An Individualized Approach to Mental Health Treatment

Counseling is for adults, adolescents, and children of all ages. What will make mental health treatment effective for these diverse groups?

Science has decidedly proven each and every person is wired differently. They are born with a distinguishing temperament, they do not live the same life experiences, and therefore their brain has a distinct way it remembers and processes information.

Change in counseling has been traditionally linked to the development of insight. This involves reading, writing, talking, and accurate thinking. The basis of these treatments require children and adults are able to form realistic and factual hypotheses about their environments. Research has shown all people perceive their environment through a powerful network of biases which further complicate perceptions in truth and reality. Child development, processing delays and deficits, impairments in the vast array of memory systems, and perceptual weaknesses compromise what is assessed in the environment, learned, retained, and later utilized for solving problems.

Due to these factors, it is my belief every person should be treated based on their own personal temperament, life experiences, unique brain structure, goals, and what psychological and medical research states will work.

I complete a thorough assessment on each person. This includes gathering information from the person, possibly their family, discussing goals, and testing and evaluation of the tests. From there I collaborate with the individual (and/or their family) to create a treatment plan based on the results of the testing, their goals, and what research states will help them. This will be based on cognitive and behavioral therapies, and cognitive remediation.