A respected behavioral health clinician and educator, Dr. Ed Feraco has served in community health care, state/municipal government, and private practice for more than 15 years. With expertise in Holistic Behavioral Healthcare and alternative approaches to treating mental health and substance dependence/abuse, Dr. Ed Feraco demonstrates excellence in diverse clinical areas.
An alumnus of Central Connecticut State University, Ed Feraco graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science. Dr. Ed Feraco served as his class Vice President, a student University Senator, the Commentary Editor for the student university paper, Social Chairperson for Hillel Jewish Student organization, and the Vice President of Pride. While pursuing his Bachelor’s degree, Ed Feraco served as a contracted direct health care worker for his severely disabled college roommate and served as a residential program worker in a group home of severely developmentally disabled young men.
Dr. Ed Feraco furthered his education at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work and earned a Master of Social Work Degree and a Certificate in Forensic Social Work. While pursuing his Master’s degree, Ed Feraco served as an intern for two years as a requirement to graduate in community organization (macro social work) and in group work, living in an area of Hartford, Connecticut named Frog Hollow by Mark Twain. The mostly Hispanic, primarily Puerto Rican, community was blighted, impoverished, and gang infested at the time. Dr. Ed actually lived in the German model of Mutual Housing. He lived in the community where he trained and served. He completed his clinical group training at the largest male shelter in the City of Hartford that was an invaluable and priceless experience. The focus of this training was on men’s issues, which included men dealing with sexual abuse, sexual identity, and sexual orientation issues, as well as issues related to being chronically mentally ill, chronic substance abusers/dependence, and/or being homeless and living with HIV/AIDS.
A year after completing his MSW, Ed Feraco returned to graduate school at the University of Connecticut and graduated with a doctorate in Counseling Psychology. Dr. Ed Feraco completed his pre-doctorate intern training in geriatrics and in emergency psychiatric services. In fact, Dr. Feraco was one of few, if any, graduate-level students studying the affects/effects of HIV/AIDS on older Americans back in 1995. Ed worked in four large urban elderly housing developments, some in the most blighted and impoverished communities in the wealthiest state. At the time, Hartford, Connecticut was considered the fifth poorest city in the United States, while simultaneously serving as the insurance capital of the world and Connecticut the wealthiest state by income, per capita.
Dr. Feraco completed his psychology residency in a private outpatient behavioral health practice and in a coastal town operated family services program where he gained a significant amount of training in substance dependence and abuse. During his residency, Dr. Ed specialized in holistic psychology, treating families, adolescents, and adults. Furthermore, during his residency program, Dr. Feraco provided clinical supervision to the local hospital’s STD professional case managers, served on Yale University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS Community Advisory Board, and was a member of the State of Connecticut HIV/AIDS planning group.
Since completing his doctorate, Dr. Feraco has completed a Certificate in Paralegal Litigation at the University of Connecticut, postgraduate coursework both at the University of Alaska at Anchorage and the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, and is presently enrolled in a Post-Doctorate Certificate program in Clinical Neuropsychology. Dr. Feraco has also completed courses in naturopathic medicine and homeopathy. A Reiki Master/Teacher, he completed a Holistic Practitioner Business program and extensive continuing medical education/continuing education units in behavioral health, substance dependence/abuse, holistic health, clinical compliance, and risk management.
In 1995, Ed Feraco founded the New England Center for Natural Behavioral Health, LLC, where he served as President Executive Director, operating both in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Dr. Feraco has served as a Director of Behavioral Health in an urban community health center and in a frontier-remote community health center in Alaska. Dr. Ed Feraco has also served as a Clinical Compliance Officer for a Native Alaskan organization in remote Northwestern, Alaska, (20 miles above the Arctic Circle, where the sun never sets from May through the end of summer). Currently, Dr. Feraco is engaged in contractual work in Alaska, Rhode Island, & Connecticut and lives in New England with his “son” Guido. For more information about Dr. Ed Feraco, visit www.guidoferaco.us
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