Support for Families Affected by Addiction & Substance Use
Therapy Based in Essex Junction, Vermont or Online
Your love ones mean the world to you but addiction has taken its toll on your family and you’re exhausted from holding it all together.
Help is just a few sessions away whether you choose individual counseling, couples counseling, or family coaching. Together let’s create space to breathe, restore balance and reconnect with the people you love.
You deserve a path forward that brings more connection and less chaos.
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Caregiver burnout is real. When you are living with a loved one who struggles with addiction, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all their needs and issues. Pretty soon your needs are secondary and you don’t even recognize yourself or your relationship. You are taking care of yourself by reaching out for help. Learn how to better manage stress, anxiety and shame with counseling or coaching.
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Boundaries can get messy when your loved one is struggling with drugs and alcohol. You can learn how to set boundaries with your family member and allow for natural consequences to take root. Support offers tools to protect your well-being while still showing you care and rebuilding that family connection.
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You struggle feeling connected to your loved one when they’re in active addiction. When your family member is focused on drugs and alcohol, it creates conflict, distance, and secrecy. When you seek help, you are learning how to rebuild trust, enhance communication, and repair relationships putting your loved one back in the forefront of your life.
Top 3 Reasons People Reach Out for Support
Hello, I’m Jenn.
When a loved one’s substance use feels overwhelming, you deserve support that brings relief and hope. I specialize in working with families, couples, and individuals impacted by addiction, using the evidence-based CRAFT method and Motivational Interviewing to create lasting change by developing family members’ insight as well as skills designed to deepen connection, set and hold boundaries and create hope. For couples, I draw on the Gottman Method, a research-based approach that focuses on repairing trust, reducing conflict, and building a stronger foundation of connection.
With over 20 years of experience as a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCMHC) and Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LADC), I’ve supported people through challenges ranging from addiction and relationship struggles to anxiety, depression, and life transitions. My approach is compassionate and collaborative, always centered on your goals and objectives. Together, we’ll find tools to set boundaries, reduce stress, and restore connection in your relationships and in yourself.
How I Can Help
Individual Therapy
Loving someone with an addiction can feel exhausting and isolating. Through individual therapy, you’ll have space to focus on your own healing, managing stress, anxiety, depression, or trauma that often comes with living alongside substance use. Using evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) and Internal Family Systems (IFS), we’ll work together to strengthen self-awareness, set healthy boundaries, and create meaningful change, allowing you to feel more grounded and resilient.
Couples Therapy
Addiction impacts not only individuals but also relationships. If substance use has created distance, conflict, or betrayal in your partnership, couples counseling provides tools to reconnect and repair trust. I utilize the Gottman Method, a research-based approach, combined with insights from Esther Perel and Terry Real, to help partners rebuild communication, reduce conflict, and strengthen their bond, especially when addiction adds extra strain.
Family Coaching
Families often search for how to set boundaries with a person with a substance use disorder or how to stop enabling. These issues are real. I specialize in coaching families whose loved one are strugglingwith addiction using the CRAFT method (Community Reinforcement and Family Training). This highly effective, science-based approach helps families reinforce recovery steps, rebuild connection and trust while taking care of themselves. Together, we’ll focus on reducing conflict, building healthier patterns, and restoring connection so your family can move from survival mode to resilience and hope.
What Working Together Looks Like
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Begin with a free, 15-minute phone call where you can share what’s happening in your life and ask questions. This helps you see if we are the right fit before beginning therapy or counseling, and also to narrow down whether it’s coaching or counseling that will be most beneficial for you at this time.
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In your first sessions, you will identify your biggest challenges, explore treatment goals and begin to map out a plan. I customize follow-up sessions for you, whether it’s using CRAFT for families the Gottman Method for couples.
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Whether we decide to go forward with individual therapy, couples counseling, or family coaching, you will gain insight into your biggest struggles and learn tools to build connection, reduce mental health symptoms, set boundaries, reduce stress, improve communication, always at your own pace.
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As you apply new skills, you’ll notice shifts in your relationships, confidence, and resilience. The process is designed to support both immediate relief and long-term healing.
E.L, client
“I really like her approach. I was afraid there would be a demand to change but I have felt safe and respected in this aspect.”
M.B., couples client
“We used the tools and they actually worked! It felt good to finally feel connected.”
A.C., client