Medicine is a high-stress profession, and often requires healthcare providers to find a way to deal with the stress and tension that comes from working in life-or-death situations. For some medical professionals, this can mean talking to an expert about job-related stress or mental health issues.
“We see a lot of people in the medical field because it is such a high-stress career,” explained Michael Freels, a licensed mental health counselor and partner in the Freels Mental Health Group. “The majority of our patients come in with stress-related problems that can include depression, panic attacks, anxiety, and a general feeling that they are just not handling things well.” The Freels Mental Health Group, which opened in April of 2002 in Fort Lauderdale, provides stress management counseling, as well as child and family counseling, marriage and pre-marital counseling, and alcohol and drug-related counseling. “We also work with people who live nontraditional lifestyles, and those who need help with anger management, or post-traumatic stress disorder,” explained Freels. According to the therapist, the practice is unique in several ways. “There arent a lot of black male therapists in the world, and certainly not many in South Florida,” he said of the Freels Group, which treats a diverse array of patients, about one-third of whom are African-American. “I think these patients feel that I am more connected to them; that I can understand their experiences.” “There also arent a lot of therapists in this area working with children, and most therapists that do are female,” he added. “I think that a lot of the parents who bring their kids to me want them to be able to connect with a male figure in their lives; especially those children who dont have fathers.” Linda Freels, a former social worker who runs the practice with her husband, believes that the organizations size also serves their patients well. “We are the practice, literally; we are the whole operation,” she said. “When people come here, they get a very personal touch. They know that they can call and ask for me or Michael, and they like that.”
The Freels, who are both originally from New York, moved to Florida in 1990. They both became interested in their respective fields in college, though Linda later took a break from social work. “I worked in the field for 12 years after receiving my bachelors degree in social work from New York University (NYU) and a masters degree in public health from Columbia University,” she explained. “I decided that I wanted to do something different, so I worked in the travel business for 20 years.”
Michael became interested in mental health counseling after taking an Introduction to Psychology class at NYU. He received his undergraduate degree there, and went on to earn a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from Duke University. Freels also received additional training from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. Before opening the Freels Mental Health Group, he worked for three years at BARC, the Broward Addiction Recovery Center.
“I generally work from a cognitive behavioral therapy model, helping people to change their thinking, which in turn, changes their behavior,” Freels said of his approach to counseling. “For example, if patients have low self-esteem, I try to get them to look at the negative ways in which they think about themselves and to see how this behavior is not productive.”
In addition to counseling, the Freels Mental Health Group has also established an on-line store, called Lindas Health Boutique, where people can find products to supplement their therapy. “These are basically stress-related and educational products that weve found over the years that we recommend to our patients,” said Linda. “We carry books and CDs, as well as stress relief products for adults and children.”