Joel A. Falco, MA, LCSW

Joel A. Falco has worked in the social service and mental health fields since 1994. At the Center, Joel is Director of Specialized Treatment Programs. As a member of the CCC since 1998, Mr. Falco has contributed to the development of the Collaborative Stage Model (CSM). He provides a wide range of services to the Center's clients and specializes in the treatment of individuals who have acted abusively or committed offenses. Joel is committed to helping those whose behaviors have become objectionable or self injurious. He compassionately understands how people can behave in ways that are hurtful to themselves and those they love and he actively engages in helping his clients make effective change.

Additionally, Joel facilitates and co-facilitates therapy groups for adult sex offenders and adolescents with problematic sexual behaviors. His work includes comprehensive, specialized, sex offender evaluations, and trainings and workshops for parent groups, PTA groups, and community groups. The workshops include: "Tangled in the Net: Our Children's Safety on the Internet," "Felons in the Workplace: Beyond fear and ignorance," "Predators/Sex Offenders in our Midst: beyond fear and ignorance to a more effective approach to the knowledge registration does and does not give us" and "Preventing Sexual Offenses: what our clients have taught us about prevention."

Mr. Falco is also a member of the Center for Contextual Change's Development Team. In that role Joel has two primary responsibilities; to develop the Center for Contextual Change's new office in DuPage County and to operate as the Director of Specialized Treatment Programs. He is an active clinical member of Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA), and is an approved provider by the Illinois Sex Offender Management Board (IL-SOMB), an association dedicated to developing ethical principals and best practices for research that provides a multi-systemic cognitively-based approach to individuals, couples, and families.

"It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness." — Chinese proverb