Our Services
Counseling and Video Counseling
Counseling is a collaborative effort between the counselor and client. Professional counselors help clients identify goals and potential solutions to problems which cause emotional turmoil; seek to improve communication and coping skills; strengthen self-esteem; and promote behavior change and optimal mental health.
Ideally, counseling is terminated when the problem that you pursued counseling for becomes more manageable or is resolved. However, some insurance companies and managed care plans may limit the number of sessions for which they pay. Check with your health plan to find out more about any limitations in your coverage.
Individual counseling is a personal opportunity to receive support and experience growth during challenging times in life. Individual counseling can help one deal with many personal topics in life such as anger, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, marriage and relationship challenges, parenting problems, school difficulties, career changes etc
Group Therapy
In short, group therapy is a gathering of people, often dealing with similar issues, who meet together regularly under the leadership of trained therapists. While you might think group therapy is only for issues like alcoholism, in fact it is used to treat virtually all mental health issues that individual therapy treats.
Groups typically consist of anywhere from five to 15 people led by one or two therapists and meet for an hour or two each week. Many groups are geared toward specific issues, such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse or obesity, while others focus on helping people deal with a variety of issues like anger or low self-esteem. Still others consist of individuals who are all going through a similar experience like loss of a loved one or divorce.
Groups might meet for several months or even longer, depending on the circumstances. A group can be open, where new members can join at any time, or closed, where all members start at the same time.
Whatever the form group therapy takes, it offers a wide range of benefits. Whereas individual therapy is dependent upon the relationship between patient and therapist, group therapy relies on the input of therapists as well as the support of the group.
Studies show that peer interaction is a key therapeutic factor in groups. Groups provide much needed social support, improve social networks and reduce the isolation and stigma that often comes with mental or behavioral health issues. Peers identify with one another in the group, and seeing progress in other members can help people realize their own potential for change or healing.
Groups help people learn how to relate to themselves and others in healthier ways—often people don’t recognize unhealthy habits in their relationships, and the group setting provides the opportunity to correct these habits. Groups can also act as a safety net that allows members to go out and practice what they’ve learned, knowing they can come back the following week to the support of their peers.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a medical practice which originated in China and spread to other Asian countries. It is based on the premise that a blockage or disturbance in the flow of the body's life energy, or “qi,” can cause health issues. Acupuncturists insert hair-thin needles to specific acupuncture points throughout the body to restore the flow of qi, balance the body’s energy, stimulate healing, and promote relaxation.
According to Chinese Medicine, there are over 1000 acupuncture points on the body, each lying on an invisible energy channel, or "meridian." Each meridian is associated with a different organ system, or connect multiple meridians.
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Acupuncture is said to be useful in addressing a variety of health conditions, including:
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Anxiety
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Arthritis
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Chronic pain (such as headaches, back pain, neck pain)
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Depression
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Insomnia
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Migraines
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Nausea
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Sciatica
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Sinus congestion
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Stress and anxiety
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Tinnitus
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Weight Loss
Damita Hartz, AP, LMHC, Edwin Uribe, AP, and Lindsay Brudzinski, AP, are licensed acupuncturists and all highly skilled in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Schedule your appointment today at 352-448-5836
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) incorporates a combination of techniques used in many other traditional psychotherapies. ART works directly to reprogram the way in which distressing memories and images are stored in the brain so that they no longer trigger strong physical and emotional reactions. ART accomplishes this through the use of rapid eye movements similar to eye movements that occur during dreaming. Although techniques
similar to these are used in other types of therapies, ART’s very specific and directive approach can achieve rapid recovery from symptoms and reactions that may have been present for many years. ART combines long respected, sound treatment practices with safe and effective methods validated by current scientific research studies conducted by the University of South Florida.
Stephanie Kuhlman, LMHC, and Tracey Hurley, Registered Clinical Social Worker Intern, are both certified in ART and are available for adjunctive sessions. The rate is available by contacting Jason Hartz, Office Manager, at 352-448-5836.
Hypnotherapy
Hypnosis -- or hypnotherapy -- uses guided relaxation, intense concentration, and focused attention to achieve a heightened state of awareness that is sometimes called a trance. The person's attention is so focused while in this state that anything going on around the person is temporarily blocked out or ignored. In this naturally occurring state, a person may focus their attention -- with the help of a trained therapist -- on specific thoughts or tasks.
Hypnosis is usually considered an aid to counseling or therapy, because the hypnotic state allows people to explore painful thoughts, feelings, and memories they might have hidden from their conscious minds. In addition, hypnosis enables people to perceive some things differently, such as blocking an awareness of pain.
Stephanie Kuhlman, LMHC, is a registered hypnotherapist and is available for adjunctive sessions. The rate is available by contacting Jason Hartz, Office Manager, at 352-448-5836.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.
There is more than one way to practice mindfulness, but the goal of any mindfulness technique is to achieve a state of alert, focused relaxation by deliberately paying attention to thoughts and sensations without judgment. This allows the mind to refocus on the present moment.
Stay tuned for our upcoming Mindfulness Group that will be beginning in the near future. Charles Dixon, Registered Mental Health Counseling Intern will be leading this group.
Cupping
Cupping therapy is a traditional Chinese and Middle Eastern practice that people use to treat a variety of conditions. It involves placing cups at certain points on a person's skin. A practitioner creates suction in the cups, which pulls against a person's skin. Cupping can either be dry or wet. Wet cupping involves puncturing the skin before starting the suction, which removes some of the person's blood during the procedure.
Cupping typically leaves round bruises on a person's skin, where their blood vessels burst after exposure to the procedure's suction effects. Cupping also has links to acupoints on a person's body, which are central to the practice of acupuncture. Scientists have linked cupping therapy with a variety of health benefits, although there needs to be more research to determine whether it is effective as a treatment.
People regularly cite cupping as an effective pain releif treatment.
Gua Sha
Gua sha is a therapy that involves scraping your skin with a massage tool to improve your circulation. This ancient Chinese healing technique may offer a unique approach to better health, addressing issues like chronic pain. In gua sha, a technician scrapes your skin with short or long strokes to stimulate microcirculation of the soft tissue, which increases blood flow. They make these strokes with asmooth-edged instrument known as a gua massage tool.
The technician applies massage oil to your skin, and then uses the tool to repeatedly scrape your skin in
a downward motion. Gua sha is intended to address stagnant energy, called Qi, in the body that practitioners believe may be responsible for inflammation. Inflammation is the underlying cause of several conditions associated with chronic pain. Rubbing the skin’s surface is thought to help break up this energy, reduce inflammation, and promote healing.
Gua sha is generally performed on a person’s back, buttocks, neck, arms, and legs. A gentle version of it is even used on the face as a facial technique. Your technician may apply mild pressure, and gradually increase intensity to determine how much force you can handle.
People regularly cite cupping as an effective pain releif treatment.
Low Level Laser Therapy
Low level laser therapy is a form of light therapy that utilizes nonionizing forms of light sources, including lasers, LEDs, and broadband light, in the visible and infrared spectrum.
This nonthermal therapy helps to stimulate different cells in your body in order to encourage healing, growth, and pain relief.
Pain Management: In several research and clinical studies, Low Level Laser Therapy has been shown to have beneficial therapeutic outcomes for musculoskeletal pain, including (but not limited to) arthritis, back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, joint pain, acute and chronic injuries, and inflammation.
Accelerated Tissue Regeneration: In several research and clinical studies, Low Level Laser Therapy has been shown to have beneficial therapeutic outcomes for musculoskeletal pain, including (but not limited to) arthritis, back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, joint pain, acute and chronic injuries, and inflammation.
Improving Fertility: LLLT can be used for improving male and female fertility rates and for treating a wide range of andrological and gynecological issues such as erectile dysfunction, infertility, endometriosis, dysmenorrhea, menopause, and more.
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Herbal Medicine
Because of a 5,000-year history, your acupuncturist can make an herbal prescription that addresses most any known disease to help you restore your health and wellbeing. An herbal formula contains plant elements—leaf, stem, flower, root or seed—and perhaps minerals or other natural ingredients. Chinese herbal medicine works in tandem with acupuncture by providing the nourishing support for the energetic reprogramming efforts of acupuncture.
Each herb has been meticulously studied and recorded for its flavor, therapeutic property, and organ system in which it is active. After evaluating a patient’s chief health concerns, an herbalist will construct a formula specific for her and her condition at hand. Every person that is evaluated will likely receive a different formula, even if the conditions are the same. Since each body is different, the reason for a disorder’s existence will be unique as well. And each unique person requires different tools for healing.
Each herb has a multitude of active chemical compounds that are responsible for how an herb accomplishes its various tasks. Studies abound on Chinese herbs and how they affect the body, subdue pathogens and infections, enhance circulation, and even slow aging. In an herbal formula, a veritable soup of hundreds, if not thousands of active ingredients stimulate the body to respond in a desired ways, depending on the design of the herbal formula.
Massage Therapy
Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet, or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain.
As early as BC 722, in the Huangdi Neijing, a book composed during the Chinese Spring and Autumn period, details massage in 30 different chapters. The Nei-jing is a compilation of medical knowledge known up to that date, and is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine. It specifies the use of different massage techniques and how they should be used in the treatment of specific ailments, and injuries. Also known as "The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon," the text refers to previous medical knowledge from the time of the Yellow Emperor (approx 2700 BC).
In this way, massage is the perfect compliment to acupuncture as well as in relieving stress and aiding in and benefiting one's mental health.