Meet Akanksha Madan of Farmington Hills

Today we’d like to introduce you to Akanksha Madan

akanksha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am a Clinical Therapist, originally born and brought up in India. I had initially completed my bachelor’s and master’s in clinical counseling in India. I came to Michigan, USA, 10 years back and re-did my master’s here when my son was 2 months old through part-time schooling. I juggled being an ABA therapist where I was working with autistic kids alongside pursuing my master’s. I was completing my internship, getting my foot in the water, and gathering my experience with therapy in inpatient and partial hospitalization facilities. Post my graduation, I started my real journey as an outpatient therapist, where personal life struggles and experiences further drew me towards trauma as a specialization. I got further trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy).
This shift helped me work with women of domestic abuse & violence. Opportunity struck when I found a job close to home location-wise for me, but what drew me towards it was that I started working with people struggling with partner betrayal trauma. This opened my horizons, as the more I worked with them and specialized with them, the more I started coming across variations of behavioral addiction, especially eating disorders, food addictions, porn and sex addiction, gaming addiction, and shopping addiction. I knew right there that this was my calling, and I started working on my specialization as a CSAT (Certified Sex Addict Therapist) & CMAT (Certified Multiple Addiction Therapist). Along this journey, I started recognizing that my people struggle with intimacy disorder where both my addict and partner needed and craved to create a healthy relationship in order to heal beyond their painful past. To serve more appropriately and to the best of my capability, I furthered my specialization in Gottman’s couple counseling and the ERCEM model (Early Recovery Couple’s Empathy Model).
The more I worked, the more I started noticing that behavioral addiction, partner betrayal trauma, and especially porn and sex addiction were a disorder for the rich where people somehow had to choose between their mental health and everyday life, which is an unfair choice to make as most of the therapists in my field don’t accept insurances. Seeing people heal, create intimate relationships, and move beyond their pain was very gratifying. However, I still felt a void and thought I was not helping them to the best of my capability. Working in practice, I was working in; I realized that I needed to serve by giving more back to society. Hence, in April of this year, I decided to start my practice where I could incorporate some commonly used insurances by the masses, like Blue Cross, Aetna, Priority, and HAP. We also offer something called superbill, which people who don’t have these insurances have to submit to their insurance company and, depending on their plan, would get reimbursed for the services they take here at THRIVE.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest struggle was to see how one could still serve the masses while being pocket-friendly. Paying for these services was not impractical for my people, who should not have to choose between their family/ children’s wants and needs and their mental health.
Another big struggle is that porn and sex addiction or partner betrayal trauma is such a hush-hush and secretive topic that is never discussed outside of the bedroom. Where these behaviors are either minimized or normalized by society, bringing this into awareness, verbalizing these issues and struggles, and normalizing them, especially regarding seeking help, has been very challenging. Growing awareness and psycho-education around this topic of behavioral addiction and partner betrayal trauma is my life calling. Another big hurdle is the struggle of awareness and seriousness between substance and behavioral addiction, where people don’t take behavioral addiction seriously and assume it is a mere lack of choices.
Growing awareness around all of this is my life mission and goal, but at the same time, I am also a single mother who loves to spend her time and life with my son “SAI” and my parents. It is a challenge for me to create a balance between my personal and professional life, ensuring I am spending enough quality time with the love of my life and still being able to devote my life to my goal of making people aware of the severity and the impact of behavioral addiction on us and our future generations.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
If you are in a relationship with someone who struggles with a chemical or sexual addiction, it can be traumatic and chaotic. You somewhat understand that your partner is struggling and is not willfully choosing their addiction over you or your relationship. Still, you are having difficulty absorbing the embarrassment and shame associated with it.
We need you to remember that you did not cause your partner’s addiction, nor can you cure it. Most partners are not even aware that their spouse/significant other struggles with sexually compulsive or addictive behaviors. The discovery of your partner’s secret sexual behaviors can leave you feeling hurt, numb, angry, hopeless, humiliated, ashamed, rejected, and embarrassed is common. To sum it up, what you are experiencing is TRAUMA, and you need help. You don’t have to do this alone.
We are passionate about walking along the way with you to work through the pain and confusion of your life situation and incorporate the Multidimensional Partner Trauma Model from the Association of Partners of Sex Addiction Trauma Specialists (APSATS) into my work with hurting partners. In addition, we bring a trauma-informed mindset and promote a non-shaming growth orientation. We are trained in EMDR and are Clinical Partner Specialists (CCPS). We work with you to address and minimize symptoms and guide you through healing, recovery, and happiness.
We also specialize in addictive behaviors, especially behavioral addiction, where someone repeatedly engages in a specific behavior, despite negative consequences in their life, often finding temporary relief or pleasure from the activity, even when it starts to disrupt their relationships, work, or overall well-being; like excessive gambling, compulsive shopping, or excessive internet use, porn and sex addiction and food addiction. We here at Thrive Beyond Trauma Counseling are CSAT and CMAT Therapists (Certified Sex Addiction Therapists / Multiple Addiction Therapists). Where CSAT / CMAT training and certification programs are recognized as leaders and experts within the field of sex addiction and multiple addiction recovery. We use research-based assessment tools and the 30-task model treatment methodology to deliver an unprecedented approach to addiction recovery for trauma, sexual addiction, co-occurring addictions, etc.
We have created a structured plan for managing conflict and developing emotional and sexual intimacy to help you through your journey of growth, help you untangle your complex relationship pattern, work with you to improve communication, learn to fight fairly, avoid relationship pitfalls that lead to the “four horsemen of the apocalypse: stonewalling, criticism, defensiveness, and contempt.” We also specialize in training in GOTTMAN METHOD COUPLES THERAPY.
We utilize a humanistic-based therapy style incorporating a strength-based and person-centered foundation to empower the adolescent, adult, and geriatric population and their families to live a fully functioning life. Our experience and education have provided us with the opportunity to work with a wide variety of clients who have struggled with anxiety, depression, marital issues, partner betrayal, and PTSD.
We also offer THERAPUTIC DISCLOSURE and POLYGRAPHIC EXAMINATION SERVICES.
A process that can be very beneficial for betrayal trauma is Therapeutic Disclosure. It is a process that has been proven to be helpful and healing for the addict, partner, and their coupleship. It is an opportunity for the addict to directly and truthfully disclose the history of his or her sexual acting out behavior since the inception of the relationship/ inception of the problem. This is prepared by the addict, who works closely with his or her therapist. It is beneficial for the partner, and it is their right to receive full disclosure to make an informed decision about the next steps in the marriage or relationship.
Polygraph testing, on the other hand, is a scientific test that collects physiological data from a person to detect dishonesty-related reactions. Through this, the examiner will analyze the charts and render an opinion of the examinee’s truthfulness. We here at Thrive Beyond Trauma Counseling conduct polygraphs by a Michigan-licensed polygraph Examiner and Certified and Trained professionals to help you navigate through all of this.

Akanksha Madan, MA, LPC, NCC, CCPS, CSAT, CMAT, is the owner and director of Thrive Beyond Trauma Counseling. She received her master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from South University and is currently trained in EMDR, Multi-dimensional Partner Trauma (CCPS) certification, Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT), Certified Multiple Addict Therapist (CMAT), and ERCEM model (Early Recovery Couple’s Empathy Model) to help them. She has extensive experience working with individuals and couples dealing with depression, anxiety, trauma, and abuse for more than 15 years. She also focuses on helping individuals and couples to connect and communicate well and to help them build a foundation of acceptance, trust, commitment, and intimacy in their relationship.

Pricing:

• Individual Sessions: $180 per 55-minute session
• Couple Sessions: $180 per 55-minute session
• Group Sessions: $55 per 90-minute session
• We also do take some major insurances and provide superbills to our clients
• We also conduct Therapeutic Disclosures & Therapeutic Polygraph

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.thrivebeyondtraumacounseling.com