Individual Therapy

Individual therapy is commonly known as “talk therapy” and is often what comes to mind when people think of therapy in general. Individual therapy primarily involves one-on-one sessions between the client and therapist but can include family members or other important people in your life if you desire to include them in your treatment. Individual therapy is available for children, adolescents, adults, and older adults.

Couples Therapy

Couples typically seek professional help once ongoing problems have become longstanding and efforts toward positive change have been unsuccessful. In couples therapy, both parties learn to collaborate to get to the heart of their issues and create a plan of action. Additionally, some couples seek preventative therapy in order to enhance and reach their full potential in the relationship. It is useful for couples to work proactively on issues before small problems develop into harmful patterns that negatively impact the relationship.

Family Therapy

The joining of individuals to create a family, especially with children, can lead to complex and difficult issues just as it can create joyful and positive life experiences. Family life can be both rewarding and frustrating. Family therapy is an effective mode of treatment when there is an imbalance between the struggles and the rewards of working together as a family. This type of therapy can also be used to boost or re-access the strengths that already exist within the family and promote the development of new communication and connection skills. Many techniques are taught and practiced within the session, so the family can leave feeling confident to utilize the skills at home.

Group Therapy

It can be helpful for individuals who have common issues and treatment needs to engage in group therapy (usually facilitated by one or two therapists). Some groups are like classes where skills such as anger management, mindfulness, or social skills are taught. Other groups are more interactional and focused on what’s happening in the moment. These are sometimes called process-oriented groups. Integrative Awareness offers a variety of process and skills-based groups.

• Denver Women’s Group

Play Therapy

Play therapy is a developmentally appropriate way to understand children’s experiences within the context of their world. Children often do not have the vocabulary and expressive language to communicate their thoughts, feelings, and experiences and are able to do so through their play. Play therapists are trained to pay attention to patterns, themes, along with other aspects of a child’s play and to respond in ways that help to provide understanding. Play therapy provides a way for children to work through difficult experiences, along with what may be impacting their mood, behaviors, interactions, and other struggles. Although play therapy is often the intervention of choice for children, play therapy interventions can also be helpful for adults, depending on their treatment goals.

EMDR

EMDR helps facilitate the activation of the brain’s inherent system to process and integrate the information that got stored or stuck. The eye-movements or other bilateral stimulation we use in EMDR seem to unlock the nervous system and allow the mind and body to process the experience. EMDR will not erase the memory; rather the person is able to remember the story without all the emotional charge that was distressing before the treatment.