The mission for Creative Family Solutions never changes.The nonprofit organization seeks to empower individuals to make choices, reclaim their self-esteem, learn to trust others and help them achieve goals set for themselves.
Founded in 1999, the organization provides counseling, educational and other growth related services to youth, families and individuals in need.
“Some people come in to treat depression and anxiety,” said Ashley Trosclair, Creative Family Solutions Clinical Director and a licensed professional counselor. “Others are seeking help for family relational issues, divorce, co-parenting and marriage.”
Without its partnership with United Way of St. Charles, Trosclair said, Creative Family Solutions (CFS) wouldn’t be able to provide as many counseling services to the community, nor would they be as intensive. CFS employs a team of licensed professional counselors for both individuals and families.
CFS has recently added an outpatient substance abuse program which is open to anyone in St. Charles Parish free of charge.
The organization maintains a belief that solutions involve each member of a family and is community based.
The nurturing parenting program helps parents build empowerment and age-appropriate expectations for development, the meetings held in a group setting. It focuses on the development of empathy, self-worth, self-awareness, discipline with dignity and appropriate family roles.
“A lot of work we do is dealing with adolescents and their families,” said Trosclair, who has worked with CFS since 1998. “It’s a way in which parents can begin to understand and see (their child’s) viewpoint and vice versa. A lot of times it can come down to mutual understanding.”
CFS also holds community education courses that take aim at building lasting self-esteem and positive body image for girls. The programs are broken down into three “girls circle” programs. “Body image” examines cultural messages and personal beliefs that influence body image. “Paths to the future” is a skill-building support circle for at-risk or court-involved girls. Both are for girls ages 12 and up. “Being a Girl” introduces girls to the positive experience of a support circle and is aimed at girls ages 11 to 13.
“It’s something that may affect kids the most in today’s day and age,” Trosclair said. “They’re not always confident in talking to their parents and guardians about these things. It’s a place to discuss how they believe people see them and how they want people to see them. It gives them a chance to come together and realize others are going through the same issues and having the same thoughts.”
Project Transition is another major CFS undertaking, in which inmates at Nelson Coleman Correctional Center participate in a 12-week rehabilitation program that teaches life skills. Its intention is to prepare inmates to successfully re-enter the community upon release.
Trosclair said the program is intensive, and any inmate not fully committed to it is extremely unlikely to finish. But there is a reward for doing so: when an inmate graduates the program, they can earn 90 days toward finishing their sentence.
Trosclair noted those three projects, in particular, have been aided in a major way by United Way.
CFS offers individual counseling for life skills, self-esteem, stress management, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, school related concerns and work issues.
For more information, call 985-331-1999 or e-mail office@cfshope.org.
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