We are Anxiety Specialists.
We provide evidence-based treatments for anxiety disorders, specializing in social anxiety, selective mutism, separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and related issues. Our goal is to help people live a life true to their values in the presence of anxiety and, to do this, we treat the anxious-avoidance cycle they may find themselves in. Anxious avoidance is when a person avoids something that makes them anxious (which is normal and expected). However, when avoidance interferes with one's life and keeps one from living out their goals, that's when avoidance (not anxiety) becomes problematic. We are specialists who can help people learn how to approach vs. avoid.
For example, a person with social anxiety avoids social interactions. A person with selective mutism avoids talking and is "rescued" by others who talk for them. A person with separation anxiety has significant fears that something will happen to their loved ones while they're apart and, though counterintuitive, the reassurance they receive feeds that fear.
The good news is that anxious-avoidance is actually very treatable with exposure therapy. We treat children, adolescents, and adults in the clinic, home, school, or community settings. We focus on where the fear is activated and work towards approach vs. avoidance using small, manageable steps.
We Provide Individual Sessions, Group Sessions, and Intensive Sessions.
Some individuals need individual 1:1 sessions, some need group sessions, and some need both. Sometimes exposure therapy delivered in 1-hr weekly doses is not enough to extinguish the fear. If that's the case, we provide intensive treatments, too, up to 6 hours of treatment in one day! Whether a person's symptoms are mild, moderate, or severe, exposure therapy delivered intensively and frequently works faster than 1-hr weekly doses. If a person's symptoms reduce with 1-hr weekly sessions, and/or they're comfortable with the pace of their recovery, then we continue with the 1-hr weekly protocol. Our goal is to tailor the intervention to help a person recover as quickly as possible and in the most cost-effective way as possible.
We are Scientist-Practitioners.
We tailor a person's treatment protocol based on their symptom severity, their goals for recovery, and what approaches are validated in treatment research. The specific validated approaches we use include exposure and response prevention (ERP), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) modified PCIT for selective mutism (PCIT-SM), and motivational interviewing (MI). There is not one treatment that works for all, therefore we may adapt a protocol or combine treatment interventions to maximize results. We collaborate with patients to help them make an informed decision about their care.
