Counseling Awareness Month
April is Counseling Awareness Month, and this week we thought it would be beneficial to provide a glossary of different types of therapy practices. It can be confusing picking the right therapy approach, so it’s important to understand the different kinds therapy practices like Sage House offer.
Art Therapy
Art Therapy is a mental health profession that enriches the lives of individuals of all ages (including adults), families, couples, and communities through the process of art-making, creativity, psychology, and the human experience. The healing process of art therapy takes place within the same psychotherapeutic relationship as traditional talk therapy. Art Therapy is facilitated by a trained Art Therapist who is a professional with a Master’s level degree and either licensure or board certification in art therapy. Art Therapists have a vast knowledge of how to safely utilize and manage the art content clients create in sessions.
Art Therapy provides a dynamic way to address the same concerns clients discuss during talk therapy session. Because art-making requires the use of art materials, the client is invited to engage multiple senses: the kinesthetic, the sensory, the perceptual, and the symbolic. Language alone cannot fully communicate some of the emotions and experiences humans have.
Play Therapy
This therapeutic approach is typically used with children ages 3 to 12 years old to explore and express feelings, experiences, and thoughts. The process is free from extensive, rigid rules or limitations and allows for the child to freely explore, make choices and play. Play therapy aims to help children communicate their inner world, express themselves in healthy ways and discover new ways to solve challenges. The play therapist is specially trained to engage with the child through play in a way that is supportive, empathic, and open.
Women’s Wellness Therapy
As a practice of all female clinicians, we know the unique challenges women and those who identify as women face each day. The isolation that can occur when no one understands your experience or when you may feel too ashamed to share how you feel. Our clinicians specialize in working with the unique challenges that effect women today, such body image issues, career challenges, sexual trauma as well as fertility and perinatal mental health.
Our practice offers a unique specialty of Perinatal Wellness, providing focused attention on the unique challenges women and their partners face around conception, pregnancy, and motherhood. We also offer counseling on fertility challenges, miscarriage, and loss. The loss of a child, miscarriage and fertility complications may bring up overwhelming emotions and many complex forms of grief.
Pregnancy & Postpartum Therapy
At Sage House, we believe it is important for all mothers to know that postpartum mood disorders are more common than society would like us to believe. New mothers and their partners are challenged with the responsibility of keeping another being alive, the weight of this responsibility can result in a full range of emotions.
We focus on being a place to heal in the community – a place where women and their partners can talk about their experiences without judgment or expectation. All feelings, worries and fears are accepted here along with the joy and wonderment that comes with parenthood.
Sand Tray Therapy
Sand tray is a unique form of therapy that makes use of symbols, imagination, and the creation process. The physical quality of the sand can be comforting and healing, while the use of the miniature figures can be reminiscent of play. While it may seem childish to use sand and miniatures to share experiences and express feelings, it is a powerful therapeutic tool that is commonly used with adults.
EMDR
According to the American Psychological Association, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) is a structured therapy that encourages the patient to briefly focus on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories.
While Sage House does not currently offer EMDR, Art Therapy has a similar mechanism that makes it work for treating trauma. Art Therapy uses the somatic body base work, where we work with the senses. By using your hands to knee the clay, smearing chalk pastels, painting, it can be a very body-based process. It can also be beneficial with children. If we’re working on attachment issues, a child can sit in their parent’s lap while their hand is on the child’s back. This taps into the body and how the body feels and making the body feel safe so the mind can feel safe.
If you’re interested in trying out one of these therapy approaches or would like to learn more, please reach out to us. Our team of therapists is here to provide support and guidance. We look forward to connecting with you.
