Psychiatric Diagnostic Evaluations and Medication Management

A comprehensive psychiatric evaluation is used to diagnose emotional, behavioral, or developmental disorders.  Once a diagnosis is made, medication options will be discussed, and education will be provided on the actions, uses, and side effects. When the patient agrees on a medication and treatment option, the medication is prescribed. Medication management is the aspect of psychiatric care where we monitor the effectiveness of medication over a course of time to determine if the treatment meets the patient’s goals.

Individual Therapy*

Individual therapy (sometimes called “psychotherapy” or “counseling”) is a process through which clients work one-on-one with a trained therapist. People seek therapy for a wide variety of reasons, from coping with major life challenges or childhood trauma, to dealing with depression or anxiety, to simply desiring personal growth and greater self-knowledge.

Psychological and Psycho-educational Evaluations

A Psychological Evaluation, also called a Psycho-educational Evaluation, assesses how a person learns and processes information, highlighting strengths and weaknesses in cognitive functioning. A subset of these tests can be often used for Gifted and Talented program admissions. Ensuring that the person has the right support and knowing how to ask for it and advocate in the process is a key step to enabling your loved one to overcome any learning challenges or develop their talents.  Click here for more details on Psychological Evaluations.

Early Childhood Development Evaluations

We assess all aspects of early development and identify young children struggling with developmental challenges, including sensory integration or processing issues, speech and motor delays, or social, emotional or behavioral challenges. The goal of testing is to understand the nature of a child’s challenges, clearly describe strengths and weaknesses and guide parents toward appropriate intervention. Click here for more details on Early Childhood Development Evaluations.

Family Therapy

Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to reduce distress and conflict by improving the interactions between family members. This type of counseling views problems as patterns or systems that need adjusting, as opposed to viewing problems as residing in the person.

Coaching

Life coaches help people set and/or achieve goals through a variety of methods that often involve conversational tools and self-reflection exercises. To put it simply, life coaching is oriented towards the present and future. Coaching is proactive, so there will always be invitations to take action on your realizations and insights.  Click here to see if coaching is right for you.

*While every therapist receives training to address a variety of mental illnesses, our providers have advanced skills and training in the following areas:

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 (DBT)

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 (ERP)

A special kind of therapy called Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) is the treatment of choice for OCD.  CBT involves the use of two evidence-based techniques: Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP) and Cognitive Therapy (CT). 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.

CPE Providers have expertise in treating OCD – for more information, please click here.

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.

CPE Providers have expertise in treating OCD – for more information, please click here.

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.

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.