The Cabell Huntington Hospital Counseling Center offers comprehensive counseling services for individuals and families seeking support from licensed and experienced professionals. Explore our services below to learn more about how we can help.
This is a one-on-one therapy between an adult client (18 or older) and one of our mental health providers. The therapeutic relationship between provider and client is at the heart of the experience. Your experience of safety with and trust in the provider, and their ability to understand you and meet you where you are lays the groundwork for the courageous work you’ve come to do. With this foundation, the therapist’s education, training, and experience in the field equips them to get to the bottom of what you have come to therapy for, and respond with individualized treatment that best fits you and the situation you’ve come to address.
This is a one-on-one therapy between a minor client (under the age of 18) and one of our mental health providers. Although the therapeutic relationship between provider and client is still very important to the experience, it is different than it is in adult therapy in that the client is a minor. For more information about the treatment of minors, see “FAQs for Minors." Depending on the age of the child, the therapy may involve different kinds of activities and approaches than those used in adult therapy to best suit the child’s developmental stage.
The Counseling Center offers group therapy opportunities throughout the year with different emphases such as Healthy Relationships, Self-Compassion, Care for the Caregiver, Recovery, Grief, Chronic Illness, Boundaries, and Healthy Spirituality.
Benefits of Group Therapy
Groups provide support. Hearing from others with similar issues helps you see that you’re not alone in having challenges, whether you're grappling with panic attacks, depression, or another mental health issue, Johnson says. Many people experience a sense of relief.
Groups provide a sounding board. If, for example, you talk about a fight you had with your partner, group members can see things in the way you present it that you don’t. “Hearing from other people about how you come across can be very powerful,” Johnson says. “You get a wider range of perspectives on your situation, and that can help you deal with your problems better.”
Groups can propel you forward. Hearing how other members successfully overcame their fear of flying or how they confronted a family member over drug abuse can be very encouraging. “Patients often push themselves harder when they see what others are doing,” Johnson says.
Groups promote social skills. “Groups not only help to ease that sense of isolation, but also give the opportunity to practice re-engaging with people,” Johnson says. By participating in a group, you see that you can get along with others.
Group therapy costs less than individual counseling. Some people believe that, because group therapy costs less, it’s not as good, but "that's not the case at all," Cox says. "Group therapy can be incredibly powerful.”
Groups teach you about yourself. “Every person in the group holds up a mirror and you get to see yourself through their eyes,” Cox says. It’s a way of uncovering the blind spots that may be blocking your ability to overcome your issues.
This article was retrieved from: 6 Benefits of Group Therapy for Mental Health Treatment | Everyday Health on 6-16-2021
Our brains interpret threats to the security of our most important relationships in the same way as they interpret things like car accidents or even combat. To feel safe, we need to know that there is someone in the world who truly has our back and will respond to us in our times of need. All of us at times find ourselves caught in reactive cycles of negative responses with our most important others which only create greater relational disconnection and isolation. When these reactive cycles gain strength and continue, they can end up redefining our love relationships from emotionally safe and connected to emotionally unsafe and disconnected. Our very longing for our partner’s love can become a powder keg of protest against the loss of connection, or jet fuel for our flight to take cover.
The Counseling Center provides Emotionally-Focused (Couple) Therapy to couples to help them:
If your family is going through a tough time -- whether it's from stress, anger, or grief -- family therapy can make a difference. It can help couples, children, or members of an extended family learn to communicate better and work through conflicts. Sessions are led by a specialist called a family therapist. They could be a psychologist, social worker, or therapist who's had extra training in family therapy.
How Can Family Therapy Help?
Problems in your family can affect all areas of family members' lives. You and your loved ones might notice trouble cropping up at work, at school, or in everyday interactions with other people.
When it feels like the issues in your family are too big for you to handle -- and aren't getting better -- it may be time to see a family therapist. They can help you find new ways to manage struggles, conflicts, and challenges.
Some of the things that family therapists can help with are:
What Happens During Family Therapy?
First, your therapist will talk to everyone in the family to help them understand what's going on. They'll ask questions about how each person views the problems, when the trouble started, and how the family has been trying to manage things so far. Next, the therapist will work out a treatment plan. The goal is to improve conflicts in a family, not to blame anyone for the issues.
Your therapist will help family members communicate better, solve problems, and find new ways to work together. Family therapy can't always make a problem go away. But it can give family members new skills to get through difficult situations in healthier ways.
Retrieved on 3-8-2023 from: Family Therapy & Counseling: Purpose, How It Works, Pros, and Cons (webmd.com)
The Center offers a variety of psychological testing including IQ, personality, AD/HD, autism, pre-procedure tests (such as for bariatric or other surgeries), and more. Our psychologists use the TOVA for AD/HD testing and the ADOS for autism testing. Please call 304.526.2049 for information or to schedule a test.
Refer to our FAQs to learn more.