Are You or Your Child Struggling Mentally, Emotionally, Or Relationally?
Are you struggling to keep up with life’s demands? Are you worried that you’re not living the life you know you deserve? Have you isolated yourself from those around you who care the most? Does parenting seem impossible? Maybe it’s your child or teen who is struggling and putting a strain on family relationships. You’ve watched them struggle long enough.Struggles are real during uncertain times. Social isolation, working from home, online schooling… These and other life stressors can cause symptoms of depression, anxiety, and distress.
Some people have struggled with these problems for a long time and they are made worse by the current stress and isolation we’re all experiencing. Others might be experiencing symptoms for the first time in their lives. Healthcare experts recommend caring for our mental health in this crisis just as we care for our physical health. In fact, mental health professionals have embraced telehealth as a way of enabling people to stay mentally healthy. Even better, professional outcomes show telehealth can be just as effective as face-to-face counseling.
During the pandemic, help can seem a million miles away. Maybe you’ve called professionals only to hear nothing. You wonder where to turn- after all, who could help during a pandemic? During this time of quarantine, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and isolated. Many of us no longer have ready access to support systems we once had every day. Kids and teens are no longer at school where they have concrete structure and some of their most supportive relationships. Where do we turn? Perhaps you’ve followed the recommendations of online and media experts by talking with friends through social media, phone, text, and even apps like Facetime or Zoom. It just hasn’t been enough. Problems like these are not unheard of nor are they unsolveable. Help is available. There is hope for you to recapture your sense of success and connection!
We are Facing Unprecedented Challenges with this Pandemic
We know that some people are born with a proneness to experience clinical levels of depression, anxiety and other behavioral health symptoms. Others struggle to meet the demands of everyday life due to stress and other factors. The current pandemic that we are all facing together is a profound stressor. We worry about our health and the well-being of our loved ones. It is a struggle to adjust to working from home and attending school virtually. Some have lost senior-year rituals, contact with friends and beloved teachers, and distance from co-workers. It is a major change to our daily lives. Youth and adults around the world are experiencing a loss of routine, connection, and life. It’s easy to feel alone and ignore the previous struggles we were facing prior to the pandemic. After all, the stressors with which we were dealing prior to the pandemic didn’t go away. They are still present albeit obscured by what many are referring to as our “new normal”. If anything, they might be magnified by the on-going shift in reality! We often dream of a time when we will feel that we are coping well, that we are successful and leading a fulfilling life. The fast pace of life in today’s isolated, media-driven, 24-7 world can make that dream seem far from reality. Seldom do people make time for themselves. It’s easy to turn on the TV or dive into news apps or social media and neglect emotional selves. This goes against our “wiring” so to speak. Connection is life-sustaining and more important than ever during times we may feel disconnected.
Telehealth Counseling Can Provide A Much-Needed Safe Space
Pressure from everyday life prevents us from creating time and space to consider our goals in life. Running from one thing to the next, even in a world where we are just running from one room to the next, keeps us from ever setting goals for that life we dream of. Our children hide in their rooms, perhaps not really addressing the issues that are bothering them. They may not accept offers to talk about how they’re doing or what they’re feeling. Telehealth counseling can serve as a source of self-discovery and growth. People often find therapy to be a respite from the pressures of everyday life. As part of our strengths-based, client-centered telehealth therapy program, we will help you to recognize your unique strengths and connect you to your own internal resources. We will also empower you to challenge any negative self-beliefs you might have internalized and help YOU achieve the goals you want to achieve.We believe healthy relationships are key to emotional well-being, so we’ll explore how your depression, anxiety, attention difficulties, or other issues might be affecting your relationships (both with others and with yourself). This relationship-oriented approach can help you see yourself and others more clearly and develop new, healthier ways of relating. We also believe that technology and healthy relationships can co-exist!We have worked hard to ensure that our overall approach to counseling comes through in our telehealth sessions. Our approach is one that is focused on an in-depth look at relationships, past, present, and future. We help you to explore how past relationships helped define who you are in both positive and negative ways. Our past relationships serve as templates for present relationships. This rings true even during our telehealth sessions where the past meets the present during the course of a therapeutic relationship! The work we guide our clients through considers how maladaptive patterns might have developed and how they may impede present-day relationships. We’re very proud of what we are accomplishing together with our clients in their telehealth sessions. Groupworks is currently offering telehealth options for individual, family, and group counseling (yes, even groups!). We have seen telehealth clients recover or obtain for the first time that life that they deserve! We go the extra mile to help our clients better understand themselves in the context of their relationships. Our psychologists and doctoral students bring the same level of dedication and relational focus to our telehealth session that we do in our live sessions.
As you consider adult counseling, you may have some hesitations. . .
I don’t like the idea that I need professional help.
Difficulty and struggles are part of life. The anxiety, depression, and other difficulties that can result from these experiences are likewise normal and natural. Some people can find their way through without professional help, but others progress more quickly with the support and guidance of a telehealth psychologist. Entering telehealth therapy doesn’t mean there is something wrong with you. It just means you could benefit from a bit of extra help. In fact, we consider it a sign of strength to recognize your own limits and to ask for the help you deserve.
Why should I come to Groupworks and not some other telehealth counseling center?
Every one of our telehealth psychologists has a doctoral degree, which means they have gone through thousands of hours of advanced training and supervision. Our doctoral students from Spalding University are each supervised by a doctoral level psychologist. This clinical expertise empowers them to provide the highest quality of care. We have the training in telehealth that permits us to guide you in a deep look at your own life, your challenges, and your relationships. Beyond our doctoral training, we engage in ongoing continuing education to further refine and hone our skills. At the beginning of the pandemic Groupworks Psychological Services invested in some of the best telehealth technology available. We use a HIPAA-Compliant version of the Zoom platform. Zoom offers our clients a secure connection with the best video possible. This ensures a safe and secure environment with a strong connection that enables us to connect with you on a level that is similar to being in the room together. This platform is one of very few that allow us to continue our therapy groups through telehealth group counseling.
How do I know you can help with my specific issue(s)?
We gather information from each of our potential clients to ensure that we are the best fit for them. If we feel we can’t be of help for you, we will offer you a quality referral to someone who can. Our goal is to make sure you have the support you need to achieve your goals- whether that’s with us or another in our referral community. We have a great deal of confidence in our ability to help clients navigate their lives and find happiness. We assure you that we will do everything in our power to help. Drs. Love and Sheppard are able to offer telehealth services to those in Kentucky and Indiana. Dr. Thieneman is able to offer services to those in Kentucky.
Give Yourself Every Chance To Succeed
If you’re still not sure if Groupworks can provide the telehealth support you need, please contact us to learn more about our telehealth counseling services. When in doubt- just ask. We have a reputation for success with even the most complex cases, and we don’t shy away from a challenge. We’re looking forward to working with you!
Dr. Sheppard is able to offer telehealth to the following states: AL, AZ, CO, DE, DC, GA, IL, ME, MD, MN, MO, NE, NH, NC, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, UT and VA.
Drs. Love, Thieneman & Sheppard are registered telehealth providers in the State of Florida:
http://www.flhealthsource.gov/telehealth/