Our Specialties & Modalities

Depression is a common but serious mood disorder that can affect a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a number of ways that impair their functioning. Many people with depression report feeling sad or a lack of emotion, hopelessness, helplessness, a lack of interest in usually pleasurable activities, and a change in energy, sleep, or eating.

There can be many and multi causes of depression, and symptoms can vary from mild to severe. Depression can also be related to trauma, your reproductive health and hormones, the seasons, and environmental stressors. In fact, 1 in 6 people in their lifetime will have symptoms that indicate depression.* The good news is, there is a diverse wealth of evidence-based and supportive treatments for depression, and Well Psychotherapy is here to find the best fit for you.

_{​*American Psychiatric Association, 2017}

Anxiety is a perfectly normal emotion that is often experienced as fear, nervousness, apprehension, or worry, which helps us to assess situations for potential danger or discomfort.

However, it becomes problematic when it is persistent and exceeds your capacity to cope, manifesting in ways that seem out of your control or in your body through physical symptoms. These feelings, when related to an anxiety disorder, have negative behavioral and psychological consequences and are often alarming and confusing to those who suffer from them.

In fact, there are a number of anxiety-related disorders: generalized anxiety, phobias, social anxiety, separation anxiety, agoraphobia, and selective mutism. Having an disorder can be quite isolating, but is actually relatively common, with approximately 40% of American adults reporting experiencing an anxiety disorder in their lifetime*.

Anxiety and depression often co-exist, and symptoms can overlap. If you think that you may be struggling with depressed mood, anxious thoughts, behaviors, or feelings that are related to a depressive or anxiety disorder, Well Psychotherapy can help.​

_{*American Psychological Association}

Trauma can be broadly defined as something that happens to us that leaves us feeling overwhelmed and alone, but not everyone who experiences something traumatic develops PTSD or related disorders.

PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) describes the condition of lasting and severe symptoms following a single-incident or time-limited traumatic event. PTSD can include feelings of being jumpy, anxious, agitated, or irritable – all signs that our nervous system continues to be hyper-aroused in a state of “fight or flight” well beyond when the danger has passed.

There are often experiences of intrusions, or flashbacks, – bodily, emotional, or narrative memories – to the past trauma. This may lead to avoidance and withdrawal, both from the memories of the terrible trauma as well as the world around oneself, as an attempt to defend against future danger.

The symptoms of PTSD can be very debilitating and cause a great deal of distress, which can lead to compounding difficulties such as: depression, anxiety, self-harm behavior, addictions, eating disorders, panic, and even suicidality. Well Psychotherapy wants you to know that healing is possible, and our services can be a step on your journey to lasting wellness.

CPTSD

Complex PTSD (CPTSD) is a proposed diagnosis, but Well Psychotherapy is invested in understanding and treating this unique phenomenon. CPTSD is a unique form of PTSD with added dimensions of symptoms resulting from prolonged, severe, interpersonal trauma usually having occurred in childhood or within a trapped situation.

Those who are exposed to prolonged, repeated trauma and ongoing abuse often see the world as dangerous and lack hope for the future, harboring pervasive feelings of shame, guilt, self-blame, hopelessness, helplessness & feeling different and alone. These result in symptoms that include: emotional regulation difficulties; relational difficulties and disturbances; altered attention & consciousness (dissociation); challenged belief systems; and somatic distress, disconnect, and disorganization.​

Well Psychotherapy follows the treatment guidelines of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation for CPTSD, and is committed to using strengths-based strategies to help survivors improve functioning, manage symptoms, and ultimately integrate back into family and community life with a sense of safety and purpose.

All Well Psychotherapy therapists are held to high standards of trauma-informed care, including ongoing professional development in the treatment of traumatic stress; therefore we are all proud to specialize in the treatment of trauma  

Dissociation is one way our minds cope with too much stress, especially during traumatic events, during which it is the brain’s natural response to something overwhelmingly out of your control. Dissociation related to mental health issues can describe a number of alterations in psychological processes that change the way a person experiences day-to-day life. In essence, it describes a disconnection or lack of connection between things usually associated with one another, ultimately resulting in discontinuities of experiences or conscious awareness.

Many people who experience dissociation describe feeling disconnected from themselves (their thoughts, feelings, memories, behaviors, perceptions) or the world around them in ways that affect their functioning. Experiencing dissociation regularly and severely enough to impact your daily life may be evidence of a dissociative disorder or be a symptom of another mental health condition. Dissociative symptoms and disorders often stem from a combination of biological and environmental factors, and are typically correlated with survival of complex trauma over time.

Contrary to popular belief, dissociative symptoms and dissociative disorders are moderately common, with some studies putting the prevalence at approximately 10% of the general population.*

If you have more questions about dissociation, or think that you may be experiencing these phenomena, Well Psychotherapy can help.

_{*International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation}

In order to be truly trauma-informed at Well Psychotherapy, we are deeply committed to providing identity-affirming care for the LGBTQ+ community. Our team includes several clinicians who identify as queer, trans, or nonbinary. We want to ensure that our clients receive support from clinicians who understand their unique experiences. We believe in creating a safe and inclusive space where people across the gender spectrum can feel seen, understood, and validated throughout their journey.

We offer individual, couples, and family therapy tailored to the unique challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community. Our services address a wide range of issues, including struggles with coming out, navigating medical transitions, managing family dynamics, and coping with political and social discrimination. We are here to support those going through identity exploration, gender dysphoria, gender-based violence, reproductive health concerns, and the impacts of systemic prejudice. Our clinicians provide a compassionate and understanding space to work through the issues affecting our clients, while empowering our clients to embrace their authentic selves and build fulfilling lives.

Healthy relationships are the bedrock of a healthy community, and are often the very things that we struggle with the most. When we are hurt in or by relationships, it can be difficult to trust others, but Well Psychotherapy believes that relational wounds heal relationally. The very act of engaging in therapy can be a huge step towards healing.

Well Psychotherapy is dedicated to the health of individuals and the systems that support them, including those closest to them. We take care to see the value in every relationship, including those outside of the traditional scripts of our society. We work with individuals wanting to grow in their relationships, but we also work with folks who are in relationship to one another. We welcome relationships in every form: couples, domestic partnerships, marriages, co-parents, polyamorous and consensually non-monogamous partnerships, and more.

We know that no two relationships are alike, and we will create a secure and trusting therapeutic relationship to explore what is true for you, without bias or judgment. We work to strengthen the values and beliefs that are important to you, to establish healthy templates for communication and conflict, and to empower those in relationships to feel connected to and enlivened by one another.

If you’re feeling stuck, confused, or overwhelmed by relationships in your life, Well Psychotherapy can create a safe space for you to explore these dynamics and emerge with a renewed sense of self in connection to your significant others.

Individual therapy at Well Psychotherapy offers a supportive, collaborative space to explore your inner world, relationships, and life experiences. Rooted in trauma-informed care, our approach recognizes the interconnectedness of emotional, psychological, physical, and relational well-being. Individual therapy provides an opportunity to better understand patterns, process distressing experiences, and develop greater self-awareness and resilience.

Our clinicians work alongside clients to identify goals, address current challenges, and explore past experiences that may be shaping present-day concerns. Whether you are navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, life transitions, or relational difficulties, individual therapy is tailored to your unique needs and paced to support safety, dignity, and meaningful growth. We believe healing unfolds through a trusting therapeutic relationship that honors the whole person.

Couples therapy at Well Psychotherapy is grounded in the understanding that relationships are shaped by individual histories, attachment patterns, and shared experiences. Our clinicians support couples in exploring relational dynamics with compassion, curiosity, and care, helping partners better understand themselves and one another.

Through a trauma-informed and relational lens, couples therapy offers space to address communication challenges, conflict, trust concerns, intimacy, and life transitions. Therapy focuses on strengthening emotional connection, increasing awareness of patterns that create distress, and fostering healthier ways of relating. Our work supports couples in developing deeper understanding, safety, and connection within their relationship while honoring each partner’s individual experience.

At Well, we believe that creative spirit guides healing. Art therapy is an integrative and researched based therapeutic approach that utilizes  the creative art making process with psychological theory and human experience. Art therapy offers an avenue for non-verbal emotional and psychological processing that is guided by a registered professional art therapist. The creative experience of art therapy amplifies the active art making process over the product of the creation, allowing space for authentic self-expression and building sensory awareness.  

Research shows that trauma lives within our body and can disrupt our memory and regulation skills that can expand across generations. Art therapy supports individuals in accessing, exploring, and processing the experiences of non-verbal traumas in our bodies. This creative expression is collaborative in the psychotherapeutic relationship and is intentional to an individual's needs and goals. The non-verbal, experiential based, and metaphorical process of art therapy is supportive for individuals across the lifespan with an awareness of cultural and environmental factors and influences. More information can be found at https://arttherapy.org/.

Well Psychotherapy believes in the inherent interconnectedness of mind, brain, and body and the necessity of treating these multiple realms for total healing. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols that utilizes somatic, psychological, and emotional intervention, incorporating elements from many different treatment approaches to relieve many types of psychological stress. For more information, visit emdria.org.

The Society of Psychological Hypnosis, Division 30 of the American Psychological Association defines hypnosis as:

“A state of consciousness involving focused attention and reduced peripheral awareness characterized by an enhanced capacity for response to suggestion.”  

This shift in consciousness enables us to tap into many of our natural abilities and allows us to make change more quickly. Hypnosis is a state of inner absorption, concentration, and focused attention. It is like using a magnifying glass to focus the rays of the sun and make them more powerful. Similarly, when our minds are concentrated and focused, we are able to use our minds more powerfully. Because hypnosis allows people to use more of their potential, learning self-hypnosis is the ultimate act of self-control.

While there is agreement that certain effects of hypnosis exist, and with imaging we have shown that different parts of the brain are firing when a person is using hypnosis, there are still some differences of opinion within the research and clinical communities about how hypnosis works. Some researchers believe that hypnosis can be used by individuals to the degree they possess a hypnotic trait, much as they have traits associated with height, body size, hair color, etc. Other professionals who study and use hypnosis believe hypnotic ability can be learned and can be enhanced through practice. But research does demonstrate that hypnotic communication and suggestions effectively change aspects of the person’s physiological and neurological functions.

Well Psychotherapy uses tools of clinical hypnosis to help clients bring about both psychological and physiological change in three main ways. First, they may use mental imagery or one’s imagination. The mind is capable of using imagery, even if it is only symbolic, to assist us in bringing about the changes we are working toward. A second basic hypnotic method is to present ideas or suggestions to the patient. In a state of concentrated attention, ideas and suggestions that are compatible with what the patient wants have a more powerful impact on the mind. Finally, hypnosis may be used for unconscious exploration, to better understand underlying motivations or identify whether past events or experiences are associated with causing a problem. The effectiveness of hypnosis appears to lie in the way in which it bypasses the critical observation and interference of the conscious mind, allowing the client's intentions for change to take effect.‍

_{From American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (www.asch.net)}

Trauma-Focused Intensives at Well Psychotherapy are designed to provide concentrated, in-depth support for individuals processing acute, chronic, or complex traumatic experiences. Intensives offer an extended therapeutic format that allows clients to engage deeply in healing work over a shorter period of time, rather than across many traditional weekly sessions.

Grounded in trauma-informed and body-based approaches, intensives integrate evidence-based modalities tailored to each client’s needs. This focused structure can be particularly helpful for individuals seeking momentum in their healing process or needing support around specific traumatic experiences. Our clinicians prioritize safety, collaboration, and pacing throughout the intensive process, supporting integration and resilience during and after the work.