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The function of family therapy is to help provide a safe space for skill building and role negotiation. Family therapy is meant to empower family members as they work together to identify and manage inevitable life transitions, daily stresses, and significant conflicts that are often reflective of individual family member frustrations. Family therapy seeks to assist in resolving conflict between family members or when conflict arises simply from one family member’s behavior negatively impacting another family member. Family therapy is also used to help family members adjust to changes that a person in therapy is making. Family therapy may consist of all family members being present or just some; different sessions may also have different family members present. Initially sessions are held weekly, but may decrease in frequency as progress is made.
Group Therapy offers an opportunity for clients to engage in a safe and nurturing environment that encourages collaborative feedback from their peers. In this form of therapy, clients that share common challenges in their everyday lives can help to support one another’s growth within a therapeutic environment by mirroring each others journeys and sharing constructive tips toward self care. Group therapy can help clients to adapt to various social and emotional challenges in every day life such as managing personal triggers regarding addiction, anger, grief, and loss. Group therapy is built to aid clients in their development of conflict resolution, effective communication styles, and awareness of the self within group dynamics; it helps individuals to build meaningful therapeutic connections that often serve as examples for healthy choice making, relationship building, and emotional regulation.
The Center offers Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Groups, Child and Adolescent Social Skills Groups, Skills Groups, Art and Anxiety Groups.
Individual therapy consists of a one on one meeting between a client and a therapist. Sessions last approximately 55 minutes. During this time the client and therapist work toward achieving mutually agreed upon goals. Clients are often encouraged to learn new ideas that bring about increased self-awareness and internal resiliency. Individual therapy is a collaborative effort between the client’s experience and the therapist’s approach; it takes time to develop, and may evolve as the client’s needs arise.
At times the therapist and client may choose to include other family members in the sessions, such as a spouse or parent. Sessions typically occur weekly at the start of therapy; as problems decrease the therapy may be spread out.
The Center believes that mentors can make a huge difference in the life of a child. We also believe that mentoring and helping others can be a way to increase self-esteem and create a sense of belonging and purpose. At the Center we encourage adolescents and young adults who have overcome personal obstacles to give back and become role models for younger children and adolescents.
Parents, who are more mindful of their own emotional reactions and how they manifest in their parenting, will have an increased understanding in terms of how their reactions impact their responses to their child. Our staff will assist parents to create goals and objectives for parenting (i.e., assisting the adolescent in becoming more motivated, self-confident, independent). These goals and objectives will be monitored and reviewed regularly, assisting parents with strategies as obstacles present.
Key skills to teach children and adolescents include goal setting, distress tolerance, self-assessment of strengths and weakness, learning to cope with disappointment and failure, and self-advocacy skills.
In Play Therapy, young children and sometimes adolescents are offered games, creative tasks, and other engaging activities during their therapy sessions in order to build a trusting relationship with their therapist. Play therapy offers a brief but often telling relay of a client’s history and important internal mechanisms, creating an accessible therapeutic window into the child’s mind. Play therapy can help to reveal a child’s communication deficits, struggles with regulatory behavioral patterns, as well as potential emotional and cognitive distresses. This type of intervention serves as a unique platform from which to acquire proficiency regarding behavioral management and mood regulation. By engaging the therapeutic process on his or her own terms, each child is invited to encounter a unique opportunity for self-exploration, expression, and skill building. Parents are often invited to participate in this process if needed.
Fortunately, anxiety disorders are highly treatable when addressed with the correct scientific solutions, and we can provide the solutions you need to help you conquer your fears.
In fact, panic and anxiety—including panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder—are the most common mental health issues in America.
While anxiety is often uncomfortable, at times even unbearable, some anxiety is a regular part of daily life and can actually assist in motivation. Often individuals who experience anxiety seek to avoid the very things that cause their heightened anxiety or discomfort. These avoidance behaviors may further exacerbate the anxiety by not allowing one to sit with their discomfort. The goal of anxiety treatment is to teach one to manage their own anxiety and experience distress while avoiding panic-like symptoms.
At the Center, we believe that the key to learning to manage anxiety is to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. We work closely with our clients to develop an arsenal of healthy coping skills and strategies to manage their discomfort and face their fears. Through integrating Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) Therapy, we help clients learn to manage their anxiety and gain confidence to handle challenging situations.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a well researched and effective form of therapy that is based on the idea that what you think and do affects the way you feel. By working collaboratively with the therapist, clients explore current challenges in their life and work toward developing more effective ways
of coping and changing their thinking,
emotions, and behavior.
Eating disorders are very complex diseases that can have severe physical and emotional consequences if left untreated. For this reason, it is imperative that men or women dealing with eating disorders seek professional help. Our treatment will utilize Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to work towards a healthier relationship with food, as well as improved self-image and a healthier life style. Treatment will focus on managing the psychological aspects associated with the eating disorder, as well as medical monitoring by a physician and regular consultations with a nutritionist as appropriate.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a therapeutic approach that helps clients heal from emotional distress. During the stage of sleep characterized by rapid eye movement or REM sleep, the mind naturally processes many things that occur during the day. EMDR is a technique that integrates the natural healing that takes place during sleep to help a client self-heal and process past traumas, experiences, or events. EMDR is an effective therapy that can help clients live more fully in the present.
The mostly widely practiced behavioral therapy for anxiety is called exposure and response prevention (ERP). Initially, patients are asked to make a list of situations that provoke anxiety.
Treatment asks patients to participate in exposure to situations that cause mild to moderate anxiety, and as the patient habituates to these situations, he or she gradually works up to situations that cause greater anxiety. The time it takes to progress in treatment depends on the patient’s ability to tolerate anxiety and to resist compulsive behaviors.
Exposure tasks are usually first performed with the therapist assisting. These sessions generally take between 45 minutes and three hours. Patients are also asked to practice exposure tasks between sessions for two to three hours per day.
To mark progress during exposure tasks with the therapist and in homework, patients are trained to be experts in rating their own anxiety levels. Once they have made progress in treatment, participants are encouraged to continue using the ERP techniques they have learned, and to apply them to new situations as they arise
Everyone experiences grief and feelings of loss in their own time and in their own way. The grieving process often involves difficult and complicated emotions. Therapy can help sort out feelings of loss, explore feelings and memories without judgment and create a support system to begin the healing process. Our therapists will create a safe space for you to work through feelings of sadness and develop skills to allow you to lead to overall emotional health. Our therapists work with people of all ages, and will help you recognize if your grief and loss has led to other complications, such as feelings of depression, anxiety, and/or PTSD.
During the course of life, we may face periods of uncertainty or transition. Our therapists help individuals manage emotionally taxing life changes using healthy coping skills, while setting goals to improve overall emotional health. Some of these transitions may include going away to college, facing job loss or beginning a new job, a new relationship or the ending of a relationship for example. No matter what transition you may be facing, our trusted team of clinicians are here to help.
Our dietician is an expert on nutrition. The Center provides convenient access to advanced outpatient services, such as counseling, on an individual appointment basis. Outpatient Nutrition Services are available for children and adults.
Nutrition Counseling is designed to help one take control of nutritional needs. The dietician will create a customized plan based on medical needs and food preferences, help set personal goals and provide the food and exercise education and emotional support essential for success.
Psychological approaches to pain are an important and accepted part of the holistic pain management model. Treatment will utilize mindfulness strategies and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) techniques in order to assist the client to learn relaxation techniques that may assist in their management of pain. Expressive therapy may also be incorporated offering art therapy and relaxation movement therapy as part of the treatment. Prolonged pain can also lead to feelings of anxiety and/or depression, such that the client will be regularly monitored and treated for these symptoms when necessary.
Perinatal counseling helps our clients to identify and build upon strengths, increase effective communication styles, practice healthy ways to manage stress, establish self-care strategies, and mobilize support systems to best prepare you for your parenting journey. Emotional support and treatment is provided for couples struggling with pregnancy and parenting adjustment, a perinatal mood or anxiety disorder, or grief related to infertility or perinatal loss. Some symptoms that may occur include but are not limited to feelings of inadequacy, feelings of guilt or shame, loss of interest, feeling alone, strong feelings of anger or resentment, depression and/or anxiety. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, our trusted team of clinicians are here to help.
School anxiety, avoidance, and refusal have become all too common in our classrooms today. During the course of their development, many children and adolescents experience school-related anxiety in various ways. For some, school anxiety will manifest into school avoidance, which may impact attendance, academic performance, social interactions, family relationships, and physical health. Without proper intervention, these problems can have a profound effect on both the family and a student’s success. Our treatment approach includes working with the parents, the school system, and other necessary resources to meet each family’s unique needs.
Self-injury involves a person hurting themselves as a way to express their emotional pain, manage emotional pain, and/or cope with their problems. Treatment will focus on a strength based approach, utilizing Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and behavioral modification approaches to assist the client in exploring more positive ways of coping with emotional pain. The client will work to learn better self-regulation strategies, a greater understanding of their behavioral responses to situations, as well as how their self-harm impacts not only themselves, but those around them. Treatment may also involve parent training and family counseling to assist in increasing structure in the home and implement strategies that can promote healthier communication, as well as increasing better emotional management.
Most people will experience trauma in their lifetime, whether it is from an actual or a perceived event. Some examples may include a car accident, childhood abuse or neglect, the sudden loss of a loved one, violence, or a natural disaster. Witnessing trauma or repeated exposure to other people’s trauma can also significantly impact us.
Following a traumatic experience, it is normal to experience feelings of sadness, anxiety or disconnection, as our body and mind are trying to heal.
Through a compassionate approach, your therapist will provide a safe and caring environment, to allow you to gain skills to work through feelings and thoughts, as well as begin the process of healing. Therapies such as EMDR, CBT and DBT will be used to assist in the process.
Copyright © 2022 Center For Emotional Wellness All Rights Reserved