With offices in Auburn Hills, Royal Oak, Lake Orion and Waterford, the Catholic Social Services of Oakland County provides a variety of counseling services.

Some of the counseling services provided are focused to treat substance abuse, anxiety, stress, depression and eating disorders, according to the CSSOC’s website.

The CSSOC provides counseling services that help treat issues that people of any age struggle with, according to Andrea Foley.

“Not only do we address the mental health and substance abuse needs of children and adolescents, we see adults through their senior years as well,” Foley said.

Andrea Foley has been the Director of Family Counseling Services for two years at the CSSOC. Foley is also an adjunct faculty member at Wayne State University, where she teaches courses on cognitive behavioral therapy at the graduate-level in the School of Social Work.

Among the issues children and teens face, the topic of bullying and cyberbullying is one that Foley finds to be receiving national attention.

“While we are seeing more focus and emphasis on bullying, cyber bullying in particular, nationally, all of our offices (in Oakland County) have been providing counseling services to these communities’ adolescents and children for many years,” Foley said.

A behavior that the CSSOC counseling sessions help treat is self-injury. Foley believes that self-injury behaviors are common among adolescents struggling with stressors.

“Self injury is not a healthy way to manage these stressors,” Foley said. “Counseling can help kids find alternative ways to deal with their problems.”

The CSSOC accepts most insurance coverage and Medicaid HMOs to cover the cost of these sessions.  But  those who cannot afford treatment have other options, according to Foley.

“There is a grant through Oakland County for Oakland County residents who meet income requirements can access for these services,” Foley said.

Counseling sessions are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Auburn Hills location.

 

An Oakland option

For students of Oakland University and Cooley Law School,  the Graham Counseling Center also offers various services,  including personal counseling and substance abuse evaluation, treatment and prevention.

These various services are provided by licensed psychologists and supervised interns.

“(The Graham Counseling Center has) two or three usually doctoral level clinical psychology interns that provide services under supervision,” Dr. James Franklin said.

Dr. Franklin is a clinical psychologist at the Graham Counseling Center, which is located within the Graham Health Center in OU’s campus.

Students of OU and Cooley Law School can receive six free counseling sessions, according to Dr Franklin.  After the first six sessions, these sessions cost  $12 for students and can be covered by student insurance.

According to Franklin, student counseling sessions generally last 45 minutes and meet once a week.