Wellness Services
Stress is a state of worry or mental tension. It is a natural human response that prompts us to address challenges and threats in our lives. It is a perfectly reasonable and normal response to life’s bumps. But chronic stress, or never really getting back to our resting state, can start to cause problems in our bodies, minds and behaviors.
These might include things like sleep problems, muscle tension and pain, skin problems, digestion or gut issues, trouble focusing, anxiety, depression, anger, helplessness, or problems in relationships. We may turn to unhelpful ways of coping like increasing alcohol or cannabis use, yelling, excessive shopping, gambling or pornography use, disconnecting by spending hours on social media or various screens, and more.
If you are worried that your stress is becoming unmanageable or causing problems in your live, we can help you identify your sources of stress, and learn and implement research backed tools for coping effectively with stress.
Burnout can result from chronic stress and is characterized by feelings of exhaustion. It can have emotional and physical consequences, including things like decreased motivation, lowered performance, negative attitudes towards oneself and others, and physical health problems associated with stress (see stress above).
If you think you might be experiencing burnout we can help you identify your sources of stress and drain and develop tools for resetting yourself.
In our busy daily lives we sometimes forget to take the time we need to restore and re-energize ourselves to take on life’s tasks. Or, we may realize that some of our stress comes from our habits or thinking. This can leave us depleted and add to stress and burnout.
We can help you learn to harness a powerful tool towards overall health and wellness – relaxation. We will teach you a variety of relaxation techniques and help you find the individualized approaches that work for you. We will also help you develop a plan to intentionally incorporate relaxation into your daily life to reduce stress and promote overall well-being.
There are times when we know we want or need to do something, and yet we just can’t find a way to get it done. There are lots of things that can derail our motivation or confidence and leave us feeling stuck.
We can help you identify the barriers that are keeping you from making progress toward your goals and develop a plan to get you back on track.
Grief is a normal and expected response to losing a loved one, role, or important part of your identity. It can vary widely in intensity and duration. If you are having difficulty coping with a loss, we may be able to help you process your thoughts and feelings related to loss.
If the loss was traumatic, trauma and PTSD services may also be helpful.
Lots of life events, including trauma and changes in our abilities or circumstances, can make us lose touch with our internal sense of worth or value. Perhaps we go looking for validation or praise from others to tell us how we should feel about ourselves. Maybe we are so cut off from our emotions that we don’t know how to feel good about ourselves anymore. Or maybe a solid foundation for a positive view of ourselves never truly got laid.
Regardless of what is getting in the way of connecting to your own self-worth, we can help you identify the barriers to living your values and help you learn to feel good about the person you are.
There is a lot of noise out there about what it means to be a man and how men should/shouldn’t be. When we get conflicting messages or feel like we don’t know what kind of man we want to be, this can lead to confusion, anger, helplessness, problems with self-esteem, and difficulty forming strong relationships. If something changes in our life that impacts our sense of masculinity – like a divorce, job loss, career change, aging, changes in our physical abilities – this can cause us to question who we are.
We can help you learn to identify your own values regarding your masculinity, and help you establish or regain your pride in being a man.
Insomnia is when you have a hard time falling asleep, staying asleep, or when you wake up too early. Insomnia can stem from PTSD, depression, chronic pain, medical problems, aging, work schedules and/or life changes that impact sleep. Sometimes people aren’t sure why they’re having trouble sleeping. We all need sleep to function at our best, so we may start to develop habits around sleeping that seem to help at first, but ultimately leave us feeling worse. We might also start to develop negative beliefs or anxiety about sleeping itself, such as “it’s going to be another bad night” or “I’m going to be useless tomorrow.”
We can help you identify what is driving your problems with sleep and use research backed strategies to help you change habits in thinking and behavior that keep you from the rest you need.
If your sleep is disrupted by nightmares of past traumas, difficulty winding yourself down to sleep, difficulty staying asleep because of safety concerns, and/or frequent waking to check on safety, your sleep problems may be related to trauma. Treating trauma will ultimately be the best help to your sleep, but working on sleep related thoughts and behaviors can be a way to start if trauma work feels out of reach for you right now.
We know stress and trauma can negatively impact digestion and add to problems like constipation, diarrhea, bloating, gas, pain, etc. On top of that, stomach problems can become a source of stress themselves – worrying about having symptoms or managing symptoms effectively, which can then make symptoms worse. Negative beliefs about your gut and hypersensitivity to any changes in your gut can also make symptoms worse.
We can help you break this cycle, resetting the mind body connection. Using research backed strategies we can help you identify and change negative beliefs about your gut and develop alternative skills for coping with stress and gut symptoms.
Changes in our health status or getting a new diagnosis can be incredibly scary and disorienting. It may be difficult to adjust to the idea of ourselves as someone dealing with this kind of problem, and we may not be sure how we feel about it or what to do.
We can provide support in navigating this significant change – helping you sort through your reactions and decide how you want to move forward.
At some points in our lives we may decide we need to change something about the way we are living our lives. This may be a personal shift in your goals or values, or something motivated by your medical provider’s recommendations. Examples might include following a doctor’s recommended treatment plan, getting better at taking medication, modifying exercise goals, adhering to dietary recommendations, or learning how to advocate for yourself in medical settings, etc.
Whatever your motivation, we can help you clarify your goals and develop a plan to move forward towards the changes you want.
Taking prescribed medications or using assistive devices (CPAP, hearing aids, walking aids, etc.) can be a critical part of maintaining our health and managing medical or mental health conditions, AND there can be many things that get us off track, including our own mixed feelings about it.
We can help you identify what is getting in the way and problem solve ways to help you feel empowered in managing your diagnoses.
Maintaining a healthy weight is one of the best things we can do for our overall health, and unfortunately, there are a lot of negative messages out there about body size, body shape, and weight that can be hard to navigate. We know that there is not one answer for everybody and we may need help figuring out what is healthy for us individually. We also know that folks sometimes feel powerless to change their weight or eating habits, especially if eating has become a key way of feeling comforted or more in control.
If you are interested in exploring changes to your weight or eating habits, maybe at the advice of your medical professional or for your own personal goals, we can help you sort through the noise and identify goals that makes sense for you and your body. We can also help you use research backed steps to work towards those goals.
Quitting tobacco use is the single most important thing you can do to improve your health…and it often feels out of reach. Maybe you’ve tried before and been unsuccessful. Maybe it feels like you need it to control your stress or emotions. Maybe you feel so awful when you aren’t smoking it doesn’t seem worth it to quit.
We can help you decide whether quitting is something you want to do for your health, and identify the barriers that have kept you stuck in the past. We will help you implement research based strategies to help you quit and stay quit for good.
Wellness Treatments
What is Evidence Based Treatment?
Evidence based treatment means that the therapy has been thoroughly researched and there are data to support that it is helpful. This may mean that there are a set number of sessions, specific things we will cover in session, and skills for you to practice at home. Some therapies may have workbooks or companion apps to support your treatment. We will work with you to make sure the therapy techniques are a good fit for you.
Though much of the research has been conducted in the US, several therapies we offer have been studied in countries across the world and with individuals with marginalized identities. We are also experienced in modifying therapies to fit each person. Feel free to ask us about how a particular approach might work for you.
Types of Evidence Based Treatments to Support Wellness
Motivational Interviewing
Motivational Interviewing (MI) can be useful for folks who are considering making a change, but may have fixed feelings about it, feel stuck, or are unsure of their ability to change. In MI your therapist asks questions to help you better understand your goals and barriers to ultimately decide if a change is right for you.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps individuals understand how habits in their thinking and behavior can keep them stuck. Your provider will work with you to identify these patterns, and teach you skills to help you think, feel, and act differently. Individuals leave CBT with a set of skills they can continue practicing after therapy ends.
