About Ethos Counseling Group
What Makes Ethos Counseling Different
We are here to help you find a way when you are lost, or when the way seems too long or challenging. We are ready today to meet you with encouragement and support at any stage of life.
Whether you are dealing with depression and anxiety, relationship issues, addictions, loss of a loved one or other problems at home, school or on the job, we can assist you to get back on track.
Our name “Ethos” means ethical nature, moral character and core values. At Ethos, we promise to welcome you with integrity and treat you with dignity and respect – no judgements – no matter who you are, or what history, issues or problems you bring to us for psychological evaluation, testing or treatment in counseling. Ethos staff is dedicated to helping you heal, build resilience and empower to you to find your personal path to a bright future outside of Ethos’ door.
Our Approach
Highly Collaborative “Care team.” Our team of psychologists and psychotherapists bring diverse specialties and skills to provide unique insights and integrative approaches for assessment and treatment of the whole person: mind, body, and spirit. We believe this strategic and holistic vision leads to practical breakthroughs in treatment and long-term changes with real solutions for chronic or current troubles.
Coordination of Care. We know you may be working with several mental health specialists such as a therapist for counseling, psychologist for evaluation and testing, psychiatrist for medication or neuropsychologist to explore drug-free treatment options. Ethos will coordinate your care during those times when you are managing complex changes. It can be hard or nearly impossible to get everyone to communicate and get appointments with high quality providers on a timely basis. We facilitate innovative connections inside and outside of Ethos and strive to provide unique extended “Care Team” solutions to meet your needs throughout life. Ethos can walk beside you to deal with ongoing challenges to your mental health and all the adjustments needed along the way.
Support System. Achieving personal integration in mind-body-spirit and establishing connections to outside support systems can seem like a lot to accomplish when you are struggling to make progress in short or long-term transitions. We will take care to ease your personal journey by expanding the continuum of care, engaging family, schools, clergy, doctors, and lawyers and others as needed. We commit to taking additional steps for our clients because we recognize that the problems life throws at you can be complex, involve others and often need more than a simple solution or quick fix. We plan accordingly by creating a unique and customized approach for you and whatever your situation if you are feeling stuck or overwhelmed.
Modalities
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT emphasizes the way our thoughts affect how we feel and what we do in situations. It is based on the idea that our negative feelings and behaviors are not caused by people or events in our lives, but by our own thoughts. [read more=”Read more” less=”Read less”]CBT is centered on the scientifically supported assumption that most emotional and behavioral reactions are learned. Therefore, the goal of therapy is to help clients unlearn their unwanted reactions and to learn a new way of reacting. use CBT to identify negative thoughts, figure out the rationality of those thoughts, and change or modify them and the behaviors that they cause. In CBT, we seek to learn what their clients want out of life (their goals) and then help their clients achieve those goals. Our role is to listen, teach, and encourage. We are directive in the sense that we show clients how to think and behave, in order to increase positive outcomes and decrease negative outcomes. We do not tell you what to do- rather, we teach you how to do. All you need to do is express concerns, be willing to learn, and implement that learning. It is clinically proven to be the most effective treatment for many different disorders, including depression and anxiety.[/read]
Family Systems
The Family Systems approach recognizes the important role that the family plays in the life and experience of an individual within that family. The family is a continually changing unit, and is made up of many different relationships- mother-father, sister-brother, mother-child, each with their own unique interactions. Family members significantly affect each other’s thoughts, feelings, and actions. [read more=”Read more” less=”Read less”]This connectedness and reactivity make the health of family members interdependent, and a change in one person’s functioning is predictably followed by changes in the functioning of others. When the Ethos team uses a Family Systems approach, we may want to talk with different family members to find out how each one views the issue at hand. We will look for emotions expressed and their intensity, patterns of dominance and submission in the family, different roles played by members of the family, and communication styles between individuals in the family. The approach gives us insight on how to provide healing for each individual and your family as a whole.[/read]
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT is based on the belief that the core of our problems is due to psychological inflexibility. This means that we sometimes get stuck in a certain way of thinking or behaving which prevents us from adapting in different situations. [read more=”Read more” less=”Read less”] The goal of ACT is to accept our own reactions and be mindful of them, before choosing a course of direction, and acting. ACT uses strategies of Mindfulness and acceptance to help accomplish this change in mindset. Our focus in ACT is not to get rid of painful emotions, but to “work with what you have” by being present in whatever situations you may face. We will help you to explore troubling feelings and learn how to move forward, while working together to figure out how to avoid situations where those feelings come up.[/read]
Structural/Interpersonal Relationships
This model of therapy says that negative psychological symptoms are experienced because of social stress with others. Ethos therapists will focus on your significant relationships and network of social support. Structural/Interpersonal Relationships therapy is also based on attachment theory, which says that we become attached to others at a very young age either in secure or insecure ways. [read more=”Read more” less=”Read less”] Secure attachment in early childhood allows for feelings of safety and comfort in later relationships, while insecure attachment can cause anxiety. We will explore how these early attachments can define the way that you relate to others later in life, and help change what’s not working for you.[/read]
Play Therapy
Play therapy can be used with individuals of all ages, and is known to be one of the most effective ways to help children work through emotional and behavioral challenges. For adults, it can be used to enhance learning abilities, strengthen relationships, and improve general well-being. [read more=”Read more” less=”Read less”] In Play Therapy, Ethos therapists will encourage clients to interact with different toys or activities to get a sense of the thoughts and emotions that might be hard to express verbally. We may use sand trays, mini figures, art materials, Legos, construction toys, clay, dance, or role play, for example, to help explore past events that may be affecting your child or you in a negative way.[/read]
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR is an integrative psychotherapy approach that has been extensively researched and proven effective for the treatment of trauma/PTSD. EMDR is a set of standardized protocols with eight phases of treatment that incorporate elements from many different treatment approaches to help with: [read more=”Read more” less=”Read less”]
- Panic Attacks
- Complicated Grief
- Dissociative Disorders
- Disturbing Memories
- Phobias
- Pain Disorders
- Performance Anxiety
- Stress Reduction Addictions
- Sexual and/or Physical Abuse
- Body Dysmorphic Disorders
- Personality Disorders
Negative emotions, feelings and behaviors are generally caused by unresolved earlier experiences. Positive emotions, understanding, and perspectives generally lead to healthy and useful behaviors and interactions. EMDR effectively reprocesses negative memories, present disturbances and future actions. The goal of EMDR therapy is to completely process the experiences that are causing problems, relieve the symptoms, and set up an effective learning state for the brain to process new experiences positively and store them in a healthy way. At Ethos, we use EMDR as a way to activate your natural resources for managing and overcoming your struggles. Healing extends outside of therapy sessions as we show you how to use EMDR tools and strategies on your own.[/read]
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the act of intentional focus to de-stress, lighten your spirit, and find inner peace. Research has proven that adding simple, easy to learn Mindfulness practices into your life immensely improves health, relationships, and personal happiness. Ethos incorporates practical Mindfulness training and interventions for children and adults to teach moment to moment resilience in common stressful scenarios such as physical pain, unstable relationships, and difficulties in school, home or at work. [read more=”Read more” less=”Read less”] Conscious Breathing, Progressive Muscle Relaxation, Body Awareness, Creative Visualization, and Guided Imagery are all Mindfulness activities that can be learned and used throughout your life. Our team works with you to select specific techniques so you can continue to retrain the way you think for healing of mind, body, and spirit on your own in the future. While Mindfulness is not exclusively tied to spirituality, we can help you incorporate Christian or other faith-based spiritual practices such as prayer, contemplation, or meditation. Together we will create a simple set of powerful tools for you to heal past trauma and break chronic cycles of depression, fear, anxiety, addiction and emotional dysregulation in your life. We can also help you gain other benefits such as using Mindfulness to improve intimacy skills for relationships such as increased self-awareness, empathy, communication, conflict resolution and sustained commitment.[/read]