Blueprint Counseling

A:  No. Sometimes life is difficult and overwhelming. A great many life stressors contribute to these feelings. Some examples are relationship issues, life transitions, academic or work stressors, scheduling and time management, illness or injury, and devastating life events such as abuse, death, or a relationship breakup. There can also be internal factors that impact a person’s well-being, issues such as self-esteem, body image, or feeling different or isolated from other people. Regardless of why, many people experience times in life when events become overwhelming. Seeking support during those times does not mean something is wrong with you.

A:  Clients sit down with a counselor to look at their situation and decide together where the problem lies and what is needed. Your counselor will listen and prompt you to clarify your own thinking, rather than deciding what’s best for you or giving advice. The counselor will ask you guiding questions and also make suggestions and recommendations about what course of counseling might be the most helpful for you.

A:  Typically, clients will see a counselor for a 45 to 50-minute appointment once a week.

A:  The counseling process is unique in that it is client-centered and based on the needs of the client.  The counselor and client will identify treatment goals together at the beginning of the counseling journey.   The length of the counseling process varies from client to client and varies with the issue for which counseling is being sought.  When working with heavier issues, weekly counseling could last anywhere from 3 to 6 months or longer.  With time and progress, the frequency of counseling sessions reduces so that clients can use the tools and skills they have learned outside of sessions (i.e. weekly counseling to bi-weekly counseling to monthly counseling to “as needed”).  The goal is that eventually, the counselor will “work themselves out of a job” meaning that the client has learned effective tools and skills to problem-solve more independently outside of session.  It is not uncommon for clients to return to counseling down the road to check-in with their counselor about progress and challenges or to address an additional issue.  It is encouraging to watch the stigma of mental health reduce so that people feel comfortable and safe to be able to seek counsel without feeling “less than” or “broken.”

A:  Individual counseling with adults, adolescents, and kids (8+); Family Counseling, Depression, Anxiety, Grief, Loss, Trauma, Life Transitions, Parenting, Work Stressors, Academic Stressors, Relationship Stressors, Conflict Management, Communication Problems, Hopelessness, Domestic Violence

A: It can be very difficult when someone you care about is in pain, but remember it is very hard to make a person seek help if they don’t want to or don’t feel they need it. Counseling with an unwilling client is usually not very effective. Here are some ideas that might help:

Let your friend or family member know that you are concerned. Suggest that he or she make an appointment with a counselor to see if we can be of help. Try to phrase the communication using “I” language, rather than “you” language. For example, “I care about you and I am sad to see you hurting” rather than “You are in trouble and need help.”

Offer to be with your friend or family member while he or she requests an appointment.

Offer to accompany your friend or family member to their first appointment. You may wait in the waiting area to be available when they finish.

Come into the counseling center yourself, and talk with a counselor about your worries about your friend. You will not need to tell the counselor your friend’s name, and you do not necessarily even need to let your friend know you came in. The counselor may be able to offer you suggestions about how to interact more effectively with this friend, as well as to manage your own feelings about the situation.

A:   There will be times when many emotions are expressed, some stronger than others.  It is important that counseling treatment goals are specific to you and your situation.  Sometimes it may feel like things are getting worse before they get better however most often this part of the process is temporary and usually marks an opportunity for overall improvement and progress toward your goal.  Thus, open communication and the ability to share your thoughts and feelings is so important during every aspect of the counseling process.  The benefits of counseling knows no bounds with regards to self-improvement, healthy boundaries, symptoms management, improved communication, improved relationships, finding meaning and purpose, empowerment, and freedom just to name a few.

A:  I accept a variety of health insurances and the list is growing.  Prior to counseling, I would be happy to help you navigate your insurance so that you can make an informed decision.

A:  Overall wellness includes mental, emotion, physical, and spiritual aspects.  If the client is open to faith-based counseling, my goal here is to respectfully explore values and beliefs with the client and work to understand their religious and/or spiritual walk at the level the client is comfortable with.  Values and beliefs have a big impact on our mental health and decision-making.

A:  EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

“EMDR is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that incorporates elements from many different treatment approaches. To date, EMDR therapy has helped millions of people of all ages relieve many types of psychological stress.

There are eight phases of treatment.  The amount of time the complete treatment will take depends upon the history of the client. Complete treatment of the targets involves a three-pronged protocol (1-past memories, 2-present disturbance, 3-future actions), and are needed to alleviate the symptoms and address the complete clinical picture. The goal of EMDR therapy is to process completely the experiences that are causing problems, and to include new ones that are needed for full health. “Processing” does not mean talking about it. “Processing” means setting up a learning state that will allow experiences that are causing problems to be “digested” and stored appropriately in your brain. That means that what is useful to you from an experience will be learned, and stored with appropriate emotions in your brain, and be able to guide you in positive ways in the future. The inappropriate emotions, beliefs, and body sensations will be discarded. Negative emotions, feelings and behaviors are generally caused by unresolved earlier experiences that are pushing you in the wrong directions. The goal of EMDR therapy is to leave you with the emotions, understanding, and perspectives that will lead to healthy and useful behaviors and interactions.”  More information can be found at www.emdria.org.