Services & Approach

Our Services & Approach

Individual Counseling (Late Adolescent & Adults)

The most important part of my therapeutic approach is being real in the present moment with who I am and who you are, as the heart of counseling resides in relationship, and every relationship brings with it different needs. Therefore, I do not ascribe to therapy models developed to be interchangeable for all clients, but rather practice eclectically. This means understanding your challenges through non-judgement, empathy, and the belief in your own abilities. It also means having an eye towards epigenetics, the mind/body connection, and the effects of stress—be it grief, loss, economic hardships, abuse, etc.—and how this interplay works uniquely on each person. Therefore, rather than treating symptoms, I seek to know you as a whole person, and so I tailor my therapy and treatments in a client-informed manner from your lived experiences. Hence my approach is strength-based, integrating multiple evidence-based practices, with a lens of interpersonal neurobiology, trauma, attachment, and systems theories. The ultimate work though is not about addressing problems, but about learning to sit in the anxiety of your greatness and hold the pain of your transformation. Fostering a relational, person-centered orientation, expressed in a psychodynamic, experiential, and emotionally-focused manner creates the safe space for this active engagement in therapy.

Family & Couples Counseling

Dr. Murry Bowen, creator of Family Systems Theory, said “that which is created in a relationship, can be fixed in a relationship.” It is a theory that centers on how people are shaped by the interlocking relationships in their life—hence a system. Identifying the roles of family members and the attachment patterns governing these relationships is key to not only valuing the differences present, but also helps us acknowledge our interdependence to one another. It is useful to conceptualize this system as a house, and that what is ‘housed’ is the couple or family relationship. Perhaps then additions to the house need to be made to ensure growth for the family, or renovations undertaken when relationships begin to change. Joining this framework with Emotionally Focused Therapy provides deeper introspection and care for the emotional life of those inhabiting the system. What this looks like in session is learning to trust and speak from primary emotions, rather than from secondary feelings, or projections of pain. This stewardship to the emotional needs in the relationships and among the individuals then strengthens the overall system.

Family-Centered Critical Care

One area of therapy that is often least practiced, but which is vitally important, is family-centered critical and non-urgent care. It focuses on integrating the needs of the family members into the care of a chronically or critically ill loved one. It is not uncommon for individuals to take on the responsibility of caregiver or feel isolated and overwhelmed in worrying about the health of a loved one. Furthermore, the stress put on families during these times can also create schisms of blame, not just within the family, but towards a medical and behavioral health system that is imperfect in representing their needs and finding solutions to their concerns. Given my background as a psychotherapist in a hospital setting, I have unique experience in bridging the gap of communication between health practitioners, client, and family members. These trying events though can become the very circumstances that bond families more closely together. One way I do this is through the exercise of helping everyone in the family create representational snapshots of this period, both pre- and post-illness, and then lay these stills together into a panoramic view. From here a family picture emerges that shows the value of one another’s role, as well as how to better support each other in these roles.

Groups (Adults)

We run both skills and process (talk therapy) groups. All groups run 4-6 weeks, are of a closed format, and require screening and intake prior to admittance.

ACT, DBT & CBT Skills Groups for:

Distress Tolerance for Occupational Burnout
Interpersonal Effectiveness in the Workplace
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy for Co-Parenting & Blended Families
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Stress Management
ADHD

Process Groups for:

Divorce
Grief & Loss
Frustrations in Dating

Professional Services

Behavioral Health Integrated Services (BHIS): Includes care coordination with outside providers, family, and/or community support persons, review of third-party medical records, and care conferences.
Outreach: Includes hospital, in-person care conferences, and in-vivo exposure outings. Home visits permissible only via Primary Care or Occupational Therapist referral.
Treatment Summary, Letters & Forms: These requests will be taken into consideration after 8 sessions, as such time is needed to substantiate professional opinion.

Services Not Provided

The following services are not provided in therapy or during session because they either: fall outside the provider's scope of practice, create legal concerns in terms of dual relationship, compromise client reporting of symptoms and severity, limit therapist confidentiality, create a conflict of interest in terms of the therapeutic relationship, and/or can decrease motivation in terms of working through the presenting concerns with the methods being taught in therapy.

Disability benefits (Social Security, Worker’s Comp, Labor & Industries, etc.)
Emotional Support Animal (ESA), Psychiatric Service Dogs (PSD) or Trained Service Animal accommodation request letters.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for mental illness
Legal cases (divorce, custody, etc.) or mandated clients (i.e., sex offenders, etc.)

*Exceptions: After 25 or more sessions, Ei will take into consideration exceptions for FMLA, ESD, and PSD under the following parameters.

FMLA: If this exception is deemed clinically indicated, Ei will send a referral, requesting FMLA to the patient's already established medical and/or psychiatric provider, who will be the practitioner ultimately responsible for authorizing and filling out the paperwork. FMLAs authorized by psychotherapists have far less legal standing for patients, even if the issue is mental health in origin, and so this policy is in protection of the patient.
ESA & PSD: There is the additional requirement of seeing clients with their pets in session for a period of time to assess if the animal is providing emotional support and to rule out if there is unaddressed separation anxiety and distraction behaviors via the attachment to the animal.

Eastside Insight is an Ally of All Communities