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Therapy Practice Opens In Stamford To Address Growing Drug Addiction Issue

DARIEN, Conn. -- The growing problem of heroin addiction in Darien was partly the inspiration for opening satellite offices of Manhattan Marriage and Family Therapy in Darien and Stamford.

Amanda Craig, PhD, a licensed marriage and family therapist is the Clinical Director and Supervisor of Manhattan Marriage and Family Therapy. The practice offers therapy for drug addiction and recovery, family healing, and couples.

Amanda Craig, PhD, a licensed marriage and family therapist is the Clinical Director and Supervisor of Manhattan Marriage and Family Therapy. The practice offers therapy for drug addiction and recovery, family healing, and couples.

Photo Credit: Amanda Craig, PhD, LMFT on LinkedIn

The practice will focus on addiction, prevention, and recovery, and help families heal, as well as couples therapy. Licensed marriage and family therapist Amanda Craig, PhD is the board approved Supervisor and Clinical Director at the Connecticut offices.

"Often I work with couples, parents and children, adult children and parents, siblings, and premarital couples," she said. "In therapy with parents and adolescents, I work with parents on improving how they listen to their teenagers but also set and follow through with consistent boundaries."

Craig has expertise in depression, anxiety, addiction, life harmony, and relationship issues such as communication, conflict resolution, and infidelity. Much of her career has been focused on studying and understanding the root causes and lifestyle choices that lead to substance abuse and other self-destructive behaviors. 

Craig believes that family and lifestyle harmony is the key to preventing substance abuse. Her therapy work addresses the mounting pressures that lead people to the respite of drugs and other substances, she told Daily Voice.

One of the ways she'll address this locally is in teaching an acclaimed Life Harmony workshop. It aims to alleviate the stress of high-pressure lifestyle and creating balance.

"Where there is abundance it is easy to become accustomed to a fast pace lifestyle," she explained. "Schedules are busy, kids are involved in a lot of activities, expenses are high, work hours are long, people are overwhelmed and depleted."

"Once we get there we either recognize we need to reevaluate and make changes to find calm again or we find shortcuts to cope with all of the stress," Craig continued.

Alcohol, illegal drugs, prescriptions drugs, pornography, and affairs are what she calls "shortcut escapes." They give instant gratification, relief, and calmness to individuals.

"But as we all know. It's not calmness. It just makes things worse. And worse means we find ourselves having performance issues, marital problems, we are modeling behaviors for our children we don't feel good about, and we don't feel good about ourselves. So we want to go back to that instant gratification again," Craig said.

The cycle is hard to break so people hit rock bottom, she noted.

"It's the place we end up when there is nothing left. Denial no more. We are so fortunate in Fairfield county to have the resources we have. My hope is we find what really inspires us and leave the rest behind."

For more information, email amanda.craig@manhattanmft.com or click here for MFT's website.

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