Initial Intake Assessment

Regardless of the clinician you choose to see or the modality utilized, the first session will be considered an initial intake assessment. The intake session provides an opportunity to explore any issues you have been experiencing that have been preventing you from functioning well in your daily life. We may be asking you about any current symptoms you may be having, what your beliefs are about those symptoms, recent events in your life, medical conditions that you may have, how you generally cope with difficulties, what your beliefs are about yourself, a bit about your cultural background and spiritual beliefs if you have them. We will also be gathering information about resources that you have from your friends, family, school/work, community, and yourself. At the same time, we will want to know what things appear to be obstacles in your life. We will go over what a therapeutic relationship is and is not, the responsibilities each of us carry in this endeavor, and identify your therapeutic goal(s). This will also be a time for you to get to know us and ask any questions you may have.

Counseling for Children ages 3-10

This age group generally responds best to a non-directive play therapy approach. This allows children to express conflicts in a developmentally appropriate way and has been shown to be effective with children who struggle with anxiety, depression, anger or aggressiveness issues, relationship problems, and in processing through traumatic events. Through structuring, empathetic listening, child-centered imaginary play and limit setting, the therapist assists the child in working through his or her issues.Research supports working with the family if there is a child or adolescent from that family in counseling. Informed parents help children and adolescents experience consistency and a common language with which to discuss problematic areas. When families are a part of a minor's counseling experience, the chances that the child will maintain progress significantly increase. Therefore, we will likely recommend family sessions along with individual sessions for your child.

Counseling for Tweens and Adolescents ages 11-18

Children who are in those years in between childhood and adolescence, as well as adolescent-aged clients, respond well to active therapies. Rather than using play, these types of interventions use other activities such as therapeutic games, role play, cinema therapy, expressive arts therapies, and sand tray therapy. Research supports working with the family if there is a child or adolescent from that family in counseling. Informed parents help children and adolescents experience consistency and a common language with which to discuss problematic areas. When families are a part of a minor's counseling experience, the chances that the child will maintain progress significantly increase. Therefore, we will likely recommend family sessions along with individual sessions for your child.

EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from many different treatment approaches. The goal of EMDR therapy is to process completely the experiences that are causing problems, and to include new ones that are needed for full health. "Processing" does not mean talking about it. "Processing" means setting up a learning state that will allow experiences that are causing problems to be "digested" and stored appropriately in your brain. That means that what is useful to you from an experience will be learned, and stored with appropriate emotions in your brain, and be able to guide you in positive ways in the future. The inappropriate emotions, beliefs, and body sensations will be discarded. Negative emotions, feelings and behaviors are generally caused by unresolved earlier experiences that are pushing you in an unhealthy direction. The goal of EMDR therapy is to leave you with the emotions, understanding, and perspectives that will lead to healthy and useful behaviors and interactions.

http://www.emdrnetwork.org/description.html

EFT - Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples

Couples/Partners may seek counseling for a variety of issues. They may be thinking of committing and want help working through potential challenges. Other reasons partners opt for therapy together is to improve intimacy within the relationship, work through conflict, improve communication, and understand one another on a deeper level.EFT, Emotionally Focused Therapy, is usually a short term (8-20 sessions), structured approach to couples therapy formulated in the early 80's by Drs. Sue Johnson and Les Greenberg. Since then, Sue Johnson has further developed the model, adding attachment theory to further understand what is happening in couple relationships and to guide therapists in helping them. EFT is also used with families and individuals. A substantial body of research outlining the effectiveness of EFT now exists. Research studies find that 70-75% of couples move from distress to recovery and approximately 90% show significant improvements.

Guided Imagery with Music

In this approach, you and your facilitator discuss your current life situation, set goals for your work together, and establish a focus for the session. After following a guided relaxation, you then turn your attention to listening to the selected music, allowing it to become a vehicle for exploring deeper states of consciousness. You verbalize to the facilitator the images, feelings, sensations, memories, and other awarenesses evoked by the music. The imaginal realm provides a rich milieu for personal insight. Your facilitator interacts verbally with you to help you develop and expand your imagery experiences. At the close of the music, your facilitator assists your return from the deepened state and reinforces the insights you have gleaned from the exploration.

The above information was composed by Linda Keiser Mardis and Marilyn Clark for the use of the Association for Music and Imagery © 2008