KRISTEN DRAUGHAN, LCSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

 

Kristen Draughan, MSW, LCSW, received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Hannibal La-Grange University in 2011. While there, she played softball on a scholarship and continues to be a die-hard Cardinals fan. Following graduation, Kristen attended St. Ambrose University and received her Master’s degree in Social Work in 2015. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional.

Kristen draws on her experience over the last five years to address the individual needs of her clients. She has conducted suicidal/homicidal risk assessments and has worked with various mental health diagnoses such as: Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, and personality disorders. Kristen’s years of experience has also led her to observe the majority of her clients struggle with shame; because of this, she has completed several trainings on Shame Resilience Theory by Brené Brown. She incorporates the components of this theory into her sessions to improve her client’s self-worth and resilience.

With her background in social work, and her years of experience, Kristen creates a warm and inviting atmosphere with the use of several treatment modalities; some of which include Person-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and Shame Resilience Theory. Her goal is to empower clients as they wade through difficult times, to validate their experience, and to provide them with skills to navigate painful situations. Accepting clients ages 10 and above.

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Lynn Willard, LCSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Lynn Willard received a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Spanish from Illinois State University and started her career in providing services to Spanish-speaking clients in the Peoria, Illinois area.  From 1983 to 1990 she worked for Catholic Social Services (CSS), initially in the La Casa de Santa Maria Program, then in the adoption program.  While providing services to children in the process of transitioning from foster care to adoption, her passion for adoption and her desire to help children affected by sexual abuse evolved.  In 1992, she earned her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Illinois Urbana and accepted a position with Lutheran Social Services Inc. (LSSI) in the sexual abuse program. During this time, Lynn began to formulate a plan to open a child welfare agency, specializing in two areas - child sexual abuse and adoption. 

In November of 1992, ABC Counseling & Family Services, a non-profit child welfare agency,  was born. Lynn founded ABC after months of hard work, collaboration, and dedication, opening the 1st office in downtown Bloomington, IL. Her research in this market uncovered a significant need for specialized counseling in central Illinois, which led to staffing six additional offices in Decatur, Springfield, Champaign, and eventually Pekin and Peoria.  Lynn, serving as Executive Director of the agency, began the clinical program in Bloomington with a handful of clients and as contracts were developing, focused on strengthening the adoption program. She established a partnership with an adoption attorney from Urbana and developed relationships with attorneys all over the State of Illinois. Within the first year of providing adoption home studies and placements, more than 25 infants were placed in loving adoptive homes. 

Thirty years later, ABC Counseling is still the predominant agency in central Illinois providing specialized assessments and treatment for children affected by sexual abuse. 

Fast forward to 2017, when Lynn stepped down as Executive Director at ABC Counseling and came full circle back to resume her work as a sexual abuse therapist.  Her concentration was focused on evaluations/treatment for youth with sexual behavior problems (ages 6-18) and evaluations/treatment for survivors of sexual abuse (ages 4-18).  The treatment modality for youth with sexual behavior problems is primarily CBT, but a family systems approach is also utilized at the point in treatment the youth is ready to do apology work and at other times throughout treatment.  With survivors of sexual abuse, depending on the age of the child,  client-centered, trauma focused CBT, and psychodynamic approaches are the evidenced-based approaches typically used by Lynn.  Because a young child’s environment is typically revolved around play, Lynn uses various forms of play therapy and bibliotherapy in her work with children that have been sexually abused.

 

Over the 30 years at ABC and 9 years at the two child welfare agencies, CSS and LSSI, Lynn has worked with a variety of children and adults in need of counseling services.  She understands that grief and loss is a common theme seen over and over in adoptive clients, birth parents and families affected by sexual abuse.  Giving clients an understanding about the stages of grief, the impact grief has on daily functioning and that each person processes grief differently has made all the difference in the world to clients.

Additionally, Lynn uses education a tool to help parents and caretakers understand trauma.  Lynn developed and implemented psychoeducation classes to meet this need, including weekly topics such as signs and symptoms of sexual abuse, short term & long-term effects of sexual abuse, normal/abnormal sexual behaviors in children, how to parent victims and offenders living in the same household, etc. 

Lynn has a passion for working with children affected by trauma, parents coping with traumatized children, youthful offenders and couples struggling with infertility.  In her spare time, she has taught as an adjunct professor both at U of I Urbana and at Illinois State University and presented on various topics associated with her work to professionals. She will be presenting at the 2023 ILATSA conference in Elgin in March of 2023.

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