Counseling Helps You:
Counseling helps you, your children and other family members to reduce conflict and crying moments and learn better ways to be happy together. If your child is not doing well at school, together we identify the problem areas, investigate and verify what might help your child to be successful at school. If you feel depressed and anxious, you will feel more energized and empowered to overcome depression and fear.
If you prefer talking and want to use the behavior health benefit of your medical insurance, you can do more traditional talk therapy (counseling) at my Northgate office or in some cases in the Ballard Studio (no insurance accepted but lower fee).
What is the difference between Counseling and Art Therapy?
In counseling, we meet at the Northgate office, sit down and talk. There are toys and art supplies to help children to express themselves. There is a waiting area so I can meet with different members of family separately to see the different point of views. If your child is the identified client, with your consent, his/her school may be contacted as well, as a part of efforts to create a supportive environment for the child.
In the studio environment, therapy is more action oriented. Creating itself is relaxing. You can punch natural clay to reduce anxiety and anger. If you want to stop controlling your environment and relax, you could paint with tempera, glue and glitter with your own hands. After the creating, we still come up with the daily action plan for you to feel the happiness you deserve.
Emotional Intelligence
During your or your child’s counseling, you are encouraged to increase Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to recognize our emotions (anger, sadness, worry and fear and happiness) and to express them without hurting others or yourself. The good news is that we can improve and enhance your emotional intelligence anytime you want. It is different from your cognitive intelligence (IQ) which is mostly fixed. Enhancing Emotional Intelligence helps you to solve your problems and become successful in your work place. It also improves how you solve interpersonal problems at home, work and community.
Counseling Theories
There are so many different approaches in counseling/psychotherapy, conducted by counselors or therapists with different training and education. Cognitive therapy, hypnotherapy, psychoanalysis, Jungian, Gestalt, etc. all may use art work during the sessions. Within art therapy, some therapists use Object Relation theory and others cognitive theory. It is no wonder that people have trouble selecting a therapy!
I often combine different approaches and theories in order to make the best treatment possible for each individual. In order to make change in imitate relational difficulties, I use positive reinforcement from Cognitive and Behavior theory. However, if your difficulties are originated from your family relationships, I apply more psychodynamics approaches to know how your childhood and family relationships have shaped how you are presently.
Get more information regarding counseling solutions for children, adults, and families.
