Individuals

Individual counseling is exactly what it sounds like. It is one individual working one on one with a counselor or therapist. It is the most common type of therapy. In individual therapy sessions, the person will meet with his or her therapist and focus on the goals of the individual seeking help. The great thing about individual therapy is the individual is able to have a safe environment to talk about hard things and get unbiased, objective feedback and suggestions. Individual therapy is very different than talking a friend or family member. Both friends and family members can offer great advice, but the problem is it is hard for them to stay objective. They may think they know exactly what is best for you and they could be wrong. They also are not trained to work with people and help them achieve their goals or heal from past trauma and pain. It also is not always confidential to rely on people in your personal life, which could be damaging.

Children & Adolescents

Children, just like adults, experience stress. Some common stressors for children include school and family issues. A school related stress experience may include excessive or difficult homework, test anxiety, peer pressure, bullying, and learning difficulties. A family related stress experience may include parental arguing, divorce, moving homes, new sibling, major illness, transitions.

Children, just like adults, can participate in and benefit from adolescent counseling. Child and adolsent counseling can help children and adolescents learn how to identify causes of their distress, develop their skills in asking for help and expressing emotions, and improve their problem-solving abilities.

Our approach to child and adolescent counseling considers the physical, social, economic, mental, linguistic environment. We seek to identify and develop strength and growth areas, while reducing distress and increasing coping skills. We incorporate others in the child and adolescent counseling process depending on the nature of the problem and the child’s environmental resources. Others may include family, parent, grandparents, siblings, teachers, and caregivers.

Couples

Couples counseling can help couples in all types of intimate relationships — regardless of sexual orientation or marriage status. Some couples seek marriage counseling to strengthen their partnership and gain a better understanding of each other. Marriage counseling can also help couples who plan to get married. Premarital counseling can help couples achieve a deeper understanding of each other and iron out differences before marriage. In other cases, couples seek marriage counseling to improve a troubled relationship. You can use marriage counseling to help with many specific issues, including:

• Communication problems

• Sexual difficulties

• Conflicts about child rearing or blended families

• Substance abuse

• Anger

• Infidelity

Marriage counseling might also be helpful in cases of domestic abuse. If violence has escalated to the point that you are afraid, however, counseling alone is not adequate. Contact the police or a local shelter or crisis center for emergency support.

Families

Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to reduce distress and conflict by improving the systems of interactions between family members. While family therapists often seek to have all family members (affected by the problem) in the room, that is not always possible or necessary. What distinguishes family therapy from individual counseling is its perspective or framework, not how many people are present at the therapy session. This type of counseling views problems as patterns or systems that need adjusting, as opposed to viewing problems as residing in the person, which is why family therapy is often referred to as a “strengths based treatment.”

“Family” is defined by the modern family therapist as anyone who plays a long-term supportive role in one’s life, which may not mean blood relations or family members in the same household. Family relationships are viewed as important for good mental health, regardless of whether all family members are participating in the therapy. It is an ideal counseling method for helping family members adjust to an immediate family member struggling with an addiction, medical issue or mental health diagnosis. It is also recommended for improving communication and reducing conflict.

Other common reasons for seeking family therapy include:

• When a child is having a problem such as with school, substance abuse, or disordered eating

• A major trauma or change that impacts the entire family (i.e. relocation to a new house, natural disaster, incarceration of a family member)

• Unexpected or traumatic loss of a family member

• Adjustment to a new family member in the home (i.e. birth of a sibling, adoption, foster children, a grandparent entering the home)

• Domestic violence

• Divorce

• Parent Conflict