Counseling/Psychotherapy

INDIVIDUAL, CHILD OR ADOLESCENT COUNSELING

Individual counseling is where a person works with a trained therapist on a one-to-one basis. Therapy is confidential and takes place in a safe and caring environment where people are able to explore their thoughts and feelings, beliefs, and behaviors as well as work through and process challenging memories or thoughts, identify aspects of their lives that they desire to change, gain better understanding of themselves and others, and work toward making positive changes.  

Child or Adolescent counseling is very similar to individual counseling.  Relationships are established with both child and parent.  Activities are provided that aid in self expression and growth.  Sandtray, EMDR, play, art, and music are among some of the activities included.  

COUPLES,MARITAL, RELATIONAL COUNSELING

Marital or Relational counseling is the process of working with the parties in a relationship.  Effective for those undergoing difficulties in their lives, this type of counseling focuses on the couple as not only individuals, but also as a team.   The focus is on an effort to recognize, and to better manage or reconcile, troublesome differences and repeating patterns of stress upon the relationship. Couples will be seen both together as well as individually.  Activities are provided that aid in identifying communication styles/skills, conflict resolution, boundary setting, and relationship practices.  Some of these activities will be completed together, while others on an individual basis.

FAMILY COUNSELING

Family counseling is a type of psychological counseling (psychotherapy) that helps family members improve communication and resolve conflicts.  Sessions will include all family members or just those that are able or willing to participate.  This type of counseling may help with various issues including behavioral issues, death of a loved one, divorce, new family members (new baby, step-parent, etc), adoption/fostering.  

Trauma-Informed Therapy

CHILD-PARENT PSYCHOTHERAPY (CPP)

CPP is an intervention for children (ages 0-6) and their caregiver(s) who have experienced at least one form of trauma (e.g., maltreatment, the sudden or traumatic death of someone close, a serious accident, sexual abuse, exposure to domestic violence) and are presenting with different problems as a result. The primary goal is to support and strengthen the relationship between a child and his or her parent (or caregiver) in order to repair the child's sense of safety, attachment, and appropriate affect to ultimately improve the child's cognitive, behavioral, and social functioning.

EYE MOVEMENT DESENSITIZATION AND REPROCESSING (EMDR)

EMDR in an integrative psychotherapy approach that enables the mind to heal itself naturally, in the same way the body does. It is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from many different treatment approaches. Extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma, as well as a wide range of mental health problems, EMDR  enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress resulting from disturbing life experiences.  

TraumA-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

TF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment model designed to assist children and adolescents (6-18) and their families in overcoming the negative effects of a single traumatic event or multiple traumatic experiences.  The ultimate goal of TF-CBT is to decrease negative or maladaptive behavior patters and emotional responses that often develop as a result of abuse, neglect, domestic violence, grief or loss, or other traumas by helping to address and resolve the distress resulting from these events.

Behavior-Based Therapy

APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS (ABA)

ABA is an intensive therapy focusing on the use of behavioral principles in everyday situations, helping to either increase or decrease targeted behaviors.   ABA is based on the principles and techniques of learning theory.  ABA therapy helps to develop new skills, shape and refine previously learned skills, and decrease socially significant problem behaviors through the use of discrete trial teaching, programming for generalization to the natural environment, reinforcement, prompting and fading strategies, and outcome-based decision-making.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

CBT is based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we act (behavior) all interact together.  Specifically, our thoughts determine our feelings and our behavior.  The goal of CBT is to promote change in behavior and thinking patterns by positively impacting emotions.  Negative and unrealistic thoughts may cause distress therefore resulting in problems due to the misinterpretations of situations.  This interpretation negatively affects the actions a person may take. When a person recognizes these maladaptive patterns they are able to begin to develop alternative, healthier ways of thinking and behaving, causing positive emotions to emerge.