Psychotherapy & Counseling Services

INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING

Individual counseling is a form of therapy in which the client is treated one-on-one with a therapist. The most popular form of therapy, individual counseling can encompass many different treatment styles including psychoanalysis and cognitive-behavioral therapy. In a safe, caring, and confidential environment individuals are encouraged to explore their feelings, beliefs, and behaviors. Individual counseling allows the individual to work through challenging or influential memories, identify aspects of their lives that they would like to change, better understand themselves and others, set personal goals, and work toward desired change.

MARRIAGE/COUPLES/RELATIONSHIP COUNSELING

This type of counseling focuses on problems existing within a relationship between two people. The focus of relationship counseling is on improving the quality of the relationship for both partners. Couples counseling looks at issues like communication, honesty, shared responsibilities, commitment, and mutual support. Problems such as abuse will also be addressed. Many types of partnerships can benefit from couples counseling, including married couples, couples preparing for marriage, co-habiting couples, dating couples, separated couples, and couples preparing for a divorce. Although originally developed as marital therapy, couples counseling now equally recognizes and works with unmarried couples, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples.

FAMILY COUNSELING

Family counseling is a type of psychological counseling (psychotherapy) done to help family members improve communication and resolve conflicts. It may include all family members or just those most able to participate. Family counseling sessions can teach you skills to deepen family connections and get through stressful times.

CHILD & ADOLESCENT COUNSELING

Child & Adolescent counseling refers to a variety of techniques and methods used to help children and adolescents who are experiencing difficulties with their emotions or behavior. This type of counseling relies on communications as the basic tool for bringing about change in a person’s feelings and behaviors. Counseling helps children and adolescents in a variety of ways: They receive emotional support, resolve conflicts with people, understand feelings and problems, and try out new solutions to old problems. Goals for counseling may be specific (change in behavior, improved relations with friends or family) or more general (less anxiety, better self-esteem,etc).

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Professionals in applied behavior analysis engage in the specific and comprehensive use of principles of learning, including operant and respondent learning, in order to address behavioral needs of widely varying individuals in diverse settings. Examples of these applications include: building the skills and achievements of children in school settings; enhancing the development, abilities, and choices of children and adults with different kinds of disabilities; and augmenting the performance and satisfaction of employees in organizations and businesses. Behavior analysis has proven to be a particularly effective learning tool for helping children with autism or developmental delays acquire and maintain new skills. These treatments include the Lovaas Method and ABA (applied behavior analysis) and utilize techniques such as discrete trial training. The basic principles of behavior medication are often adapted for use in educational settings, the workplace and childcare.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps patients understand the thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors. CBT is commonly used to treat a wide range of disorders including phobias, addiction, depression and anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy is generally short-term and focused on helping clients deal with a very specific problem. During the course of treatment, people learn how to identify and change destructive or disturbing thought patterns that have a negative influence on behavior. There are a number of different approaches to CBT that are regularly used by mental health professionals. These types include:

• Rational Emotive Therapy

• Cognitive Therapy

• Multimodal Therapy

In order for CBT to be effective, the individual must be ready and willing to spend time and effort analyzing his or her thoughts and feelings. Such self-analysis can be difficult, but it is a great way to learn more about how internal states impact outward behavior.

BEHAVIORAL THERAPY

Behavioral therapy is a form of therapy rooted in the principles of behaviorism. The school of thought known as behaviorism is focused on the idea that we learn from our environment. In behavioral therapy, the goal is to reinforce desirable behaviors and eliminate unwanted or maladaptive ones. The techniques used in this type of treatment are based on the theories of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Behavioral therapy is action based. Behavioral therapists are focused on using the same learning strategies that led to the formation of unwanted behaviors as well as other new behaviors. Because of this, behavioral therapy tends to be highly focused. The behavior itself is the problem, and the goal is to teach clients new behaviors to minimize or eliminate the issue. Old learning led to the development of a problem, and so the idea is that new learning can fix it.

PSYCHO-DYNAMIC & INSIGHT ORIENTED THERAPY

Psychodynamic therapy , also known as insight-oriented therapy, focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person’s present behavior. The goals of psychodynamic therapy are a client’s self-awareness and understanding of the influence of the past on present behavior. In its brief form, a psychodynamic approach enables the client to examine unresolved conflicts and symptoms that arise from past dysfunctional relationships and manifest themselves in the need and desire to abuse substances.

DIALECTICAL BEHAVIOR THERAPY (DBT)

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy. Its main goal is to teach the patient skills to cope with stress, regulate emotions and improve relationships with others.

PAIN MANAGEMENT

When you are in pain, it is natural to feel angry, sad, hopeless, and/or depressed. Pain can alter your personality, disrupt your sleep, and interfere with your work and relationships. But, it doesn’t have to. Psychological treatment provides a safe, non-drug method to treat your pain directly by reducing high levels of physiological stress that often aggravate pain. Psychological treatment also helps improve the indirect consequences of pain by helping you learn how to cope with the problems associated with pain.

GROUP THERAPY

Group therapy is a type of psychotherapy that involves one or more therapists working with several people at the same time. This type of therapy is widely available at a variety of locations, including private therapeutic practices, hospitals, mental health clinics, and community centers. Group therapy is sometimes used alone, but it is also commonly integrated into a comprehensive treatment plan that also includes individual therapy and medication.