...a place where individuals and families can explore choices and find solutions to life’s challenges.
Why Seek Counseling?
Conflicts in relationships. Life transitions. Emotional crises. Educational and career decisions. Physical illness and disability. And many more.
Counseling is more than a treatment of mental illness. Some difficult issues we face in life are part of normal development. From childhood through late adulthood, there are certain times when we may need help addressing problems and issues that cause us emotional distress or make us feel overwhelmed. When you are experiencing these types of difficulties, you may benefit from the assistance of an experienced, trained professional.
Counseling makes sense when you are having trouble coping with a stressful situation or solving a personal problem. It offers emotional support, new perspectives, and help considering possible solutions. So if you are in a lot of distress, or feel overwhelmed by a problem, or find that you keep repeating the same mistakes, then you might consider seeking counseling.
Counselors can help an individual to identify goals and potential solutions to problems causing emotional turmoil; seek to improve communication and coping skills; strengthen self-esteem; and promote positive behavior.
We have learned that our thoughts shape our reality. And… some of our most powerful thoughts and beliefs are subconscious. That's why things sometimes don't change, even though we consciously intend to expand and evolve. The key is rewiring the brain. New neural pathways need to be created in the brain to support the changes you intend to make. Then you begin living not from your addictions but from your preferences. You step into your power, free of self-limiting, subconscious programming. Dr. Vandalov often complements counseling with other exceptional tools and techniques for reconfiguring the neural pathways to support positive change.
Does Counseling Help?
Countless studies have shown that psychotherapeutic treatment works. The effects have been measured in terms of improved social functioning, relief from anxiety, reductions in depression, and in just about every other way that improvement and effectiveness can be defined.
According to the U.S. Surgeon General: "Mental disorders are treatable ... the evidence for treatment being effective is overwhelming ... the inescapable point is that studies demonstrate conclusively that treatment is effective."
Consumer Reports magazine concluded similarly. In their extensive study, which relied largely on self-reports from patients, 9 out of 10 Americans reported positive benefits. Consumer Reports gave psychological health care a solid endorsement.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a blend of two very different approaches —cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) which focuses on changing our thoughts in order to change our behaviors, and the meditative practice of mindfulness, a process of identifying our thoughts on a moment-to-moment basis while trying not to pass judgment on them.
While cognitive behavioral therapy has always emphasized the end result of change of one’s thoughts, mindfulness really looks at how a person thinks — the process of thinking — to help one be more effective in changing negative thoughts.
MBCT is based on the idea that our thoughts cause our feelings and behaviors, not external things, like people, situations, and events. The benefit of this fact is that we can change the way we think to feel or act better even if the situation does not change.
Mindfulness is an open, accepting, non-judgmental awareness of ourselves and others. When we live mindfully, we are open to life, experiencing every moment deeply, in touch with life’s many wonders. Our awareness becomes spacious, open, and relaxed. When we live mindfully, we slow down enough to process more deeply, and can find our way through difficult life problems.
Neuropsychologists have shown in numerous studies of the brain that methods of treatment using skills to change thinking and related actions are most efficient and effective.
