Our Team

GECS consists of educators, scientists and clinicians dedicated to spanning the gap between research and its application in our schools, local treatment programs, mental health agencies and faith communities as we learn more about the brain and its implications for life success.

Click the team member’s name on the left to learn more.

Georgi Educational & Counseling Services’ Swift Avenue office
For directions, click here.

We work primarily with secondary schools offering assessment, consultation, counseling and systemic intervention.

As an organization GECS recognizes that no two educational institutions are the same.  Each school has its unique personality, strengths and challenges.  Before moving forward toward a solution, GECS evaluates independent schools, identifying the level of substance use and attitudes about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs that might affect levels of use. We do comprehensive evaluations with information from students and their parents, faculty, board members, alumni and their parents in order to help the school “see itself” through an objective lens.  As an important adjunct to the survey data, GECS conducts interviews.  We gather information through face-to-face interviews as well as Web-based metrics.  All information is kept confidential with individual identities protected by federal confidentiality statutes.  We evaluate in order to develop institutionally specific interventions based on the data we gather, which leads to a systemic plan change, which would include:

• Goals
• Objectives
• Intervention/Materials

Program Topics Available for Schools

• The Adolescent
• The Care and Feeding of the Adolescent Brain
• Tobacco – The Gateway Drug
• Process Groups, Cognitive Groups – a comparison
• Limbic Resonance – The Science of Relationships
• Grief and Mourning in Recovery
• Personality Structures/Disorders and Treatment Implications
• Craving Management

Case Study in Education

LaGrange, GA — Georgi Educational and Counseling Services developed a community-wide smoking reduction initative, focusing on middle-school and high-school students. Click below to hear Jeff talk about what he did in LaGrange, Georgia.

http://georgicounseling.com/audio/LaGrange.mp3 (14:30, mp3)

Counseling

Most of our direct individual clinical services are provided by Jeff Georgi & Associates, LLC

Our goal is to provide an open, supportive, and confidential environment for you to address the issues that are concerning you. To schedule a first appointment, called an initial consultation, simply call our office at (919) 286-1600 or email us at jeff@georgicounseling.com

Who can benefit from counseling?

Just about anyone can benefit. No problem is too big or small. Listed below are just a few examples of some common concerns:

• Symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression
• Interpersonal difficulties, family problems, romantic relationship concerns, problems with assertiveness, and other issues
• Bereavement and grief related to the loss of a loved one
• Questions/confusion about identity, self-image, sexuality, gender, or religious concerns
• Concerns about body image, food, eating, or weight, as well as treatment for eating disorders
• Experience with sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, abuse, or other trauma
• Thoughts of suicide, death, or hurting others
• Behaviors that can be harmful to you, like drug or alcohol abuse or cutting

When to Seek Counseling

While counseling might be helpful in numerous situations, there are some conditions in which we would strongly encourage you to seek counseling services:

• You are unhappy on most days or feel a sense of hopelessness
• You worry excessively or are constantly on edge
• You are unable to concentrate on your daily activities
• You are unable to sleep at night or constantly feel tired
• You have experienced a change in your appetite or your weight
• You have experienced a loss (e.g., a relationship breakup, a parent’s death)
• You have increased your use of alcohol or other drugs (including cigarettes)
• You feel overwhelmed by what is going on in your life
• You are having thoughts about hurting yourself or someone else

Individual counseling facilitates the exploration and resolution of personal problems and issues according to the needs of the individual.

The Spiritual Platform™

The Spiritual Platform™ is a construct that helps the patients examine their own spiritual strengths as well as deficits that the disease addiction has caused. In this regard, it is helpful to view spirituality not as an attribute which human beings possess but rather as an activity that we do.

Understood in this way, spirituality becomes an existential expression, a doing thing. Admittedly, this is a significant departure from the often-held mystical view of spirituality. However, once we understand that spirituality is something we do, we can be supported in doing it more authentically.

In this context is helpful to conceptualize our Spiritual ability as a Platform supported by four unique activities performed by human beings. These four abilities are our capacity to make conscious choices, our ability to take growth-producing risks, our facility to develop healthy relationships, and our capacity to experience wonder and participate in awe. These “pillars” of spirituality tend to be eroded by the corrosive energy of addictive disease.

Becky Georgi

Becky Georgi, MS, LPC, LCAS, CCS is the Senior Counselor at Durham Academy (a College Preparatory Independent School) and holds a faculty position in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center.  She received a Master of Science degree in Education and Counseling at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana and holds a certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy from the Menninger Clinic.  Becky is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a License Clinical Addiction Specialist and a Certified Clinical Supervisor.

For over two decades, Becky’s professional experience has focused on working with adolescents and their families specializing in substance abuse education and treatment.  At Durham Academy, Becky is responsible for developing wellness programming for the school community, providing individual counseling for students, and implementing educational plans for students with learning differences.  She is the chairman of Durham Academy’s Wellness Committee, which promotes awareness, education and prevention in the areas of substance abuse, eating disorders, relational aggression and sexual misconduct by promoting healthy relationships within the educational community. Currently, Becky and Jeff Georgi, her husband, are involved in developing and implementing a recovery maintenance program for the students and their families of the Carlbrook School in Halifax, VA.

Prior to focusing her efforts in education, Becky worked as the Adolescent Substance Abuse Program Director at Duke Addictions Program, Duke University.  In this capacity, she brought this program into compliance with accrediting agencies and developed a standard of care, which has been nationally recognized.  She was one of the first outpatient directors to successfully incorporate smoking cessation within an adolescent substance abusing patient population at Duke. Previously, she worked in outpatient and inpatient settings including Charter Behavioral Health, South Bend, Indiana, as a program director of adolescent services.

In an effort to combine her knowledge of science and education, Becky has worked on several projects and published papers related to adolescent development and health with Aaron White, PhD., Assistant Professor at Duke University Medical Center and William Jansen, PhD., Research Professor, Department of Social Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Health Policy in The Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University.  The topics of these articles include marijuana and the adolescent brain, communication between parents and students about substance use, bullying, student interrelationships, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and dating violence. She has also worked closely on national efforts such as creating a “Community of Concern”, with Founder Mimi Fleury, through Georgetown Preparatory School, to create parental awareness of drug, alcohol, and substance abuse prevention. Becky has also worked with Katie Koestner to prevent date rape and Barbara Coloroso addressing relational aggression as well as many other experts in the education and prevention field.

Jeff Georgi

Jeffrey M. Georgi, M.Div., M.A.H, CCAS, LPC, CGP from Duke University Medical Center has served as the clinical director of the Duke Addictions Program and Intervention Program.  He received his BA from Duke University and his M.Div. in Pastoral Psychology from the Duke Divinity School and The Philadelphia Divinity School.  Jeff completed an Internship and Residency program in Pastoral Counseling at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Medical Center and a Masters in Allied Health at Duke University.  He is a licensed Clinical Addiction Specialist, a Certified Clinical Supervisor, a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Certified Group Psychotherapist by the American Association of Group Psychotherapy.   During his two plus decades at the Medical Center Jeff held clinical appointments in the Departments of Surgery, Obstetrics, and Psychiatry.  He remains a clinical associate in the Department of Behavioral Medicine as well as a faculty member of the Duke University School of Nursing.

He has also served as the Director of Psychological Services for the Rice Diet Program in Durham, North Carolina, Jeff applies a model of substance abuse treatment to patients with significant dysregulated© or compulsive eating disorders.

Although primarily known for his work in field of addictions with adolescents, adults, and families Jeff is also a national trainer and respected author in the areas of The Spiritual Platform™ a form of clinical spirituality, ethics, and the clinical application of our understanding of the adolescent brain, its development and vulnerability.  In this regard, Jeff has been involved in a community wide intervention in Georgia targeting middle school and high school students in an effort to reduce nicotine and alcohol use.

Currently, Jeff and Becky Georgi, his wife, are involved in developing and implementing a recovery maintenance program for the students and their families of the Carlbrook School in Halifax, VA. Jeff continues to consult with schools and adolescent treatment facilities bringing science to practice under the administrative umbrella of Georgi Educational and Counseling Services.  He has contributed to a number of Treatment Improvement Protocols which are seen as the best practice guidelines by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, Washington D.C.   Jeff has brought his lectures and consulting expertise overseas.  In May 2006 he participated in the United Kingdom/European Symposium on Addictive Disorders and was asked to address the British Parliament applying his solutions to alcoholism use in the United States to the United Kingdom.

Jeff continues to see patients, facilitate groups, and work with families while at the same time expanding his clinical activities with patients struggling with obesity and compulsive eating disorders. While remaining a faculty member at Duke Jeff is now directing more of his energy to help educate and empower parents to effectively deal with the threats to our adolescents’ development presented by alcohol, tobacco and drug. He and his wife are focusing these prevention/intervention efforts in a number of different community settings.

Contact Us

Nestled between Duke University’s East Campus and the Durham Freeway, we are conveniently located in west Durham.

In the map to the right, click the green pushpin for directions.

Georgi Educational & Counseling Services
112 Swift Avenue
Durham, NC 27705
tel: (919) 286-1600
fax: (919) 286-1600

For Evonne Marie Lopes, Executive Assistant to GECS
(919) 824-0072

Adolescent Development

Keeping Adolescents Healthy: Exploring the Issues Facing Today’s Kids and Communities, White, Aaron, BookSurged Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2008.

“I do not believe it is an exaggeration to say that this is one of the most helpful books about adolescent life you can have in your library.  It covers a wide range of topics and I have found myself using it more as a reference work rather than sitting down and reading it from cover to cover.”

(This book can be ordered from GECS directly – contact us)

Education

Getting the Best Out Of College: a professor, a dean and a student tell you how to maximize your experience, Feaver, Peter and Wasiolek, Sue, Tenspeed Press, Berkeley, CA, 2009.

“You will find this a practical book, which will help you ask the right questions and where to find the right answers.”

Tobacco, Alcohol and other Drugs

Buzz: the straight facts about the most used and abused drugs from alcohol to ecstasy, Kuhn, Cynthia, Swartzwelder, Scott, and Wilson, Wilkie, WW Norton & Co. New York 2008.

“There is no effort to use scare tactics and thus both parents and children can use this book as a point of discussion.”

Personal Stories of Recovery

Beautiful Boy, Sheff, David, Houghton Mifflin Co., New York 2008.

“This is a well-written narrative about a father’s journey through his son’s addiction.  It may chronicle many of the emotions and struggles you have already experienced.  It helps to define the impact of addiction on the entire family and the importance that parents play even in the face of their “powerlessness.”

The Lost Years: surviving a mother and daughters worst nightmare, Wandzilak, Kristina, and Curry, Constance, Jeffers Press, Santa Monica, CA, 2006.

“This is a powerful and disturbing work that chronicles the power of addiction.  It is unique in the sense that it not only shows the horrible price paid by the addicted but also engages the enormous loss associated with loving someone who has his illness.  While we feel this is an important book we should caution the reader that it is both graphic and at times painful to read. This book is also about triumph and courage.”

ADHD

Delivered from Distraction, getting the most out of life with attention deficit disorder, Hallowell, Edward M., Ratey, John J., Ballantine books, New York, 2004.

“Because a number of students struggle with attention deficit issues we included this book as a reference.  There is a chapter specific to transition to college life. I have personally found it helpful and believe both parents and students can use it as a guide through the difficult landscape of ADHD.”

Mindfulness

Calming Your Anxious Mind: how mindfulness and compassion can free you from fear and panic, Brantley, Jeffrey, New Harbinger Publications, Inc, 2007.

“We believe you will this book to be a practical and helpful guide to mindful practice.  Because the available research, about mindfulness has been shown to be so helpful in addressing a wide range of issues within the adolescent life experience, we incorporate mindful practice into every one of our student group therapy sessions.”

Therapy groups are the backbone of sustained recovery and personal growth.

GECS embraces a supportive group format where the student will be able to evaluate his/her relationship with alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs; his/her relationship with other people; and his/her relationship with themselves. Within the group therapy setting the student will share their concerns, learn to actively ask for help while offering help to others, learn about how they affect other people and how other people affect them, learn to speak more comfortably about their emotions, practice better self care skills, and develop deep and satisfying connections with other people committed to recover.

The student will discover that many of their issues are not unique to themselves, and they will connect to others within the group. The student will experience the breakdown of their isolation and withdrawal from others. Neither shaming nor confrontational, GECS uses a Modified Interpersonal approach, which embraces the power of connection and our shared humanity. The student will never be forced to divulge anything in group until they are ready. There are times the student may experience some emotional discomfort or anxiety, and if so we encourage them to talk about it and ask for help. If the student is having difficulty connecting with what others are sharing we encourage them to own their own courage and speak up, for undoubtedly they will be identifying a truth within the entire group.

Why we believe this approach works

You may be asking why our groups are so important. At its most fundamental level we are all born into groups, live in groups, are wounded in groups and eventually find healing in groups. Consequently the group experience is highly valued by the senior clinicians associated with GECS and is an experience we believe holds profound spiritual significance.  Group therapy provides a setting in which a variety of important experiences will occur.

Aaron White, PhD is a research psychologist trained in the neurosciences. His graduate research at Miami University (in Ohio) and post-doctoral work at Duke University Medical Center focused on the effects of alcohol and other drugs on brain function and brain development.

From 2001 to 2008, Dr. White was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Medical Psychology, at Duke University Medical Center. During that time, his research expanded to include individual and community wide education and prevention efforts aimed at promoting healthy adolescent brain development. While at Duke he helped create a successful online alcohol education and prevention program, called AlcoholEdu, for college students. The course has been completed by more than 1,000,000 students to date.

He recently published a successful parenting guide, Keeping Adolescence Healthy: Exploring the Issues Facing Today’s Kids and Communities, which examines the science behind issues like the developmental impact of videogame violence, media and body image, adolescent psychological disorders, drinking and drug use, and more.  In the fall of 2008, he joined the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism where he continues his work promoting healthy adolescent brain and psychological development. Over the years, he has appeared on several major news networks in the US and overseas, published more than 40 scientific manuscripts and spoken at the request of several foreign governments.