making us entirely dependent on the foreign substance. Simultaneously the person achieves tolerance, requiring more of the substance to be ingested to feel relief. The effect of good feelings caused by the drug continues to decrease and usually consequences from the drug seeking become more and more apparent. These can be health effects that impact diet and sleep or more severe such as seizures or Cirrhosis of the liver. Caring about the drug becomes the priority while the job, family, and social connections are neglected. In extreme cases the drug becomes the sole focus of life.

A person in extreme substance use is not rational. The parts of our brain that enable logic and judgment are bypassed by rewarding drugs such as alcohol and cocaine. By stimulating our reward center they gradually decrease the control of our frontal cortex until we are driven purely by reward seeking behavior. Our logic and reason become less and less involved in our decisions. To use a car analogy, it is all gas and no brakes. This is why attempting to use reason with an addicted person is so difficult. Despite that, we know the real person is trapped inside and wants to get help. We use professionals and resources to help mobilize the part of the person who wants help and strengthen them against the drive of the addiction, to even the playing field.

Our clinicians use a variety of proven counseling styles to form a relationship with the self that wants help. This is the same person who sought the drug as a way to deal with their pain. We do not judge or blame this person. We work to build inner strength and install constructive ways to deal with the pain that drives substance use. Using an individualized team approach with family, psychiatrists, and sober coaches, we work to overcome the ambivalence so common in addiction. We work with passion and skill to guide people out of the chaos, loneliness, and destruction of addiction into a happy and fulfilled life with their loved ones.