COEUR d'ALENE - His practice is all about the family, but this time Bill Rutherford is going it alone. Rutherford Education Group is the name of his psychotherapy, healthy weight management, family rebuilding, K-12 tutoring, hypnotherapy, and yes, culinary classes that will begin on June 1.

COEUR d'ALENE - His practice is all about the family, but this time Bill Rutherford is going it alone.

Rutherford Education Group is the name of his psychotherapy, healthy weight management, family rebuilding, K-12 tutoring, hypnotherapy, and yes, culinary classes that will begin on June 1.

Rutherford - who writes the weekly "Food for Thought" column for The Press, is a counselor at Atlas Elementary School and psychology instructor at North Idaho College - was an owner and therapist at Selkirk Counseling Group for five years, but found it wasn't working out as expected.

"I was doing all the work," he said.

So he shut down that office in 2008 and went solo.

"I tried working from home, but it wasn't convenient," he said.

The upstairs office in the old downtown building was often hot, dark and stuffy, but Rutherford still kept an eye out for another downtown office. He found one in the Liberty Building at 118 N. Seventh St., in Suite B11 on the ground floor, with large windows and a conference room where clients can wait.

"It is just me and my cell phone," he said. "Before, with a secretary and the other counselors, it got overwhelming."

Now Rutherford can concentrate on the issues faced by children and adults during what in current economic conditions can be trying times.

"The focus is on family restructuring," he said. "I work with 600 kids a day. It's great experience."

His specialty is family, marriage and child therapy. He also offers tutoring in all subjects for children in grades K-8, along with counseling, which includes working with the school to ensure services are enhanced but not duplicated.

Parenting classes help solve problems from the other generational side.

"It is about building families into stronger units," he said. "Some are really struggling."

To that end, Rutherford also makes house calls, combining his psychotherapy services with his healthy eating classes.

"I teach them how to cook with the family, and eat as a family," he said.

But if they get carried away with it, Rutherford also provides weight management therapy and hypnotherapy for weight loss, along with smoking cessation, pain and stress.

Even in hard times, he has chosen to be private-pay only, but does accept Visa and MasterCard.

"They somehow find the money," he said. "There is more motivation for change if they are paying for it."

Rutherford will continue with his teaching and counseling in schools, and keep office hours by appointment on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

Information: 651-5044