Psychology – Mental Health

• Individual counseling (Both Adults and Children)
• Cognitive – behavioral therapy

Cognitive therapy is based on the cognitive model, which states that thoughts, feelings and behavior are all connected, and that individuals can move toward overcoming difficulties and meeting their goals by working with the therapist to identify and change unhelpful or inaccurate thinking, problematic behavior, and distressing emotional responses.

• Pet therapy

Pet therapy is based on the beneficial effects friendly animals can have on people, building on the pre-existing human-animal bond. Interacting with a pet can help many physical and mental issues. It can help reduce blood pressure and improve overall cardiovascular health. It can also cause the release of endorphins that produce a calming effect. This can help alleviate pain, reduce stress, and improve one’s overall psychological state. Pet therapy can be used in many different ways.

The goals of a pet therapy program can include such far ranging objectives as improving motor skills and joint movement, increasing self-esteem and developing social skills, as well as improving interactions with others and motivating a willingness to exercise.

Children can learn empathic and nurturing skills and everyone can improve their relationship to their healthcare providers using this therapy.

• Hippotherapy

Hippotherapy, or Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) encompasses a range of treatments for people that include activities with horses to promote physical, occupational, and emotional growth in persons with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, autism, cerebral palsy, dementia, depression, developmental delay, genetic syndromes (such as Down's syndrome), traumatic brain injuries, behavioral issues, abuse issues, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), drug and alcohol addiction, and other mental health problems.

Such therapy is generally used to complement more commonly used therapies and has shown to frequently improve, in a significant manner, patients’ psychological and physical states.

• PTSD Counseling

Post-traumatic stress disorder can develop after experiencing, or witnessing, a traumatic event or events. Typically, anyone in danger may feel afraid. When this fear hits, the ‘fight or flight’ response is triggered. For people with PTSD, this type of reaction is dysfunctional. They may feel frightened or stressed by the trauma when they are no longer in danger and even far from the traumatic event that triggered the initial reaction.

PTSD Counseling is conducted by a therapist to help the person suffering from PTSD to understand their current thought patterns, so they can identify those that are harmful and unhelpful. Through this process, sufferers can come to terms with their trauma and gain a sense of control over their fear. By focusing on realistic and helpful thoughts, they can avoid falling back into negative thinking patterns whenever they encounter a trigger.

• Medication
• Evaluation