Counseling & Psychotherapy
Individual Counseling | Couples & Marriage Counseling | Group Counseling
We provide counseling for groups, couples and individuals in a safe, caring environment and have experience dealing with the full range of emotional and psychological issues that people face.
We believe that you, as the client, have the capacity to resolve your problems with the our assistance in clarifying the issues involved and exploring potential alternatives. The counseling relationship is one of partnership in which you are the best judge of your interests, desires and needs while we offer training, experience and tools to assist in this 
exploration and clarification process. The ultimate responsibility for change rests with you. We respect your right to decline any technique or procedure. As with any changes, there will be some times of discomfort as you explore and use new styles of relating to others and yourself.
Length of treatment varies by goal and individual. Some clients need only a few sessions to meet their goals while others require longer. We will mutually agree on the goals of your treatment and I respect your right to terminate counseling at any time. I do request that any termination include one week's notice.
Although our sessions may be very intimate psychologically, ours is a professional relationship which will be rendered in accordance with acceptable ethical guidelines. Our contact will be limited to counseling sessions.
Individual Counseling
Individual therapy is a personal journey in which you explore yourself, 
your belief systems, your needs and your skills to meet those needs with your therapist. Each person is unique and each therapy is unique.
We will begin by establishing your goals. We will assist you in the process but the goals are yours. We will not decide what is best for you, you will. We will offer you alternatives and explanations based on our training and experience but you will be the sole arbiter of what you want in your life.
We will assist you to explore your belief systems and their origins. Many of our beliefs are formed at very early ages and many people do not realize what they are. Since your belief systems inform your understanding of yourself, the world and others, they are the basis on which everything else is built. It is crucial that you understand your own belief systems so that you may decide what you wish to keep and what you wish to change.
We will offer you various treatment methods that we believe will most effectively treat your issues. We will explain those treatment options to you and you will decide what we will do.
Our goal is always to provide the deepest healing in the least amount of time with the least discomfort possible.
Couples & Marriage Counseling
When a couple comes to us for marital counseling, in many ways, it is the the RELATIONSHIP that is the client and our efforts to make this relationship work must be collaborative. We do not make decisions for our clients, instead we help them to identify the central concerns or issues and to work through the range of available options. It is never our job nor our intent to judge who is right or wrong, or to keep score.
There are five stages to the marital counseling process at Connections of BodyMind:
Stage 1: Identification of the problem(s) causing discord.
As counselors, we make certain basic assumptions about what makes a relationship successful. First, we assume that each of the partners in the relationship must have their needs met. Therefore, the first order of business is to identify the source of disharmony in the relationship. From these issues we can begin to understand what needs are and are not being met and why. Once we have defined those places where needs are not being met each individual must decide what is required to meet those needs.
Stage 2: Definition of the solution(s)
In this stage, each partner must do the personal work required to gain an understanding of themselves and what it will take to feel loved and fulfilled in the relationship. This is often the most difficult part of the process and may require individual sessions in order to facilitate the couples sessions. Again, we as counselors, do not decide what you need or how to meet your needs. We fully understand that what works for one individual or couple may not work at all for another. Therefore, we can offer alternatives, suggestions and ideas but the decisions are yours to make.
Stage 3: Articulation of both the problems and the suggested solutions by both partners and the counselor
The third stage requires that each partner work to make their needs understood both to themselves and their partner as well as what they think it will take to have those needs met. Each partner must clearly understand what the other is saying and asking. The goal is to learn to listen and understand not necessarily to agree or disagree. Once both partners understand the nature of the problems and the reasons for the solutions, Stage 4 can proceed.
Stage 4: Negotiation, wherein both partners develop a workable solution.
At this point, both partners must assess the information gathered in the previous stages and decide whether or not their partner's need and solutions are acceptable and/or workable. Both partners must be able to accommodate each other's needs will still maintaining/attaining their own. It does no good whatsoever to simply make one partner happy at the expense of the other. Both partners must be willing and able to give and get what they need in a relationship; each partner must negotiate and represent their needs until a mutually workable solution is created.
Stage 5: Resolution
Resolution of the exposed issues requires the couple to take their agreement home and put it into daily practice or, if no such resolution can be achieved, to plan for the dissolution of the relationship. Once the plan is laid out, the real work begins and the couple must begin the process of implementing their agreed upon solution(s). However, maintaining the relationship in question is not always the best solution and there are, unfortunately, times when it is best that people part ways. We can help make this process as agreeable and as positive as possible, given such circumstances.
Group Counseling
Group therapy is offered in two basic types: psycho-educational and process group. Group therapy can be one of the most powerful learning experiences of a lifetime.
Psycho-educational groups focus on a specific topic. Some examples of these groups include anger management, domestic violence, sexual abuse recovery, addiction recovery, etc. They are designed to provide specific information about specific topics with experiential exercises to allow personal growth opportunities. Generally they are offered in full day seminar formats or 1-2 hour class formats for several weeks.
Family Therapy is a very special type of psycho-educational group in which the therapist educates the whole family about the unique dynamics within that family. First, we identify the issues of concern, or problems, facing the family. From that we define the goals for the whole family and for each individual member of the family. They we use our knowledge and expertise to assist the family in exploring options to solve the issues/problems.
Process groups explore the individual issues of group members, on a weekly schedule. Process groups are especially helpful for people with social or relationship difficulties. 
These groups provide a safe place to give and receive honest feedback, offer and receive support. Group therapy helps members learn how to deal with psychologically and emotionally intimate relationships in the real world. For example, many people who have problems with trust learn to develop appropriate psychological and emotional intimacy in the group which then spills over into their 'outside' lives.
There are two types of process groups, each based on the length of time the group lasts. Closed-end groups are set up for a specific number of sessions while open-ended groups may last forever. In open ended groups members join and ongoing group and stay as long as they continue to benefit. When one member leaves or "graduates", another member is introduced.
*Check the events section for new group opportunities.