Self Defense Classes: Confidence, Safety, and Fitness

Many of our young adult women join our campus in need of not only body empowerment but emotional and mental empowerment as they move through past traumas and events. Our clinical team uses evidence-based modalities to dive into conversations around safety, and we find there are activities outside of the traditional one-on-one therapeutic setting that can help our clients feel and heal in their surroundings.

The President of The Willows at Red Oak Recovery®, brings his martial arts background onto campus to teach our women the three levels of martial arts. “There are so many benefits that come along with martial arts,” explains the President. “It not only helps our women to get into the flow of their body, but, most importantly, it develops a sense of confidence, and it helps turn the role of the victim into a state of empowerment.”

Learning self defense has many advantages. It can help teach about boundaries, personal space, and increase your overall safety in any situation. It brings a sense of confidence in our women with their ability and willingness to be aware of their surroundings. Because self defense training helps you prepare to face the unexpected, knowing that you could defend yourself against a threat can give you the confidence to take on new projects or explore new places. Incorporating self defense and martial arts helps our women grow confidence on an emotional, physical, and mental level as well. It teaches them how to be present in their own body and incorporates another fitness opportunity while the women are in our care.

CLINICIAN’S CORNER JULIE SCROGGS, MA, LPCA, LCASA, NCC Primary Therapist

Julie comes to The Willows at Red Oak Recovery® with a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Lenoir-Rhyne University in Asheville, NC. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor Associate and Licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist Associate with the state of North Carolina. Julie works as a Primary Therapist providing trauma therapy, support, and education to clients and their families. She is also trained in EMDR.

Julie believes that strong collaboration of a person’s support system is key to an individual’s healing journey. She also facilitates therapeutic groups with the community at The Willows at Red Oak Recovery®. Before obtaining her Master’s degree, Julie holds over twelve years of experience in the field of community mental health and working with individuals with mental health concerns along with those working through recovery from multiple types of addictions.

Julie has lived in Western NC for over fourteen years after moving from her home state of Upstate New York. She is married and has two daughters, ages 19 and 15. In her free time, Julie loves to hike, going on travel adventures and spend time on the ocean.

“Julie is a whole-hearted, empathetic therapist who brings years of personal and professional experience to her work,” says Lynn Wadsworth, MS, LPC, LCAS, CTT-1, Clinical Director.

FAMILY ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Susan and Billy

Our Climb up the Mountain

A child is God’s precious gift to the world. There is no greater love than to hold a baby and dream of the future. As parents we raise our children to what we think is the best of our ability and then we find that something went wrong and our child veered off the path and might just fall off the cliff. This is our story of love, anger, fear, and recovery.

We lived for years in turmoil driven by fear of losing our daughter to addiction and death. It didn’t happen overnight. Our efforts to change her didn’t work. Short-term treatment centers and intermittent counseling had short-term success. Our family dynamics deteriorated into anger and frustration and the fear of losing her was always at the top of our mind. We were unable to separate the lies from the reality of her life. It was easier to believe the stories than to confront the reality. Finally one day we were alerted to the fact that she was in danger, legally and physically. Intervention became the only option to save her life and save her from herself.

The Willows at Red Oak Recovery® was recommended. One phone call to them, and we found ourselves with hope that there might be a solution for her. For all of us. They helped guide us through the intervention. The confrontation was difficult; we heard unbelievable things from her. It broke our hearts. We didn’t know her life was so out of control. But the miracle was that she agreed to go to The Willows at Red Oak Recovery®. She knew her life was out of control, and she was willing to give the program a chance. That’s where our gratitude began. Peace suddenly seemed possible for all of us. And it was work, for us as well as her. The phone calls with her therapist and our family therapist were challenging and not always fruitful.

The Family Workshop we attended was eye-opening. Other parents were in the same situation as we were. Seeing grown men cry over their sons in treatment was heart wrenching. We were all hurting, but dear Lynn Wadsworth, Clinical Director, helped us understand so many things. We learned that blaming oneself or others was not productive. Change was necessary for us as well as our child in treatment. It was up to us to change our expectations, change the way we communicate with each other and with our daughter, and change ourselves. All challenges and so necessary in order to be productive participants in her recovery. We had to recover too.

It was not our place to change her; it was not our right to place our expectations of the best life onto her shoulders. We began by accepting her as the wonderful person we knew lived within her. We struggled to shift our communication away from a “you should” attitude and toward an acceptance and understanding of her and her feelings without trying to change her or impose our will on her. Slowly we saw that phone communication was improving, success measured in very small steps for all of us.

Today, we take everything one day at a time. In sobriety we live each moment as a gift. We are grateful to God for serenity, courage and wisdom. We are proud of our daughter who has surrounded herself with a loving, caring community and embraced her independence. And we are grateful for all the wonderful people who work in recovery and have committed their lives to saving others every day.

The Willows at Red Oak Recovery® is Certified by LegitScript!

We are pleased to announce that The Willows at Red Oak Recovery® is now certified with LegitScript, a national certification for ethical treatment providers that confirms standards of quality treatment and compliance with regulations and laws in the industry. Our policies and procedures, as well as the certifications of our team, have undergone extensive review to vet our eligibility. The LegitScript stamp of approval ensures that unethical marketing practices in the treatment industry will cease so that consumers can make informed decisions during their time of need based on transparent, true, and complete information provided in online advertising.

3rd Annual Carolinas Symposium on Young Adult Treatment

We look forward to seeing you!

Date: June 5th-7th, 2019

Location: Cambria Hotel Downtown Asheville, North Carolina

Click Here to Learn About Sponsorship

CATCH US ON THE ROAD

February

UNC Charlotte School of Nursing Alumni Conference

Dilworth Training: Trauma Informed Treatment

NCFADS (North Carolina Foundation for Alcohol and Drug Studies)

GEMS (Gender Education DeMystification Symposium)

NCCA (North Carolina Counseling Association)

March

H.E.A.L (Healthy Eating & Living)

EAP (Employee Assistant Program)

40th Annual Conference

Psychotherapy Networker Symposium

Gaudenzia

“The Willows at Red Oak Recovery® gave me the opportunity to discover who I really am, what my goals are, and the motivation to work towards them” – Alumni