A Bit About Therapy
According to the American Psychiatric Association, “Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a way to help people with a broad variety of mental illnesses and emotional difficulties. Psychotherapy can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a person can function better and can increase well-being and healing.”
Through the use of various methods of psychotherapy and collaborative treatment measures, our clients develop life-changing strategies to help them cope with any of life’s various obstacles. Our therapy sessions are designed to dissect personal issues and maladaptive behavior in order to assist clients in exploring and learning effective tools to help them navigate safely through life.
Empirically Supported Treatments and Evidence-based Practices that Inform our Work
Art Therapy
"Art therapy is a mental health profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship.
Especially when people are struggling, facing a challenge, or even a health crisis —their own words or language fails them. During these times, an art therapist can help clients express themselves in ways beyond words or language. Art therapists are trained in art and psychological theory and can help clients integrate nonverbal cues and metaphors that are often expressed through the creative process.
Art therapists work with individuals of all ages, including children who are experiencing behavioral challenges or those with Autism Spectrum Disorder. They assist people and caregivers in health crises; victims of violence or other trauma—including our military service members and student survivors of mass shootings; older adults with dementia; and anyone that needs help coping with life’s challenges."
Attachment-Based Family Therapy
"Attachment-based family therapy (ABFT) is a manualized, empirically supported family therapy model specifically designed to target family and individual processes associated with adolescent suicide and depression. ABFT emerges from interpersonal theories that suggest adolescent and young adult internalizing disorders (e.g., depression, suicide, trauma, anxiety) can be precipitated, exacerbated or buffered against by the quality of interpersonal relationships in families. It has also been used where family conflict is a contributor to the presenting problem. It is a trust-based, emotion-focused psychotherapy model that aims to repair interpersonal ruptures and rebuild an emotionally protective, secure-based parent–child relationship."
https://drexel.edu/familyintervention/abft-training-program/overv
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
"Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders and severe mental illness. Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life. In many studies, CBT has been demonstrated to be as effective as, or more effective than, other forms of psychological therapy or psychiatric medications."
https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/cognitive-behavioral
Emotionally-Focused Therapy
"Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a well-known humanistic approach to psychotherapy formulated in the 1980’s and developed in tandem with the science of adult attachment, a profound developmental theory of personality and intimate relationships. This science has expanded our understanding of individual dysfunction and health as well as the nature of love relationships and family bonds. Attachment views human beings as innately relational, social and wired for intimate bonding with others. The EFT model prioritizes emotion and emotional regulation as the key organizing agents in individual experience and key relationship interactions."
https://iceeft.com/what-is-eft/
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
"EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy that enables people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress that are the result of disturbing life experiences. Repeated studies show that by using EMDR therapy people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. It is widely assumed that severe emotional pain requires a long time to heal. EMDR therapy shows that the mind can in fact heal from psychological trauma much as the body recovers from physical trauma. When you cut your hand, your body works to close the wound. If a foreign object or repeated injury irritates the wound, it festers and causes pain. Once the block is removed, healing resumes. EMDR therapy demonstrates that a similar sequence of events occurs with mental processes. The brain’s information processing system naturally moves toward mental health. If the system is blocked or imbalanced by the impact of a disturbing event, the emotional wound festers and can cause intense suffering. Once the block is removed, healing resumes. Using the detailed protocols and procedures learned in EMDR therapy training sessions, clinicians help clients activate their natural healing processes."
https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/
Motivational Interviewing
"Motivational interviewing is a counseling method that helps people resolve ambivalent feelings and insecurities to find the internal motivation they need to change their behavior. It is a practical, empathetic, and short-term process that takes into consideration how difficult it is to make life changes."
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/motivational-interviewinghttps://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapy-types/motivational-interviewing
Play Therapy
"APT defines play therapy as 'the systematic use of a theoretical model to establish an interpersonal process wherein trained play therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development.'
More simply put, child play therapy is a way of being with the child that honors their unique developmental level and looks for ways of helping in the “language” of the child – play. Licensed mental health professionals therapeutically use play to help their clients, most often children ages three to 12 years, to better express themselves and resolve their problems.
Play therapy works best when a safe relationship is created between the therapist and client, one in which the latter may freely and naturally express both what pleases and bothers them.
Mental health agencies, schools, hospitals, and private practitioners have utilized play therapy as a primary intervention or as supportive therapy for:
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Behavioral problems, such as anger management,grief and loss, divorce and abandonment, and crisis and trauma.
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Behavioral disorders, such as anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), autism or pervasive developmental, academic and social developmental, physical and learning disabilities, and conduct disorders.
Research suggests play therapy is an effective mental health approach, regardless of age, gender, or the nature of the problem, and works best when a parent, family member, or caretaker is actively involved in the treatment process. For more information on play therapy including research citations we invite you to view Play Therapy Makes a Difference!"
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
"Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), also called Solution-Focused Therapy (SFT) was developed by Steve de Shazer (1940-2005), and Insoo Kim Berg (1934-2007) in collaboration with their colleagues at the Milwaukee Brief Family Therapy Center beginning in the late 1970s. As the name suggests, SFBT is future-focused, goal-directed, and focuses on solutions, rather than on the problems that brought clients to seek therapy.
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a short-term goal-focused evidence-based therapeutic approach, which incorporates positive psychology principles and practices, and which helps clients change by constructing solutions rather than focusing on problems. In the most basic sense, SFBT is a hope friendly, positive emotion eliciting, future-oriented vehicle for formulating, motivating, achieving, and sustaining desired behavioral change."
https://solutionfocused.net/what-is-solution-focused-therapy/
Trauma Informed Care
"TIC takes a trauma-informed approach to the delivery of behavioral health services that includes an understanding of trauma and an awareness of the impact it can have across settings, services, and populations. TIC views trauma through an ecological and cultural lens and recognizes that context plays a significant role in how individuals perceive and process traumatic events, whether acute or chronic. TIC involves vigilance in anticipating and avoiding institutional processes and individual practices that are likely to retraumatize individuals who already have histories of trauma. TIC upholds the importance of consumer participation in the development, delivery, and evaluation of services."
https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/sma15-4420.pdf
"Many ethnic and racial groups experience higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as compared to White Americans. One explanation for this is the experience of racism, which can itself be traumatic.
When traumatization is due to experiences of racism it is sometimes called racial trauma. Racial trauma can result from major experiences of racism such as workplace discrimination or hate crimes, or it can be the result of an accumulation of many small occurrences, such as everyday discrimination and microaggressions."
https://www.apa.org/pubs/highlights/spotlight/issue-128
"Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can occur following a life-threatening event like military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape. Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. However, some people have stress reactions that don't go away on their own, or may even get worse over time. These individuals may develop PTSD."
"People who suffer from PTSD often suffer from nightmares, flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, and feeling emotionally numb. These symptoms can significantly impair a person's daily life."
"PTSD is marked by clear physical and psychological symptoms. It often has symptoms like depression, substance abuse, problems of memory and cognition, and other physical and mental health problems. The disorder is also associated with difficulties in social or family life, including occupational instability, marital problems, family discord, and difficulties in parenting."
https://www.military.com/benefits/veterans-health-care/posttraumatic-stress-disorder-overview.html
"Another cause of PTSD in the military can be military sexual trauma (MST). This is any sexual harassment or sexual assault that occurs while you are in the military. MST can happen to both men and women and can occur during peacetime, training, or war.
"https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/common/common_veterans.asp
"One group of Canadian researchers has estimated that the prevalence of PTSD among healthcare providers is as high as 40 percent. A study at the University of Colorado Hospital, a tertiary care trauma facility, found 18 percent of nurses met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. Results published in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation reported up to 48 percent of ICU nurses met the clinical criteria for PTSD. In comparison, the incidence of PTSD in the general population in the United States is 8 to 10 percent.
Interestingly, an overwhelming majority (86 percent) of healthcare workers in the Colorado study had symptoms of burnout syndrome, a condition that occurs in response to workplace stressors and is characterized by physical and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, healthcare workers with PTSD often have other problems, such as chronic pain with depression, weight gain, sleep problems, or opioid dependence.
These statistics were reported under normal circumstances. Healthcare workers on the frontlines of a pandemic are under unimaginable duress. To lower the risk of spreading the infection to their families, many have socially isolated themselves. The fears of contracting the illness, combined with the stress of quarantine and unrelenting emotional exhaustion have increased the risk of PTSD in healthcare workers to an all- time high. If on-site treatment in a clinic is not possible due to various reasons, a telehealth platform can allow healthcare workers to access PTSD care remotely."
https://institutesofhealth.org/ptsd-in-frontline-healthcare-workers/
"Post Traumatic Stress is impacting first responders of every type all across the United States and around the world. Fire fighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel, and 911 dispatchers have record cases of PTSD diagnosis, and many are afraid of the very real threat of losing their job if they ask for help."
"Already this year more than 140 police officers have died by suicide. Both firefighters and police officers are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty. It’s estimated that 18-24% of dispatchers and 35% of police officers suffer from PTSD. Many first responders self-medicate with alcohol or other self-destructive and abusive behaviors in an effort to cope with the stress and trauma they deal with daily. And unfortunately, many of their agencies are not providing them a supportive environment where they can get help."
https://www.nami.org/Blogs/NAMI-Frontline-Wellness/2021/Documenting-the-Traumas-of-First-Responders
Zumbini
Though Zumbini isn't something learned in grad school programs as a form of psychotherapy, I (Kim) absolutely think that it is a great way to strengthen the child-parent relationship as well as create the conditions that aid in building/maintaining a secure attachment style. Further, it helps in different areas of development ("Emotional Development", "Enhancing Cognitive Skills", "Balance & Rhythm", and "Developing Social Skills"). All while having fun to the music.
You can also search for my Zumbini license by utilizing the link below.
Zumbini.com
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