• Mental Health and Wellness Approaches

Diagnosis, Testing, Therapy, and Medication

At CPE Clinic, LLC our providers not only diagnose and treat based on our expertise, but we provide testing and evaluations to enable the larger team of providers to be on the same page with learning and education of your child.

Diagnostic Evaluations

Diagnostic evaluations assesses difficulties in the behavioral, emotional and social realms of  life – childhood through adulthood. Normally this is done in an intake appointment with one of our providers. Some conditions can be diagnosed by a psychologist and some are better diagnosed by a psychiatrist. For more information on the kinds and types of evaluations, please see our services page.

Medication

People often think of medication as the last option, to be used when other interventions have failed.  Some psychiatric symptoms and disorders improve quickly with the proper medication at the right dose, which then allows a patient to either go back to their lives or access other therapeutic interventions more effectively. We know the medications, we let you know what we know, we monitor medications, and when appropriate, discontinue them. Our prescribers expertise and or training is unparalleled.

Therapy Approaches

*While every therapist receives training to address a variety of mental illnesses (a variety of mental illneses should like to disorders), our providers have advanced skills and training in the following therapeutic approaches:

CBT – Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a common type of talk therapy (psychotherapy).  CBT helps you become aware of inaccurate or negative thinking so you can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is used to treat a wide range of issues. It’s often the preferred type of psychotherapy because it can quickly help you identify and cope with specific challenges. It generally requires fewer sessions than other types of therapy and is done in a structured way.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy or DBT is a cognitive behavioral approach focusing on those who struggle with managing their intense emotional experience in everyday situations. Specifically, it is for those who lack coping mechanisms, have extreme emotional responses to stresses, and who struggle to maintain relationships because of emotional instability. The goal of DBT is “to help individuals change behavioral, emotional, thinking and interpersonal patterns associated with problems in living.” For more on DBT Therapy, please click here.

OCD – Exposure Response Prevention Therapy

A special kind of therapy called Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP) and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is the treatment of choice for OCD. With Exposure and Response Prevention, the therapist gradually exposes the person to the situations that trigger his or her obsessions and compulsions. Over time, the person learns to respond differently to these triggers, leading to a decrease in the frequency of compulsions and the intensity of obsessions. OCD symptoms often become so mild that they’re easily ignored; sometimes they disappear.

OCD – CBT/ERP/DBT

For adults who have failed out of ERP, where life threatening behaviors are present, quality of life behaviors are present, or present therapy interfering behaviors are getting in the way of ERP, DBT is used to enhance the success of ERP. Often referred by other therapists, this approach consists of DBT skills group or even short-term individual DBT therapy. Once progress is made, clients have the option to return to referring therapist to continue their work.

Working Memory Training

Working memory is critical for focusing, appropriately shutting out distractions, and for complex thinking. Improved working memory capacity generalizes to improved attention and impulse control.   The training consists of computer-based training, using a Mac or PC includes, five weeks of training – 25 training sessions of 30-40 minutes each – with weekly coach calls with the psychologist. The computer based training is provided by COGMED.

Specialized Parent Training

Sometimes parents need more support and coaching because some children and adolescents are more prone to challenging behaviors and are tougher to manage. While programs exist for different age/challenges, in this training, parents learn to help their children modulate their behavior to meet expectations and enjoy much more positive interactions as a family.

Social Skills

Social skills are the building blocks of social interaction. If you have social anxiety or developmental blocks, you may have missed out on developing some of these important skills. However, you can always learn them no matter your age. Social skills training (SST) is a type of behavior therapy used to improve social skills like assertiveness, nonverbal communication, and verbal communication.

All of our providers are out of network and do not participate with any insurance programs. Please contact your insurance provider – click here for a guide for How to Check Your Health Insurance.  Some clients have success advocating for out of network benefits – here is some information that you might find helpful about advocating for out of network benefits.

Appointments

To make an appointment with any of our providers, please call the office line at 410-979-2326. You can also email erin@cpeclinic.com or jennifer@cpeclinic.com.