Counselling & Coaching at A Good Place
Finding Yours Together
Counselling & Coaching at A Good Place
Finding Yours Together
Welcome
Dave Anthony BAL RTC CAC CCP
Welcome. My name is Dave Anthony. I am a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor, Certified Addictions Therapist & Intervention Developer. While I specialize in addiction, anxiety, and depression, I am able to work with you on many subjects, and challenges you are facing. I am also a Certified Executive, Career & Personal Coach.
Prior to completing my education in the field of Mental Health Counselling, and Personal Coaching I studied Leadership, and Psychology extensively. I graduated with distinction from Trinity Western University.
Before beginning my journey into university, and the counselling & coaching world; I worked in the hospitality industry for over twenty years. I have enjoyed my roles as a head chef, corporate-product development chef, and finally as a restaurant owner.
Both my former, and current career have been rooted in being of service to people, and my community. As a chef, creating memorable dining experiences for my guests was my goal. In recent years, my goal has been to create a safe, comfortable, and open space for my clients as we work together to find their good place.
Treatment
A counsellor is not a ‘mechanic’ working to ‘fix’ you. I believe counsellors are co-pilots travelling alongside of you on the journey of your design reaching a destination of improved physical, and emotional wellbeing.
The relationship we will build is an alliance. This partnership is forged over time, and based on mutual trust, and respect.
For my part, as your counsellor, I will work with you to help you understand the symptoms which are keeping you outside of your good place, and interfering with you living a life you love.
What is Trauma?
Trauma, is the result of directly experiencing or being a witness to a physical, or emotional event which leaves bruising in our minds, and often our physical bodies. I am a trauma informed counsellor, which means I focus on how trauma exists in the present for you, and how to move forward.
Whether, you are in addiction, recovery, or suffering from any traumatic event, the first step is to ask for help. If you are reading this, you have already taken action towards recovery, healing, and improved health.
'Cleo'
I have a counselling partner! She is an 11-year-old shorthair Mexican rescue dog named, 'Cleo'. Cleo is a blend of the best pieces from many breeds. I call her my Spanish Beach Hound. She is gentle, and an extremely friendly, friend. She will be happy to make a new friend in you too.
If you prefer for Cleo to be absent during our sessions she has her 'Dogs' in the neighbourhood to visit while you are visiting me. She won't be offended, and neither will I. Let me know ahead of time, and I will make arrangements for her.
How We Do It
Asking for help takes courage. Living in the present, and working on your plan to realize a fulfilling future is our focus. You are the expert on ‘you’. I am a visitor on a tour of your life with you as the guide. While I specialize in addiction, anxiety, and depression, I am able to work with you on any subject, and challenge you are facing.
The Existential Method of therapy focuses on finding the meaning, and purpose in one's life. We will find a way to find yours. Life in the present, while looking forward can be the key to success. I will be happy to join you on the road to reaching your happy destiny.
If you are struggling with addiction, no doubt the substance fills a void in your life. Replacing substance use with a 'purpose', can lead to the realization of your meaning.
My Clients
Teenagers (Grade Seven & Higher)
Adults & Couples
Elders
I welcome any person belonging to any culture, race, creed, religion, denomination, orientation, or gender. I am able to work with you on any subject, and challenge you are facing.
While I do not work with children under the age of 12, I do have wonderful colleagues whose focus is on young children. I would be delighted to refer you to one of these skilled therapists.
Veterans | First Responders & Healthcare Workers
Throughout my education & training, my mentor has been a Retired Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Marine Corps. He is a master of trauma reduction & recovery, and has given me three years of extensive training in this area of therapy. I am comfortable working with veterans, as well as active members of the armed forces, first responders, and front-line healthcare workers.
I offer a reduced fee schedule for these clients, which is detailed in the 'Counselling Fees' section below.
Methods of Treatment
Existential – Cognitive Behavioural – Gestalt – Client Centred (Rogerian) – Faith Based - Group – Couples – Psychodynamic – Interpersonal - Traumatic Incident Reduction (T.I.R.)
This is a lot to digest, and maybe a little overwhelming too. Regardless of method, we are simply having an ongoing conversation with the goal being your improved overall health. We will develop some exercises, and techniques to improve your daily life. Additionally, we will create specific, measurable, and attainable goals to work towards.
Coaching at a Glance
Simply put a coach is a supporting-guide or co-pilot for the client. Coaches assist clients as they masterfully transition from where they are to where they want to be.
Coaches provide support in achieving a goal or to overcome a hurdle(s). Working with a coach will cause the client to unlock potential, achieve success, and build confidence.
Coaches train their clients on thought conditioning & reframing. How to manage mood, beliefs, and expectations to align with intentions will result in focused energy, and consistent flow of progression through the game plan.
Together we will build a new foundation for change, improved health, and new opportunity as we build a path to a new beginning.
Executive, Career & Personal Coaching Goals Are:
- To move ahead professionally and personally
- To learn strategies and ideas to increase overall productivity
- To integrate a structured system to facilitate setting, and achieving goals
- To achieve more balance between work, and home life
- To reach important career or personal goals
- To learn how to live with more focus, meaning, and purpose
- To receive open, direct, honest feedback that is objective, and constructive
- To learn how to identify, and correct negative beliefs and habits that sabotage success
- To identify, and maximize strengths, and minimize weaknesses
- To achieve, and maintain focus to move toward goals
Game Plan Package Fees
My coaching package rates are competitive and vary depending on the content, and scope of the curriculum which makes up your personal game plan.
I do not offer single coaching sessions. The Game Plan process takes time to design, to implement transforming actions into habits, and to realize your goals.
Depending on the Game Plan: Sessions will occur Weekly, Bi-Weekly, or Monthly
Packages do not limit the timing or scope of the curriculum. Additional sessions may be necessary based of the game plan we create together.
As is the case in all education based work, I am creating a curriculum just for you. This takes time for me to build behind the scenes, and between our sessions. For this reason total package fees are paid at the time we sign the coaching agreement. Instalment plans are negotiable.
Payment Options: Cash, Personal Cheque or e-Transfer
Transitions: Education & Career
Thinking of Changing Your Major or Shifting Your Career?
Thinking of Changing Your Major or Shifting Your Career?
Thinking of Changing Your Major or Shifting Your Career?
In my mid-thirties, I decided to change my career. I was in search of my purpose for the next phase of my life. I began working with my 'Coach' to create a path towards realizing my new meaning in life. We designed a purpose focused plan. It took some hard work, but the results were well worth it.
As we worked on my personal plan, it became clear I would need to go to University for the first time in my life. I needed to decide what program I would take, pick a school, move away from where I lived, figure out how to pay, and learn how to be a student again.
There are many decisions to be made. You're not alone. Me, you, and millions more have considered 'how to do it'. Many conclude it is too daunting, and just not possible. With a coach, I now know from experience that achieving this goal is possible.
There is a way to create a path of least resistance. This challenging time can be transformed into a smooth journey, which you will look back on as a foundational turning-point in your life.
This will be an exciting time for new students, and their family. I'm here to help you make it happen.
High School Seniors
Thinking of Changing Your Major or Shifting Your Career?
Thinking of Changing Your Major or Shifting Your Career?
Choosing to go to college, university, trade or tech school is a tough choice to make, especially when you've just reached the end of your high school career.
Where should you apply? What field of study or program should you take? On line or on campus? In what city will go to school, and will you need to move? Is it dorm life, or off campus renting for you for the next year or seven? What if you don't feel ready to make any choice yet at all? Coaching can help you come to a purposeful & intentional decision.
Student life is challenging. Many of us had to move away from the comfort of home for the first time. However, it is also an exciting time. In fact, this is the most exciting time to be entering into post-secondary education. So many schools to chose from, and now with technology making higher education possible from your own living room, the world is actually at your finger tips.
As part of my coaching practice I will coach high school seniors (Grade 11 and 12 students) aged 16+ years of age.
The Initial and the Final Coaching Sessions will include a Parent or Legal Guardian for a Portion of Those Meetings
Creating a united alliance between student, and parent is vital to success, and for parents peace of mind.
The ideal time to begin this journey is in the Fall of the students senior year, but better late than never applies here.
This package also includes an additional half-hour initial consultation session.
6 Session Student Package: $1,200
Terms of agreement are same as above.
An Intervention Is...
... a carefully planned process with the intended outcome being that your loved one chooses to begin the journey along the road to recovery. It is important that the friends and family involved avoid spontaneity in what they say, when the meeting is set, and where the meeting takes place. The development process takes a great deal of preparation, and team work. The quality of the preparation will lead to the quality of the outcome of the intervention. Every member of the team must stay on the same page throughout the process so their loved one is more likely to choose this life changing, life saving help.
The intervention should focus on the positive. That being said it is also important for the one struggling in addiction to understand their condition affects the overall health of the people in their lives. The purpose is not to blame them for causing harm. Instead, we want to show them their addiction includes negative changes in their behaviour, but that there is a solution: detox and a comprehensive rehabilitation program.
Family and friends who want to stage an intervention can make a plan for one on their own, or they can consult a professional interventionist like me. We will structure the planning process, guide the intervention team, and lead the overall event.
As Seen on TV? Not Exactly
An intervention is an important event, created by family and friends of a person struggling with addiction. The goal is to create a space where the person struggling will realize they have a problem, they need help, and most importantly they have support. While reality television shows have popularized interventions, these depictions often offer an incomplete sense of how an intervention is created, and how the subject of the intervention is involved in the process.
Your loved one is not 'tricked' into attending the meeting. The popular TV Shows suggest to the subject they are taking part in a documentary about addiction which ends with a group meeting. This is not how we do it. As the team works through the planning for the pinnacle meeting; the person in need of help is taking part in a counselling or coaching process of their own. Your loved one is invited into be the process in the final phase of the work. This final phase is the intervention meeting. This process will be outlined in great detail in our initial meeting.
Misleading the person in order to surprise them or force them into attending when they arrive says to them, "these people are not trustworthy; they lied to me". The human response most of us would have to such a 'surprise' would naturally be defensiveness, and resistance to the people, process, and most of all getting help.
While interventions should always provide encouragement and incentive for the person struggling with addiction to seek help, interventions come in more forms than the style frequently shown on television shows. The pre-work takes a great deal of teamwork, planning, and time, which is not fully expressed on these shows.
This is a therapeutic process for all people involved; not just the person suffering and so, there will be emotional challenges, breakthroughs, and healing before, and during the intervention. The 60-minute TV shows are obviously constrained and limited by time, so they are not the best representation of the whole process from beginning to end.
What an Intervention is Not
Even with preparation, there are some points that must be avoided during the intervention meeting. These include:
- Labels like “alcoholic”, “addict”, “junkie”, etc.: These have a negative context. Instead, neutral terms and avoid defining the person by their addiction are best.
- Too many people: Pick a core group of close friends and family, and stick to a small number of people.
- Being upset during the intervention: This is a subjective and personal reaction. While preparing for the actual meeting we will find ways to manage personal feelings so the intervention remains focused on the subject of the intervention.
- An intoxicated subject: If the person is intoxicated when the event is supposed to occur, it is not likely to be effective. While some degree of intoxication is a safe bet; there are ways to minimize intoxication based on scheduling, location, and how the loved one is prepared for the final phase. The group must be prepared to wait for the person to safely reach a point where they are able to take part in as productive a manner is possible. While the meeting itself should be limited to 90 minutes, the team should plan to be involved for the better part of the day. Of course, this is all dependant on the people involved, especially the loved one
To fully understand what an intervention should accomplish, it can be important to know what an intervention should not entail. An intervention is not:
- Coercive
- Based in shame
- Angry
- Hurtful
- An ambush
The only way for interventions to be successful is if they are based in love, honesty, and respect.
Discussions about emotional hurt, anger, fear, or concern should only come up if they reflect the love of family and friends.
An intervention is not a place to embarrass, shame, or scold the person struggling with addiction; these tactics are more likely to make the person retreat further into substance abuse patterns.
Why Hire a Professional?
In addition to being a Registered Therapeutic Counsellor (RTC), and Personal Coach holding a BA in Leadership; I am also a Certified Addictions Specialist.
When friends and family feel too emotionally charged while working on a DIY intervention, they can consult a professional interventionist, social worker, therapist, or other counsellor at any time for help. They can ask a professional for guidance in planning the event. Professional assistance at any level can be extremely helpful. An outside perspective can guide the process toward the most beneficial conclusion and keep everyone focused.
In some instances, hiring a professional is essential. Professional interventionists are highly recommended if the person who is the subject of the intervention has displayed any of the following:
- Serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, etc
- A history of violence, such as domestic abuse or verbal abuse
- A history of suicidal talk or attempts, or other self-harming behaviours
Interventions are most successful when they are planned and implemented well. If the meeting is structured, especially with help from a professional, interventions can be successful in convincing the person to get the help they need immediately. For a successful intervention, keep the following in mind:
- The intervention is about the person who needs help overcoming substance abuse; it is not about anyone else. It is not a plan to vent about past wrongs.
- Interventions are for educating the participants and showing love to their loved one. Shaming the person struggling with addiction is counter productive.
- Professional help can guide the intervention process in all instances. They are particularly helpful if loved ones are too emotionally involved to create a solid plan or if the subject has a history of violence or mental health issues.
Those struggling with addiction are not always aware of the harm they are causing themselves or others. The intervention can show them their addiction and the behaviours associated are not only damaging to their own body, mind and spirit, but also hurting those around them. If the subject of the intervention knows they have support as they enter medical detox and a comprehensive rehabilitation program, they are more likely to agree to treatment.
How We Do It
When considering an intervention to help a loved one who is struggling with addiction there are some important steps that can guide the process.
Step 1: Building the Team. This could include contacting other family and friends. Support for the process is important, and it is important not to do all the work alone.
Step 2: Who Will Take Part. Generally, only close family members, friends, and coworkers should be included on the intervention team. If a person is currently struggling with their own substance abuse issues, they should not be included on the team.
Step 3: Building a Cohesive Plan. This includes scheduling a specific day, time of day, location, and guest list. It also includes an outline of how the process will work and what everyone will say. This is the overall guide to the event.
Step 4: Team Education & Reconnaissance. Learn about the substance of abuse, addiction, and the recovery process. Gather information about detox and rehabilitation programs, particularly those that suit the personality and needs of the person struggling with addiction.
Step 5: Design & Delivering Impact Statements. Everyone at the intervention should have something to say about the person’s struggles with addiction. These should be personal statements, detailing how the addiction has harmed the person they love. Relationships can be deeply hurt by substance abuse. Written statements about the impact on relationships can help the person struggling with addiction to understand that their struggle does not impact them alone. These statements should be emotionally honest and focus on love. There is no place for personal attacks in these statements.
Step 6: Design the Support Plan. People attending the intervention should be willing to support their loved one in some capacity while the person goes through detox, rehabilitation, and long-term recovery. For example, offer rides to treatment once a week, or offer to attend family therapy sessions or support group meetings with the person.
Step 7: Designing Boundaries & Outcomes. If the person refuses treatment, relationships with friends and family must change. Everyone person should commit to ending codependency and enabling behaviours. Be clear that there will be consequences if the person refuses help.
Step 8: Rehearsal. Emotions run high regarding substance abuse and addiction. To avoid taking too much time, blaming the loved one, or falling into self-pity, rehearse the whole intervention with everyone at least once before it actually occurs. Then, each team member will have an idea of what to say, when they will speak, and when to cede the floor.
Step 9: Problem Solving & Expectation Management. While television nearly always shows the person at the centre of the intervention accepting help, this is not always the case in real life. Even with a well-planned intervention and clear offers of help, the individual may not accept help for a variety of reasons. If they do not, then follow through on the outlined consequences.
Step 10: Build the Follow-Up Plan. Whether the person accepts help or not, it is important to uphold statements made during the intervention. Otherwise, the person may experience excessive stress, which could slow down their rehabilitation process, lead to relapse, or deepen substance abuse problems.
Intervention Model
At A Good Place, we use a hybrid of the the Johnson & Family System Models of Intervention:
This Johnson Model is currently the most common form of intervention for people struggling with substance abuse in the US. It is designed to catalyze the person suffering addiction to enter a rehabilitation program. One or more caregivers plan a specific intervention, similar to the type outlined above. By showing the individual that they are surrounded by people who care for them and want them to get better, the individual knows they have support going into treatment.
This Family System Model not only focuses on the person struggling with addiction, but also on their family. All relationships are affected by substance abuse, and spouses, parents, children, and other close family members and friends can be dramatically impacted by these patterns of abuse. This intervention type catalyzes the whole family to seek help in the form of individual and family therapy, specific support groups, and other forms of treatment.
Recovery Requires Support
Regardless of what model is used, the point of the process is to help someone struggling with alcohol or drug addiction realize that they have support to overcome their condition. Real help is available. Support comes in many forms, including medical care, therapeutic help, and social support.
The most important tools we have to use are compassion, and love.
AAC. (2020). American Addiction Centers. americanaddictioncenters.org est. 2007
Intervention Fees
The intervention itself is no more than 90-minutes. There is a significant amount of pre-work, preparation, and task completion before the day of the intervention. The total cost will vary based on the scope and the individual situation.
We will have an initial call or video conference to discuss the individual situation you and your family are dealing with and how I may be able to help. Should you and I decide to move forward we will schedule the first meeting in the Intervention process.
Once the scope of the intervention planning and roll out is complete; the final cost will be determined based on the plan. We will enter into a contract outlining the plan in detail, including a fee payment schedule.
Their Choice
Although difficult to accept, interventions are not always successful immediately. Facing such a choice can cause a great deal of stress and anxiety about the prospect of stopping the way they are living. The fight against addiction is a life long battle, even in sobriety, and living a successful life in recovery, the challenge remains.
It is a fact that a person who is suffering in active addiction can only be helped when they are ready to receive help. The intention of an intervention is to create a clearing for your loved one to see hope for a renewed future in sobriety. While family and friends are reestablishing clear personal, and familial boundaries, choosing sobriety is wholly their decision to make.