Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Tankel.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Like all good stories, mine started with the challenge of my lifetime: My eldest son, Eric, became addicted to prescription opioids in 2002 and then to heroin around 2005. At that time, the internet was young; the stigma of addiction was great; and treatment options were in short supply. I immediately jumped into network mode. Were other families going through this? What did they do about it? Where did they go for support and education? I quickly realized that I needed to become my own expert in addiction and intervention, and that I would need to create my own map for our son and our family. I was very public about our family’s situation. I did not feel shame about Eric’s addiction. I saw it as a challenge, and I was not going down without a fight. In the year before Eric went to treatment, I started giving talks about the opioid crisis that was spreading like cancer through our community. I spoke with anyone who would host me: teachers’ groups, library groups, churches, town hall meetings. Sometimes, I would show up at a venue to find only 2 or 3 mothers waiting for me. The stigma around addiction was so great that, at the beginning, no one wanted to be seen attending one of my presentations. In 2006, Eric agreed to go to treatment. He received excellent care from skilled clinicians, going from inpatient treatment to a wilderness program and on to sober living. I remember the night when Eric, 21-years-old and new to recovery, said, “I have a great therapist named Kevin. Maybe I could be a therapist.” It was the first time since he was a little boy that he had expressed an idea about “being” something in the future. After a year in continuous treatment, Eric enrolled in a sober college program at Augsburg University in Minneapolis. Later, he received his masters in counseling from the University of Pennsylvania. Eric Tankel, LPC, was the first in our family to become a therapist. In 2017, he founded Fox Creek Clinical, LLC while working at Ethos Treatment. My youngest son, Ethan Tankel followed in his brother’s footsteps, earning his masters in counseling from the University of Pennsylvania and becoming a therapist. With strong encouragement from both sons, I enrolled in Bryn Mawr College’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research at the age of 58. My years of being a volunteer peer support to families facing addiction in a loved one gave me a significant advantage in returning to school as an adult learner. When I graduated in 2020, Ethan and I founded our own practice together in Malvern: Better Counseling Services, LLC. Jillian Convery, LPC, MA in Clinical Psychology joined the family and collaborates with all the Tankels about how best to serve clients. She is the owner of Centered Clinical, LLC. Our three practices represent a family of therapists who treat families. When families choose this service, we collectively develop a case conceptualization about how best to approach the unique challenges faced by each family member. Together, we offer a unified and comprehensive system of care that helps all family members to grow and heal at the same time.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The road to recovery was rough and uncertain for my family. When we started our journey, Eric was a 16-year-old high school dropout addicted to drugs. We knew nothing about addiction, and resources for treatment were hard to find. Along the way, we met many wonderful people who were in recovery, were clinicians, or both. Helping other families along that same road feels natural. I cannot imagine having any other job.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am most proud of the way that we turned the scariest and hardest time of our lives into something that benefits our community. We have helped a lot of families, couples, and individuals address a spectrum of issues from addiction to anxiety, depression, and failure to launch. Some of our former clients have even gone on to become therapists themselves. The good work grows and extends to the next generation of clinicians.
What were you like growing up?
We are still growing! As a therapist, your clients invite you into their lives. We are changed by every interaction and learn something from every client. The best part is that we get to be part of a solution to a problem that could have destroyed us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bettercounselingservices.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liz-tankel-mss-lcsw-caadc-cai-6673097/
Image Credits
Eric Tankel for all photos
