Alan Moreland, LMFT, CSAT-Supervisor, CMAT, EMDR Certified, ERCEM Trained
Owner/Therapist - Life Balance Counseling Peoria, PLLC
For well over a decade, Alan has been a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, a Certified Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT), a Certified Multiple Addictions Therapist (CMAT)-Financial Disorders (Including Work Addiction, Gambling Addiction, and an EMDR Trained therapist specializing in treating sexual addiction, intimacy disorders, and betrayal trauma. He has over two decades of experience working with individuals, couples, and families in the field of addiction treatment both with chemical (alcohol & drugs) and process addictions (sex & love addiction, pornography addiction, internet addiction, gambling addiction, spending/shopping addiction). Never one to rest on his laurels and consistently adding to his therapeutic tool kit, he has subsequently completed the Certified Multiple Addictions Therapist for Technology Disorders (Internet Addiction, Gaming Addiction, and Technology Addictions), as well as completed training to become a Preferred Provider for Adult Enmeshment through Dr. Kenneth M. Adams’ Overcoming Enmeshment site. And finally last year after completing many hours of consultation, he fulfilled the requirements to be an EMDR Certified Therapist. Additionally last year, in order to help sex addicts and their betrayed spouses kick the healing process into high gear as soon as possible, Alan (and several other Life Balance therapists) completed Early Recovery Couples Empathy Model (ERCEM) Training with Carol Jurgenson Sheets. This year Alan has accomplished a long awaited goal of becoming a CSAT-Supervisor.
Alan brings a unique passion and authenticity to his life’s work to assist sex addicts and their partners navigate the traumatic devastation of betrayal after the discovery of addiction, the difficulties of early recovery, the demanding work towards relational stability, and ultimately restoration of health, harmony, integrity, and joy in life for those suffering from addiction. It is his ardent desire to give addicts and their distressed families the highest quality and best available care in a nurturing, safe, & healing environment.
Alan’s work is grounded in evidenced-based practices. As a Certifed Sex Addiction Therapist (CSAT), He completed arduous and demanding training through the International Institute of Trauma and Addcition Professionals (IITAP) with cutting-edge leaders in the addiction treatment field to learn to utilize the task-centered approach researched and developed by Patrick Carnes, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field sex addiction treatment. The state-of-the-art CSAT certification is quickly becoming an industry standard for addiction professionals. Additionally, Alan has attained the level of Certification in EMDR, which helps people rapidly process through the trauma that so commonly coexists with addiction. EMDR is an evidenced-based practice now accepted as a treatment of choice by numerous trauma organizations. The Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs Practice Guidelines have placed EMDR in their highest category, recommended for all trauma populations at all times. The American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline (2004) has stated that EMDR is recommended as first-line treatment of trauma. Likewise, the national registry (NREPP) of The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cites EMDR as evidence-based practice for treatment of PTSD, anxiety and depression symptoms, leading to an improvement in overall mental health functioning. EMDR has a broad base of published case reports and controlled research that supports it as an empirically validated treatment of trauma. EMDR allows individuals to rapidly process through and heal from the symptoms and emotional distress resulting from disturbing life experiences. EMDR is designed to reduce trauma-related stress, anxiety, and depression symptoms associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to improve overall mental health functioning.
More personally, Alan grew up in a small, tight-knit, rural town in furthest-most Southern Illinois. After graduating from a Christian liberal arts school, Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas with a bachelors degree in Missions, he opted to pursue a career in the corporate world in Memphis, Tennessee. After many productive, but personally unfulfilling, years in both the shipping/logistics and pharmaceutical fields, Alan decided to go back to graduate school and to pursue his passion to make a difference in the lives of suffering people. For several years during graduate school, he gained experience in addictions working as a counselor in a well-respected Memphis treatment center, Memphis Recovery Center (MRC) with both adults and adolescents and their families. After graduate school, he moved to Central Illinois to be with the love of his life. He opened up his private practice a decade ago, and started his group practice during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
Testimonials:
“The time I spent with Alan significantly improved my life. Alan helped me to understand some difficult truths about myself which have allowed me to truly experience life, all of it, the good and the bad, without needing to find an escape. I can face the challenges of each day fully aware that I am human and any mistakes I make are opportunities to learn something new about myself and grow.”
— Robert
“Alan was my therapist for 5 years. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I grew within that 5-year time. Alan helped me grow in areas that I didn’t know know my growth was stunted in. I 10/10 recommend Alan if you are struggling in any areas of your life.”
— Lindsay”