Therapy is intended to help people with making changes. These changes may involve thinking differently, feeling differently, and/or acting differently. Therapy is intended to be a process in which one moves along in their development, that enhances their relationships with others, and that helps them adjust and face challenges.
How therapy is conducted is influenced by the nature of the difficulty one is experiencing. It is influenced by one’s age or stage of development particularly with therapy involving children being much different than that with adolescents and adults. It can be influenced by the special and unique needs of men and woman, boys and girls.
While the particular approach in therapy will be influenced by the special needs of the individual child, adolescent, or adult it should be managed in a professional manner with someone skillfully using well-accepted principles to guide this process of change. We have the training and experience to help children, adolescents, and adults address these challenges, meet their particular needs, and help our clients move along toward their personal goals or destination.
Children
Childhood is marked by rapid change in physical growth, in learning and perception, in emotional development, in social relatedness and awareness, in coming to understand sex roles, and in moral judgment and behavior. The range and complexity of every child’s achievements in the first 12 years of life can be extraordinary. This unique time for some children and families can be extremely challenging, to the point where the child’s well being and cognitive and psychological growth is compromised.
We possess extensive knowledge in working with children who are displaying emotional and behavioral problems at home, at school, or in the community. Parents are actively involved in the treatment which is designed to identify the child’s strengths and areas of difficulty, assist the child in identifying and expressing their conflicts verbally rather than behaviorally and in helping develop healthier coping strategies. Interventions with children utilize a variety of approaches including play therapy, family therapy, and individual therapy for older, more verbal children.
Our work with children has included the following more specific areas of concern: anger management, Anxiety Disorders, ADHD (ADD) treatment program, behavior problems in children, Bipolar Disorder, chronic illness, depression, developmental delays, divorce adjustment, grief/loss, learning and behavior problems at school, mood disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Panic Disorder, parent-child conflict, parenting concerns, phobias, physical abuse of children, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), remarried families adjustment, school refusal, self-esteem, sexual abuse and incest, sexual behavior problems in children, and social skills development.
Adolescents
Adolescence is a period of time marked by important biological, psychological, and social development and change. Adolescents experience rapid acceleration of bodily growth and the beginnings of physical sexual development. There is an accompanying acceleration of cognitive development and the coming together of personality. Socially, adolescence is a period when the experiences gained in strong relationships with friends helps prepare teenagers for young adulthood. Furthermore, the way this period evolves may be quite different for young men and young women.
Adolescents may experience confusion and struggle during this turbulent developmental period. We have the experience and skill in intervening with adolescents having a variety of social, emotional, and/or behavioral challenges. Therapy may include individual, family, and group modalities. We work closely with school personnel when emotional/behavioral difficulties impede adjustment in the academic setting.
We see adolescents experiencing a wide range of challenges including, adoption adjustment, anger management, Anxiety Disorders, ADHD (ADD) treatment program, behavior problems in adolescence, Bipolar Disorder, compulsive behaviors, chronic illness, depression, eating disorders, adolescent adjustment to developmental delays, divorce adjustment, grief/loss, learning and behavior problems at school, Mood Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Panic Disorder, parent-adolescent conflict, parenting concerns, phobias, physical abuse of adolescents, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), remarried families adjustment, self-esteem, sexual abuse and incest, and sexual behavior problems in adolescents.
Adults
In adulthood there are oftentimes challenges related to marriage or relationship concerns, becoming a new family and raising young children, change in the nature of social relationships and friendships, parenting pre-teens and teenagers, children leaving home, the aging of one’s parents, illness, occupational stress and/or loss of job, financial struggles, and other issues pertaining to transition and change. Each of these outward changes or adjustments holds important meanings for the adult individual experiencing them and may present special challenges. In addition, there may be more longstanding challenges from childhood or adolescence that continue to impede functioning or satisfaction with one’s life. Adult clients in our practice are afforded the mature, caring, and professional understanding needed to face and address the challenges experienced in adult life. We have extensive experience and training in working with adult clients in a variety of treatment modalities including individual, couples, or family therapy.
More specific concerns that adult clients in our practice face include: Adult ADHD (ADD), adult survivors of childhood abuse, anger management, Anxiety Disorders, Bipolar Disorder, chronic illness, compulsive behaviors, depression, diminished sexual interest and other sexual difficulties, divorce recovery, domestic violence, eating disorders, grief/loss, infertility, marital conflict, menopause, midlife transitions, Mood Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, parent-child/adolescent conflict, parenting concerns, phobias, Post-Partum Depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Pre-marital counseling, relationship issues, remarried/blended family adjustment, self-esteem, stress, and substance abuse.
Individual Counseling/Therapy
Individual therapy is a powerful intervention for children, adolescents, or adults who are experiencing depression, anxiety, loss, or difficulty adjusting to transition and change. The goal remains the same, to enhance the individual’s ability to manage one’s feelings and behaviors, make sound decisions, achieve personal goals, realize potential, and feel more in charge of his or her life.
The nature, approach, and concerns encountered in individual therapy vary greatly depending on the stage of life of the client and the particular difficulty being experienced. For adults, individual therapy may be designed to address a particular difficulty one may be experiencing or in some cases, may be designed to assist those wishing to develop a better understanding of past issues and their relation to current behavior and feelings. With adolescents, and older, more verbal children, individual therapy may also be employed to address problems with depression and anxiety. In addition, issues related to self-esteem, school performance and behavior, family and peer interactions are concerns commonly encountered in individual treatment with older children and adolescents. Individual therapy for younger children, utilizes play and other techniques to foster expression of feelings, to work through concerns in a more developmentally appropriate and less threatening way, and to help modify the influence of obstacles to the child’s continued growth and development. For children, there is also a strong family supportive component to the treatment.
Marital/Couples Counseling/Therapy
Marital or Couples counseling is an effective intervention when the well being of a relationship is compromised by recurring quarrels, by problems of communication, and by the influence of unresolved conflicts. Couples are helped to understand particular triggers to deeper, underlying issues, to be able to more directly and productively express their needs and feelings, and to respond to each other in a more loving, compassionate way. The couple is helped to explore the beliefs and expectations each partner holds for their marriage and that in some way may be contributing to the difficulties they are experiencing. Couples can be helped to manage strong feelings so that conflicts do not escalate in an unproductive, harmful fashion. These conjoint sessions can lead to enduring conflict resolution as difficulties are fully and frankly discussed from all points of view. We can guide couples as they identify common goals and develop effective ways of attaining them.
We also work with couples experiencing special challenges within the relationship. This may include those couples whose relationship is compromised by difficulties expressing sexual feelings. Here we can help couples with sexual desire disorders and anxieties that interfere with sexual intimacy. This may also include couples whose relationship is challenged by affairs outside the marriage. We can skillfully assist couples in addressing the unique issues necessary to heal and repair their relationship following an extramarital affair.
Family Counseling/Therapy
Family therapy is a particularly useful mode of treatment when family dynamics and functioning are problematic and impede the development of its members. In family therapy the focus of intervention is the family unit itself. The family therapist works from an understanding that all parts of the family are interrelated and that change in one area affects the overall functioning of the whole. Oftentimes when family members are having difficulty, there are patterns of interaction that have become destructive to the emotional well being of the family and its members with symptoms becoming stronger and more entrenched. In working with the family, it enables the therapist to address the problems of family members by directly intervening in the context in which the difficulties occurred and where they are perpetuated. Interventions focus on addressing and modifying constraints to the family system, helping family members communicate with one another in a productive way and ultimately in facilitating their working together toward problem resolution.
Bruce and Patricia have undergone specialized training in Marriage and Family Therapy. They have the experience and expertise necessary to work collaboratively with family members to facilitate growth and change.