Services (What I Do)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for the treatment of anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and CBT for depressive disorders for adolescents and adults. ERP is considered to be the gold standard for the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder and CBT is widely known to be one of the most effective models for depression and anxiety. Other treatment approaches are used for substance abuse concerns and couples therapy/marriage counseling.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Skills Training to help clients who may be struggling with mood disorders including depression and bipolar disorder. These skills and tools can be helpful for people who may have a tendency to look at things from a very "black and white" perspective. If you tend to struggle with finding the middle ground and usually take things to extremes, then DBT skills can be helpful to develop and implement in your life.
Individual Therapy and Couples Therapy: One-on-one counseling with adolescents and adults or couples. The direction and focus of therapy is largely determined by the issues affecting you and can encompass a wide variety of purposes including self-exploration and personal growth or relief of specific symptoms. Depending on how urgent or acute your situation, 55-minute sessions may be scheduled weekly or biweekly. Couples therapy is provided using Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) as a treatment framework.
Why do you put so much emphasis on CBT and ERP to treat anxiety and OCD? Cognitive-behavioral therapy is the most heavily-researched, scientifically-supported intervention for anxiety disorders and depression. The focus is mainly on your present situation and trying to help you improve your daily functioning. If anxiety or OCD is holding you back or limiting your functioning, then the goal is to help you get back to what you need to do to…so that you can live your life effectively. ERP is an effective tool to help people learn new patterns of behavior by breaking the rules that OCD creates. We can explore the thought patterns that might not be helping you and we can address behaviors that might be contributing to your problems...like avoidance, self-defeating behaviors, blaming others, lashing out, and countless others. Additional treatment approaches are provided to address issues related to substance abuse and couples therapy.