Therapy & Services
Adolescent Anxiety Clinic
8-week structured group runs every Thursday from 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
When the stress of school, extra-curricular activities, college preparations, relationships, and life transitions become too overwhelming, there are supportive opportunities we can provide to our children and students to assist them in managing stress and anxiety. We utilize a structured Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) approach that is; comprehensive, insight oriented, and instructional to aide adolescents in managing stress and anxiety for greater short-term and long-term success while remaining in the classroom and keeping up with their daily routines, responsibilities, and current treatment appointments.
Treatment Areas of Expertise
Women may experience certain biological, environmental, and psychosocial challenges related to gender, and these concerns can have a significant impact on mental health and well-being. These issues, and many others, are often able to be addressed in therapy.
Feelings of sadness, loneliness, loss or even despair are part of the human experience. However, whether due to chemical imbalance, loss of a loved one, changes in life or maladaptive thought patterns, sometimes these periods of feeling down persist and may even intensify. Disruptions in sleep, appetite, loss of pleasure or interest in activities, increased isolation, and possibly even suicidal thoughts are symptoms that are common when someone is struggling with depression. Treatment will be individualized to each client’s unique needs but may include cognitive restructuring, identification of distorted thought patterns that negatively impact mood and motivation, thought reframing and development of healthy coping strategies in a safe, nurturing and supportive setting. This may occur in individual or group therapy sessions. Referrals for medication management may also be made as appropriate.
Fortunately, anxiety disorders are highly treatable when addressed with the correct scientific solutions, and we can provide the solutions you need to help you conquer your fears.
In fact, panic and anxiety—including panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder—are the most common mental heath issues in America.
While anxiety is often uncomfortable, at times even unbearable, some anxiety is a regular part of daily life and can actually assist in motivation. Often individuals who experience anxiety seek to avoid the very things that cause their heightened anxiety or discomfort. These avoidance behaviors may further exasperate the anxiety by not allowing one to sit with his/her discomfort. The goal of anxiety treatment is to teach one to manage their own anxiety and experience distress while avoiding panic like symptoms.
Dr. Wolthusen believes that the key to leaning to manage anxiety is to learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable. We work closely with our clients to develop an arsenal of healthy coping skills and strategies to manage their discomfort and face their fears.
The function of family therapy is to help provide a safe space for skill building and role negotiation. Family therapy is meant to empower family members as they work together to identify and manage inevitable life transitions, daily stresses, and significant conflicts that are often reflective of individual family member frustrations. Family therapy seeks to assist in resolving conflict between family members or when conflict arises simply from one family member’s behavior negatively impacting another family member. Family therapy is also used to help family members adjust to changes that a person in therapy is making. Family therapy may consist of all family members being present or just some; different sessions may also have different family members present. Initially sessions are held weekly, but may decrease in frequency as progress is made.
Child and adolescent counseling is aimed to improve problem-solving skills, encourage effective communication and teach healthy ways to manage thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Dr. Wolthusen assess each child’s level of emotional maturity, and work to set goals that will increase emotional functioning and maturity, such as teaching skills to manage distress, regulate emotions, and learn to communicate effectively.
Child therapy can be different than traditional counseling since children may struggle communicating their experiences. Play therapy is a common technique that may be used to assist a child in expressing their thoughts, feelings and experiences.