Written by Bonnie Balsamo, LCSW

Trauma and suffering are words that we are all familiar with.  For some us the mere mention of trauma and suffering brings an intense emotional reaction that can hold us hostage and even be gut wrenching.  Trauma exists across systems, cultures and communities and affects us without discrimination through man made suffering or natural disasters.  According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) more than half of the adult population has been exposed to at least one traumatic event, and 90% of clients in public behavioral health settings have experienced trauma. These statistics do not include the trauma that has gone unreported or unacknowledged in our country.

What is trauma? 

Most of us will experience some level of distress in our lifetimes, some minor incidents and others that are more intense.  These challenges can help us build resilience and explore who we are.  It can help us rise up and make positive change for our families and our communities as well as help us become stronger as we overcome adversity.  However, sometimes a traumatic event and the suffering it causes can overwhelm our ability to cope.  We find that it breaks down the resilience that we once had and leaves us lost in shock, in fear and feeling helpless.  Following this we find ourselves experiencing such symptoms as flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia, anxiety, depression and find it hard if not impossible to regulate our emotions.  Some of us even turn to substances, some of us may try to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, we may isolate, or make other choices in how we cope that are not ideal.

As a therapist, we utilize the Diagnostic Statistical Manual-5 to help define clinical trauma. It involves being exposed to serious injury, sexual violence or exposure to actual or threatened death in one or more of four ways. The four ways include direct experience, witnessing the experience, learning the event happened to a close family member of friend, or experiencing repeated or extreme exposure of a traumatic event. In addition, being exposed to a traumatic event can impact our social life, work life or other areas of functioning often in negative ways. 

What are the effects of trauma?

To understand trauma it is helpful to understand the biology behind it.  When we encounter a threat to our sense of safety, our body and mind react with a stress response which sends adrenaline, cortisol, norepinephrine and other chemicals into our body.  Shortness of breath, racing heart, muscle tension are the results, and this is where we begin to encounter trouble – stating with our memory of the traumatic event.  Normally when we form our memories of an event it is done so with availability of words to identify the concept/understanding of the memory, yet when our coping skills are overwhelmed with a frightening or stressful situation, our amygdala in our brain takes over and we respond via our brain stem with a “flight or flight” reaction to survive.    The trauma we are experiencing literally “commandeers” or “hijacks” the thinking part of our brain and affects how our memory of the event is formed.  This particular memory becomes imprinted in such a way that these memories are without explanation or verbal understanding.  Without awareness from the higher functioning (the thinking brain) part of our brain we only can access the feelings (both emotional and physical) from our memory that there is very real and terrible danger here, even if we don’t understand why. This is why individuals often find themselves unexplainably upset from a simple frown from a partner or from a particular smell, or even from the weather.  A current situation “triggers” our past memories, yet we are unable to understand them.  We find that we cannot rationalize or reason with this type of trauma and the memory it has formed, for it cannot respond to just our words alone.  

How do you treat trauma?

In order to treat our trauma we must work to develop the understanding that we were prohibited in creating during our original formation of our memory.  We must develop words and concepts to understand the trauma to help us make sense of it all.  But before we can do anything of this, we must acknowledge there is a problem and ask for help.  

 Regardless of how we choose to heal from our trauma, seeking support and education to help us create new concepts and understanding is crucial.  Many find it helpful to focus on such liberating and self-caring skills like grounding, self-wellness, meditation and resource building, (also known as coping skills).  Connecting with others who have suffered similar situations can also help ease the isolation trauma brings by helping to us recognize we are not alone.  Seeking therapeutic interventions with a trained professional can help us develop strength and discover that there are ways to diminish our pain.  If you or a loved one have been through trauma and are experiencing any form of suffering as a result, such as hurt, pain, anger or fear – please reach out and ask for help.  Despite how much trouble trauma causes our world, please know that there is always hope for each and every one of us.  

Bonnie Balsamo is a Behavioral Health Therapist at NorthLakes Community Clinic – Ashland Downtown. If you are interested in scheduling an appointment with her or another therapist, please call 888-834-4551. In addition, Bonnie will be hosting a weekly Trauma Support Group starting April 30. The 6-week group therapy program for women will be from 1 – 2:30 pm in Ashland. If you are interested in participating in the 6-week program, please call 715-685-2200.

NorthLakes Community Clinic recently received a $98,000 grant from the Public Services Commission of Wisconsin’s Telemedicine’s Universal Service Fund for a new digital x-ray. The x-ray was installed in our recently expanded downtown location.

Installing a digital x-ray machine downtown helps us achieve our mission of expanding access by actively removing barriers to care. Often times, x-ray fees can be cost prohibitive and result in additional travel and appointment if they need to be sought outside of the clinic setting. By bringing this service in-house, we will provide same day reads of x-rays. We will also reduce expensive emergency room visits for our patients by providing timely emergent care readings.

“We are so grateful to the Public Services Commission for their continued support of rural healthcare,” says NorthLakes Community Clinic CEO Reba Rice. “By making these upfront investments in technology, we can streamline patient care which allows for improve health outcomes while also managing overall costs.”

The new Ashland Downtown location will be completely finished in mid-May. Once complete, all NorthLakes Community Clinic patient services in Ashland will be located on the 200 and 300 blocks of west Main Street.

A special thanks to Judy at Wellness Renaissance for coming to Washburn to learn more about NorthLakes Community Clinic and our Farm to Patient program.  

The podcast gave our Wellness Manager Sarah Tarkington an opportunity to talk about efforts NorthLakes is making to provide more access to healthy foods for some of our patients, while also helping regional farmers. It is a program we are very proud of and hope to expand in coming years.  If you are interested in hearing more about the program, a link to the full podcast can be found here. 

Hayward, Wisconsin—NorthLakes Community Clinic is pleased to announce that starting in mid-April, Pediatric Occupational and Speech Therapies will be available in the Hayward area. Until now, patients often had to travel far distances to receive this type of integrated treatment. 

“We’ve been seeing a number of clients from the Hayward area in our Ashland clinic for quite some time,” says Angie Schoeppach, NorthLakes Community Clinic Therapies Director.  “We know the distance creates an unnecessary burden for families and results in clients missing school.  By expanding our services to Hayward, we can remove some of these barriers to care.”

Occupational and Speech therapies are a commonly needed service for children and teens.  For example, speech therapy can work within a number of areas to enhance a child’s learning and development, but also to assist with things such as swallowing dysfunction and feeding impairments.  Equally as important, occupational therapy can address everything from motor delays to attention span and regulating emotions. 

The expansion was made in part due to the addition of Becky Payne, MAT-CCC/SLP, HPCS. Payne brings over 20-years of experience as a Speech Language Pathologist. We anticipate taking patients starting in mid-April. If you are interested in scheduling an appointment, please call us at (715) 634-2541.

Ashland, Wisconsin—NorthLakes Community Clinic is pleased to announce that Theresa Nehring, LPC, CSAC, ICS will be joining the Behavioral Health Services team working with clients that struggle with both mental health and substance abuse disorders.  She will begin seeing patients in April.

Nehring has been a practicing counselor since the late ‘80s working in a variety of capacities.  For over a decade, she served as Co-Occurring Psychotherapist and Clinical Supervisor within the Oneida Tribe of Indians Behavioral Health Services in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Prior, she worked as an AODA Therapist for Brown County Human Services in Green Bay Wisconsin.   She received her MS in Counseling and Education from the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.

Nehring says she’s joining the NorthLakes team because it aligns with her mission of helping others.  “I’ve dedicated my career to meeting clients where they are at in their recovery journey and motivating them to develop healthy coping skills for a lifestyle of wellness.  After meeting with NorthLakes, it became clear that I could further develop my skills while continuing to remove barriers to care for those suffering from mental health and substance abuse.”

Hayward, Wisconsin—NorthLakes Community Clinic is pleased to announce the addition of two new providers in Hayward starting in April. The addition means patients will now have access to Speech and Occupational therapies. There will also be additional access within the Recovery Program.

Becky Payne, MAT-CCC/SLP, HPCS joins the team as a Speech Language Pathologist. Payne has been practicing speech therapy for over 20-years throughout northern Wisconsin. Most recently, she was employed as the Rehabilitation Manager at Marshfield Medical Center Ladysmith in Ladysmith, Wisconsin. She received her Master’s degree in Speech Pathology with an emphasis in teaching from the University of Wisconsin River Falls and Bachelor of Science degrees in Communicative Disorders and Child Psychology from the University of Minnesota with an interdisciplinary studies degree in Special Education. Her expertise is in the areas of Childhood Apraxia, Pediatric feeding and Swallowing, and nonverbal communication.

In addition to her in-clinic experience, she is also the founder and director of Nature’s Edge Therapy Center in Rice Lake. This center provides Speech and Occupational Therapy incorporating animal-assisted therapy, hippotherapy and horticulture therapy to augment traditional therapy on a ranch setting.

Payne says she joined the NorthLakes team because “the people, the mission and values replicate whole heartedly my passion in the quality of care for the patients they serve.” Payne will be providing speech therapy to children in the Hayward area.  Pediatric occupational therapy will also be added to this service.

Also joining the NorthLakes team in Hayward is Brenda Baribeau, CSAC-IT. Baribeau has spent the past 6-years working with clients who struggle with substance use and mental illness. Most recently, she served as the service and program coordinator of the Birth to Three Program at Barron County Health and Human Services. She received her BS in Psychology from the University of Upper Iowa in Fayette. She is currently finishing up her MA in Integrated Recovery for Co-Occurring Disorders from Hazelden Graduate School of Addictions in Center City Minnesota.

“I wanted to be part of the NorthLakes team because they offer comprehensive wrap-around services for their clients and their families. NorthLakes offers a client centered approach in that they don’t ask ‘what is wrong with you but rather, what happened to you.’ I am also attracted to their ability to offer both mental health services and addiction services. More often than not, clients have co-occurring issues. I’m excited to start a new chapter in my life by joining the NorthLakes team,” says Baribeau. She will primarily be focusing on group therapy until she completes her Certified Substance Abuse Counselor Degree (CSAC). At that time, she will join the Recovery Team and begin seeing clients on a 1:1 basis.

Wheelchair bound patients of NorthLakes Community Clinic now have a safer option for their dental care.  In February, 2019 a new wheelchair lift was installed in the clinic, allowing wheelchair patients to remain in their chair for their dental care.  This is one of the only lifts in northern Wisconsin.  The lift is installed in an oversized dental operatory, also ensuring there is enough space for wheelchair patients to maneuver.  The purchase was made possible through grants from the Christopher & Dana Reeves Foundation, Delta Dental of Wisconsin and numerous community donations.

Watch a video of how it works here:

NorthLakes Community Clinic would like to thank Our Savior’s Lutheran Church of Iron River for donating $1200 towards NorthLakes’ Re-Entry Program.

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church has a commitment to serving the needs of their community. They recognize the value of the Re-Entry Program in doing important work to help members of the community who have been harmed by addiction.

NorthLakes’ Re-Entry Program provides mental health assessments and basic life skills to men and women while they are incarcerated in county jails and after their release; and has been successful supporting re-entry into the community and workforce: key factors in combating recidivism.

Shown here are Iron River Resource Coordinator Beverly Sidlo-Tolliver, Development Director Madeleine Rekemeyer, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church Pastor Carol Braun and Coordinator for the Ashland Clinics and Re-Entry Programs Chris Beirl.

Hayward, Wisconsin—NorthLakes Community Clinic is pleased to announce that starting in mid-April, Pediatric Occupational and Speech Therapies will be available in the Hayward area. Until now, patients often had to travel far distances to receive this type of integrated treatment. 

“We’ve been seeing a number of clients from the Hayward area in our Ashland clinic for quite some time,” says Angie Schoeppach, NorthLakes Community Clinic Therapies Director.  “We know the distance creates an unnecessary burden for families and results in clients missing school.  By expanding our services to Hayward, we can remove some of these barriers to care.”

Occupational and Speech therapies are a commonly needed service for children and teens.  For example, speech therapy can work within a number of areas to enhance a child’s learning and development, but also to assist with things such as swallowing dysfunction and feeding impairments.  Equally as important, occupational therapy can address everything from motor delays to attention span and regulating emotions. 

The expansion was made in part due to the addition of Becky Payne, MAT-CCC/SLP, HPCS. Payne brings over 20-years of experience as a Speech Language Pathologist. We anticipate taking patients starting in mid-April. If you are interested in scheduling an appointment, please call us at (715) 634-2541.

NorthLakes Community Clinic is excited to announce they will be opening a new clinic in Hurley as part of their efforts to reduce barriers to care throughout northern Wisconsin.  The clinic is anticipated to open this summer and will start by offering Behavioral Health and Chiropractic services. Any additional services and staff will depend on community needs.

“Our community partners in Hurley reached out to discuss how we might work together,” says NorthLakes Community Clinic CEO Reba Rice.  “After meeting with them to better understand the health care needs of the Hurley area, we determined we could provide quality services that would help remove barriers to care for folks living in the Hurley area.”

To start, the clinic will be located at the former dental offices of Dr. Hagemann (210 5^th Avenue North). Michaela Perlberg, LCSW will be seeing patients in the Hurley School District and in the clinic. In addition, chiropractic services will be offered several days per week.  Additional details will be made available closer to opening date.