Roots and Wings Counseling

A wise woman once said to me: “There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots; the other, wings.” — Hodding Carter, Where Main Street Meets the River (Rinehart), 1953.

https://www.rootsandwingscounseling.com

I am Elba J. Karim, LCPC, CCTP, a trauma therapist, adoptive parent, and a multicultural clinician with over 25 years of experience working in the field of mental health.  I have recently created a new counseling program, Roots and Wings Counseling Consultants, LLC dedicated to treating trauma throughout the lifespan.   I specialize in working with children and families affected by trauma.  Many of my clients are victims of neglect, sexual assault/abuse, physical abuse, trafficking, torture, intended victims of murder, targets of persecution due to race/ethnicity/religion or sexual orientation/identity/expression.  Some have witnessed horrific trauma such as seeing their parent(s) or sibling(s) murdered.  Many of the children are or have been in foster care.  Some have been adopted into caring families but still struggle with their past trauma, which then affects the entire family.  At times the child's developmental trauma (attachment insecurity) becomes secondary trauma for the family.  This creates even more pain which needs to be healed with the help of specially trained professionals.  This has been the case in my own family, where the damage done to one of my children prior to joining our family through adoption  has continued to affect all of us.  I know what it means to need support, both personal and professional, to continue to parent such a wounded child.  

Trauma changes the brain, and even after the immediate threat is gone, the effects are long-lasting and profound. I have dedicated much of my career, as well as my personal life, to fighting the effects of trauma in individuals, both children and adults, families, and organizations.  I also work with community partners such as the judicial system, law enforcement, the Department of Children and Family Services, educators/educational institutions, faith-based organizations, CASA, and Children's Advocacy Centers to help educate and support those working with individuals and families affected by trauma.  

I am raising money to help fund a start-up collaborative trauma treatment program to help some of our most underserved victims.  Trauma treatment programs are rare outside of large metropolitan areas, and there is a growing need to help treat trauma soon after it occurs, rather than waiting for it to manifest in more permanent ways.  Roots and Wings Counseling Consultants, LLC is designed to help meet the needs of individuals and families affected by trauma by using a team approach to clinical care and making use of trauma-informed, evidence-based clinical practices.  We are an LGBTQ, foster care, and adoption affirming organization.  We  work with and support community partners in order to help empower survivors in many different facets of their lives.  We also provide trauma response services to the greater Chicagoland area and beyond.

The money raised will be used to pay for start-up fees such as office furniture, clinical assessments/measures, art and play therapy supplies, communication costs, office machines, website and logo design, LLC filing fees, legal fees, deposits for rental space, paper products, office supplies, insurance, signage, subscriptions to journals, marketing costs, professional consultations, credentialing, training, scholarships for service, etc.

There is a dire need for comprehensive collaborative trauma treatment programs, especially ones that help young children and their families. Many of the clients are also facing financial repercussions due to their outcries of abuse, as well as changes in family makeup.  Some families have been separated from their primary wage earner, others have taken in children with little financial support from others.  The funds to support Roots and Wings Counseling Consultants, LLC are needed imminently, as start-up costs continue to accrue, and our funding stream lags due to the nature of established mental health billing practices and the state of the Illinois budget.  We would like to reach our goal by June 30, 2017.  We are grateful for any donation in any amount you are willing to make.

In order to provide the level of service necessary to serve this vulnerable population, it is critical for the survivors to feel protected and cared for.  This includes not only the physical space but also the type of people the clients encounter within the systems of care.  As a clinician, I have tried to be the type of person I believe I myself and those around me needed in life.  The struggles I faced as a child and young adult fueled my passion for the work I now do.  Children and families are our future.  We must provide services with compassion and clinical competency in order to thwart another generation of violence and trauma.  Hurt people hurt people, and we must try to heal as much hurt in the world as we can.  

I have listened to horrific stories of abuse and have been honored to witness children and adults no one thought could recover from their trauma transform into happy, healthy individuals. Reaching my financial goal would mean that we could serve even more individuals and groups, spreading hope and healing to the wider community.  We could invest in additional treatment tools and training to support our clinicians in most effectively helping our clients.  We could hire more staff to accompany our clients on their journey to healing,
as our funding becomes more stable.  

Connecting with and healing families from trauma is a way of life for me.  Please help Roots and Wings Counseling Consultants, LLC be the change we all wish to see in the world.  Trauma knows no socio-economic or racial or religious or other man-made boundaries.  Let's work together to diminish the effects of trauma in our community.  Your donation will have far-reaching and exponential effects.  I would be profoundly thankful for your help in fulfilling my mission.