LCDCs bring a specialized skill set that our population deeply needs. Substance use and mental health rarely exist in isolation, especially for the youth we serve.  Having dedicated LCDCs on our team allows us to address both sides of that reality more in depth.

While those on the LPC track and LCSWs incorporate substance use concerns into the client’s behavioral decision-making treatment process, we often lack the focus of a specifically structured approach for targeted substance abuse programs LCDCs are more familiar with following.

"If you are an LCDC with a passion for youth and a desire to work within a collaborative, clinically driven team, please reach out and let me know your vision for serving our population with the needed substance abuse treatment focus." 

~ Dr. Felicia Lewis

LPC-Associates are the heart of how this program runs. Without the right associates, the model doesn’t work; because of that, finding the right associates is my most critical priority in building this team.

Under my direct clinical supervision, you can work towards completing your licensing hours in a supportive environment intentionally focused on a collaborative, clinical training, and educational model.  It is hard to run a business coming out of grad school where all your focus has been on learning how to be a counselor.  Nothing prepares us to understand the finances, marketing, finding a way to target the right clients and all the insurance and billing aspects of working as a clinician.  It’s my goal to ensure you are as fairly compensated as possible, while providing you all the training and support in these areas to be prepared to do more of your own thing as you move towards your independent license.  Of course, I’d love for some associates to stick around as LPCs with me, but I also recognize that many of you will see this as a steppingstone towards doing your own thing down the road. 

With many years of experience in private practice and higher education, I have been a part of building and managing different practices along the way and want to share those tools with you as part of the comprehensive training I provide.  While I do not offer supervision for your own outside practice, working as a contracted member of our team gives you some of the responsibility and experience of managing your own practice while being provided with the resources of clients, supervision, training and guided record-keeping you’ll need. 

In all transparency, working with counseling students is where my deepest passion lives. There is something extraordinary about walking alongside someone at the very beginning of their calling and counseling journey.  Supporting you as you move through the anxiety and uncertainty of being new, and helping you find your footing, voice, and strength as a clinician connects directly to what drives me as a professor.

I know what it feels like to struggle with self-doubt, feel insecure about working with clients for the first time, and wondering if you are prepared or capable enough for this work. My goal is to be the supervisor who helps you discover that you are.  By the time you are starting your practicum, you have completed many courses that build the underlying concepts you will be using as a counselor.  I best describe it as the fact that you have learned the language of being a counselor, but now you are being immersed in the culture and practicing using the new language daily.  I will be meeting with you weekly to help you see how your knowledge comes into play as a clinician and help you see how much you really know about all of this as you see it applied to your and your teammates’ clients.  Working with the EdYouth Foundation's counseling team will give you an opportunity that will shape you as a clinician and complete your hours in an environment where your growth in this field is a top priority in serving our clients.

"Please know that while I’d love to help all of you through this journey, student positions may be competitive at times to ensure every student who is added gets the investment of my supervision and attention I believe you and your clients deserve. " ~ Dr. Felicia Lewis