We deeply believe most people want happiness and health. We also think attaining and maintaining happiness and health are generally hard work. Let’s be candid, not everyone is willing to do the work. We at DWW are. Our approach is collaborative which involves you, being the expert on yourself, and the clinician, being the expert on theory, attending, and process. Together we explore reasons you feel unhappy, unsatisfied, and/or unhealthy in certain areas of life. This takes time and close attention to YOU. Therapy is like a class focused on learning about who you are, and how you came to be. Most often, this journey is an enjoyable one paved with realizations, epiphanies, and understandings.
For this journey we utilize the Biopsychosocial Model to understand how you came to be. This model explores the following areas: your biology, psychology, and social environment(s). Viewing you through these lenses allows us to fully see you contextually, inclusive of your genetics, predispositions, psychology, and environments in which you’ve grown and learned. Ultimately, we attempt to support you through a team approach with you being the captain.
Our goal is to improve your overall well-being through self-care. This requires psychotherapy or analysis provided by us, the doctors of the mind who explore the vicissitudes of your psychology, as well as other health professionals. This includes staying up-to-date with your physical doctor(s). If it appears there might be chemical imbalance related to emotional functioning, we will ask you to consult with a Psychiatrist. If we feel other areas need addressing such as a change in diet, relaxing the soma through breathing practices like yoga and exercise, we will refer you to other health professionals. Note, we want to see sustainable gradual steady growth, not quick abrupt change that is unrealistic to maintain and excruciating to bear.
Privacy in therapy is very important, especially with teenagers. Additionally, parental involvement is also essential to successful treatment and progress. Therefore, it is our general policy that adolescents between the ages of 13-17 who are not emancipated, most of the details of therapy will be treated as confidential and their permission is required to release information about treatment. Parents or guardians do have the right to general information, but not necessarily the specifics of what we talk about. If we feel that your child is in danger, or is a danger to someone else, we will notify the parents or guardians of our concern. In family therapy, we must all have a clear understanding of the limits of confidentiality and at the start of therapy, it must be specified which family member(s) will sign authorization for the release of Protected Health Information.
Relationships are hard. We think it’s much easier to be single; however, possibly not as rewarding. Look, there are pros and cons to singlehood and matrimony. With that said, we think couples generally need a lot of support to stay contented together and get through transitions. You can get support from various places, we offer one of such places. Transitional moments are tough and might be at the beginning of your relationship as you consider the risks and benefits of getting closer, or occur midstream as various things happen in life (as they always do). We work with couples not to necessarily keep them together, but to help them understand one another more with the hopes they can tolerate difference better and work together more harmoniously. Couples work generally will last 6-18 months depending on the concerns and want for support.
Imaginary, symbolic, or pretend play is a natural part of a child’s development. It gives others an understanding of children’s organizational skills, their ability to be empathic/sympathetic, as well as their cognitive and social development and capacity. Play, as a clinical technique, has been used for many, many decades. Psychodynamic play therapy is what we most subscribe to in our practice. It is often the best way in which children can communicate their inner most thoughts, feelings, and fantasies, and are able to express themselves in a way that feels safe—through play! In the words of Judith Yanof (2013), “The opposite of play is not work but reality; and in pretend, children are considerably freer to express conflicted or forbidden aspects of their feelings and their stories.” (You can read her full article under our “Resources” section). Our role as therapists is to ascertain the meaning of your child’s play, be it a representation of his or her past, current life, or a life he or she wishes to have, as examples. Through observation, listening, and interpretation, children begin to heal, learn, and accept.
Through our various training endeavors, we are now strong believers in the three areas of development needed to be a good clinician. These areas are training, one’s own therapy, and supervision. One way we show subscription to our belief is through providing supervision to psychology externs and interns; psychology associates; clinical psychologists; and other mental health practitioners.