Chicago’s Millennium Counseling Center was founded as a solo practice in 2004 by Ann Foster.

The practice initially focused on process problems, trauma and compulsive behaviors, such as those related to love, sex and food, reflecting the training and interests of its founder.

In 2010, the growing practice took on an intern, Derek Bylsma, a trainee who had been drawn to counseling after his own struggles with alcoholism. Bylsma played soccer for the University of Wisconsin–Madison, then professionally for teams in Milwaukee and Portland.

After a career shift from athletics to recruitment, his previously sociable drinking began to be a problem.

“My drinking had increased and started to, you know, kind of get in the way of several things,” Bylsma told Addiction Treatment Business.

A stay at a residential treatment center in California set Bylsma on the road to recovery, a process and practice that has become “one of the cornerstones of the way I live my life,” he explained.

In 2020, Foster stepped back and Bylsma became executive director of Millennium, applying the skills and experience that he gained as a professional athlete and the founder of two recruitment companies. The practice currently has several interns and clinicians, who typically carry a caseload of around 25 client appointments per week.

In terms of both staffing and patients, Millennium’s model is as a “huge referral hub,” Bylsma said, taking on the clients it is able to serve and passing on those who would be better off elsewhere.

Bylsma and Clinical Director Oren Matteson call back prospective patients who get in touch.

“The first question we ask is, ‘Does it make clinical sense?’” he said. “We have absolutely no problem telling somebody that we’re not the right place for you.”

It takes all types

Millennium’s workforce growth stems from many staff being recruited as interns, like Bylsma.

A focus on quality and fit – new hires must receive unanimous approval after meeting with their potential future colleagues, rather than through a strategy of specialization or market demand – has also given the practice a diverse and comprehensive character.

It’s one that is well suited to the holistic approach Bylsma sees as integral to handling what were once seen as narrow and singular issues within the substance use disorder (SUD) space.

“We don’t grow because we want to be bigger,” he said. “We grow when we find the right people.”

One of the offerings that Millennium sees as a differentiator is its 3A program, which stands for “Attention, Accountability and Acceptance.” The program was designed by Foster, Bylsma and Matteson to maintain client progress during periods of transition, such as after residential treatment.

“Many times, when somebody’s gone through really intensive residential treatment, they’ve got the basis of the things they need to live a life of recovery,” Bylsma said. “[But] one of the things that we kept hearing was that people wanted more individual attention.”

Each 3A client has four to six hours a week with a senior therapist, who builds a customized care program, which can include counseling sessions with the client and their core group of family and friends.

One of Millennium’s other unique offerings reflects Bylsma’s own backstory.

The Athlete Wellness program began over a decade ago, after Bylsma was contacted by several former professional and college athletes, who wanted to work with a therapist with a similar background.

Millennium now has links to local colleges and universities including the University of Illinois-Chicago, DePaul, Northwestern and Loyola. Clients in the program are matched to licensed counselors, many of whom are former top intercollegiate athletes themselves.

They are also invited to join Millennium’s Life After Sport peer support group.

“Many times, the reason why someone comes to us is because their performance is being affected, but it really may not be a performance-related problem,” Bylsma said.

Bylsma plans to grow Millennium’s Athlete Wellness and 3A programs into other markets, but as in Chicago, that will be entirely dependent on meeting the right clinicians based there.

Of the two, he feels the excitement many clinicians feel about working with athletes and the more complex nature of the 3A program means the former will be faster to expand.

“The need for that is absolutely massive,” he said, noting its recent expansion into club and high school sports. “The dream would be that we can get that type of support to more people.”