Bill has been working in the counseling field since 2006 and has a Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology and a Master of Arts in Modern Studies from Loyola College in Maryland. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor. In 2006, he worked as an addiction counselor at several programs, including Harrison House in Annandale and Inova Health Systems in Fairfax County. He has also been a counselor in private practice since 2009, providing individual care to civilian, military and paramilitary populations facing anxiety, depression, bipolar, PTSD, and substance abuse disorders. – See more at: http://www.phoenixhouse.org/team/bill-prasad/#sthash.msf1zTc5.dpuf
Transcript
>> This is Bill. My name is Bill Persaud [phonetic]. I'm a licensed professional counselor. I'm a certified trauma counselor, and I'm a certified addictions counselor. I see patients who are handling a number of different psychiatric challenges. It could be anxiety, depression; could be posttraumatic stress disorder, or it could be drug addiction. I have studied disaster psychology, so I was called out on the Navy yard shootings in September. Essentially, you go to a workplace; it may be hours or a day or two after a mass casualty situation. And you work with the individuals to try and stabilize them, because in those situations, there is no counseling. It's too early, but there's stabilization and to try to get them ready to come back to work. I'm also trained to go out to airplane crashes or terrorist attacks. I also do long-term treatment for trauma. So sometimes I will see an individual maybe who was in the military, who has PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder, as a result of seeing a buddy who was killed or maybe being in a firefight. And so I'll see him, or maybe I'll see someone who is having some problems due to childhood sexual trauma, or maybe they were victimized in a crime. I specialize in seeing police, firefighters, military, marines, and soldiers. When it comes to trauma, the first thing that we try to do is educate the individual because they have probably have been going, maybe for months or years, and in the backs of their minds, at times, they're thinking how do I stop these symptoms? What's happened to me? How have I changed? Why has my life changed? Why have my relationships changed? And what can I do to try to stop it? So, at Phoenix House, I do work with a number of adolescents. These are young boys and girls who have gotten into trouble because of use of alcohol and other drugs. We're seeing a lot of marijuana use, a lot of the synthetic marijuana use, and a lot of kids and families who are really confused because of the changing national terrain as it addresses marijuana. It's a tremendous feeling because you have become vested in that person moving forward. And in my private practice, in the beginning, we talk about what goals do you have? We work together to set goals, knowing that the person who is sitting across from me, they are going to do the hardest work. And that's what counseling is about.
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