paul swiatek, lmsw

There are many times in life when we are faced with loss or a death and it usually isn't planned or welcome. Healing comes with a time and place to share one's story, face the truth of the past, and improvise a new way of life that can lead to acceptance, peace and new growth.

Drugs, alcohol, video gaming, gambling and nicotine use are common problems in today's world. I have been working in this area for 25 years and I offer high quality individualized therapy for families, teens, and adults. If you are looking for a place to start, or if you have completed a treatment program and are interested in relapse prevention, let's talk.

One of the most difficult life experiences to overcome is the sharp sting of being dismissed, devalued and disposed of by someone who was a source of love and attachment. It is difficult to transform the shame of this event into a life enhancing experience of self esteem and power, but it can be done!

For this issue I use a probability model of relapse prevention.  Becoming aware of, and having the resolve to avoid the people, place and things that raise the risk of going back to the addictive relationship is the first step to making healthy "yes' or "no" decisions on the field of play. Knowing that risks occur in the environment, biologically and emotionally, each person has to create their own unique program to walk the journey of sobriety.

As a musician, songwriter, recording artist and instrument builder I know how the arts can enhance self worth and healthy expression.  For the artist who wants to develop a deeper awareness of their emotional experience as a means to deepen their work, I invite you to contact me for a consultation over the phone or in person.

Over the years I have had counseling experience with some gifted athletes and have enjoyed working with them as they deal with the emotional aspects of competition, training, and the emotional work or recovering from injury. As an avid athlete with success as an ice hockey player on the junior level and as a speed skater on the senior level, I have developed a toolbox of cognitive filters to enhance perspective of the athlete that will give them the opportunity to experience true success and satisfaction in their chosen sport.

Self esteem is a creative dance between what we do and what we believe. Increasing the awareness of how these two forces comes together to produce feelings of worth and wholeness instead of feeling shameful and fragmented is the foundation of my work as a therapist. For most of us, our central issue is that we are unable to see what is right with us because we are spending all of our time and energy trying to find out what is wrong with us, others, and the world. If it's your time to make a shift into the positive and out of the gravity of negative people, behaviors and beliefs, give me a call.

Codependency is the process of losing your “self” in a relationship with someone else.  Recovery from this process involves finding where you and your boundaries end and where someone else's boundaries begin.  Taking 100% responsibility for your life and finding true power is the remedy for a relationship system that is based on trying to change and control others, or expecting them to change and control you.

There are times in life when individuals and families go through a loss or crisis and it usually isn’t planned or welcome. Serious illness, or a sudden change in life as we know it for whatever reason can push us to the limit. Learning how not to stuff emotions or try  to make them disappear through an addictive relationship with anything is one of the keys to getting through these tough times. It demands that we find something to center us as we work to find peace and balance.


As educator  Ernie Larson used to say, "What you live with you learn, what you learn you practice, what you practice you become and what you become has consequences." Many people are effected by the impact of growing up in an family where someone in the family was an active alcoholic. Usually there is an experience of "over-functioning" for the "under-functioning" addict, and these patterns of family balance can last a lifetime. Repressed emotions, power and control issues, boundary setting and a host of other issues can effect the adult child of an alcoholic and the health of any relationships that they are engaged in. Perhaps it is time to examine your patterns of self-defeating behavior and become aware of new ways of thinking and behaving.