Modalities

Many of our therapists are trained and certified in different therapeutic modalities.

Art/Expressive Therapy

Benefits:

• Nonverbal and creative self exploration
• Promotes insight and is a tool for gaining a new perspective
• Emotion regulation and resilience Building
• Increases self-awareness and self-esteem
• Reduces stress 
• Increases positive emotional states using kinesthetic-sensory experiences
• Aids in trauma processing and conflict resolution
• Helps with access to inner child healing 
• Assists with somatic (body-focused) and 'right brain' processing 
• Provides a cathartic outlet for expressing emotions

Art therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship. Art Therapists are Master’s level clinicians trained in a variety of therapeutic techniques across a broad spectrum of experiences. Visit arttherapy.org for more information.

Brainspotting

Benefits:

• Can be used without verbal processing (less need to speak of the trauma or distress).
• Uses resourcing to assist individuals in feeling empowered.
• Can help lower anxiety in session and provides tools to use outside of session.
• Processing happens at a deeper level by bypassing the prefrontal cortex to allow body/nervous system healing.
• Can be used to enhance performance in areas such as: test anxiety, job interviews/presentations, sports performance, creative blocks, and/or wellness motivation.
• There is potential for individuals to start experiencing relief in a single session.

Brainspotting is a powerful, evidence-based practice with significant research showing its effectiveness. This treatment can be used with children and adults and works by identifying, processing, and releasing core neurophysiological sources of emotional/body pain, trauma, dissociation, and a variety of other challenging symptoms. Brainspotting is a simultaneous form of diagnosis and treatment, enhanced with Biolateral sound, which is deep, direct, powerful, focused, and containing. It can be an effective approach in treating trauma, anxiety, and depression, and can also enhance performance. 

EMDR- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing 

Benefits:

• Allows individuals to access past traumatic memories while safely anchored in the present moment of the therapy setting.
• Creates shifts in negative core beliefs about ourselves and the world to more adaptive ones.
• Provides exposure and desensitization to a traumatic experience without going into significant details of the events.
• Heals emotional wounds using bilateral stimulation, allowing for changes within the neural networks of the brain.
• Works from a foundation that healing originates inside the individual.

EMDR Therapy is a comprehensive, mind-body therapy modality useful for overcoming stressful experiences of all kinds, even deeply embedded memories or traumas, which can be the basis of depression, anxiety, relationship challenges, phobias, fears, or performance issues. This treatment is evidence-based and highly effective in treating post-traumatic stress in children and adults. EMDR can be especially useful for people who have had minimal progress in traditional talk therapy or for those who find talk therapy less beneficial. We provide EMDR therapy for teens and adults. Please ask us for referrals for clinicians that offer EMDR for younger children.

Somatic Experiences

The Somatic Experiencing® method (SE) is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine, resulting from his multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics, together with over 45 years of successful clinical application. The SE™ approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.

Benefits:

• Somatic Experiencing (SE) is utilized by practitioners in the treatment process to heal trauma and/or other stress disorders. These might include: accidents, invasive medical procedures, assault, abuse, neglect, loss, and stressors with ongoing fear or conflict.
• SE offers guidance for the practitioner to assess when a person is “stuck” in fight, flight, or freeze response, providing tools for resolution.
• SE is a body-oriented approach. The focus is on uncovering habitual behavior patterns and exploring sensations that lie beneath feelings.This approach could benefit individuals who have difficulty remembering trauma, become easily overwhelmed by trauma, or experience intense emotions without specific memory.
• Practitioners move at a speed that does not overwhelm the individual. This stays away from additional trauma and stress and introduces positive boundaries.
• Tools provided in SE for trauma renegotiation frequently increase stress capacity and reinforce mindful thinking.

CBT

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life.

Benefits:

• Assists the individual in identifying negative thought patterns and modifying them to be more positive.
• Teaches people how to be more aware of what leads to their overwhelming emotions.
• Improves communication skills so individuals can better express themselves, without bottling up feelings.
• Integrates activities and practices for the person to complete between sessions and apply to daily life.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is bringing purposeful attention to what is happening in the present moment, without judgment. Mindfulness meditation is rooted in the Buddhist meditative practice, but it can be secular and take a variety of forms. Anyone can benefit from cultivating awareness of the mind and body regardless of their spiritual mindset. Being mindful is prescribed by some physicians and mental health professionals to help people cope with pain, stress, or illness.

Benefits:

• Helps bring awareness to the here and now; individuals who practice mindfulness report they are less likely to get caught up in worries, fears, or thoughts about the past and future.
• Decreases stress
• Lowers blood pressure
• Improves sleep
• Encourages acceptance rather than reacting with avoidance or aversion
• Improves focus, memory, and concentration
• Improves sense of well-being and confidence

Check with your provider about this service option and availability.