Services
Caring, compassionate, creative and knowledgeable are just a few words that describe the therapists at Intermission Therapies. They each love their vocation and are a group of very enthusiastic clinicians. Their personal lives are healthy and whole, and from that platform of strength, they are able to offer encouragement, coping skills, and tools for a client’s “DIY” toolbox. The people who commit to the therapeutic process with our treatment family rediscover wholeness, hope, and peace.
Individual Therapy
In these United States, individualism is encouraged. However, anyone who struggles with isolation, depression, and anxiety will tell you that individualism does not promote healthy living. No human can really live life alone; it does “takes a village.” In a healthy community people really know each other. They accept each other authentically. They encourage one another, lovingly correct each other, and walk with each other through the most difficult of times.
The therapists at Intermission Therapies do not judge. Clients feel comfortable to share their fears or inadequacies. These are discussed in confidence and anonymity. A sense of significance emerges. This is followed by the courage to return to the support network, or “village” from which a person has been isolated.
A significant body of research suggests that when individuals make personal progress, their family or work environment will happily shift to accommodate these positive changes and newly discovered competence. Intermission therapists assist in identifying how a support system of family and friends may have influenced an individual’s identity from the past and contributed to present self-beliefs. An increased sense of personal identity provides limitless future possibilities.
It takes courage and tenacity to go through the therapeutic process, and most people experience focused self-awareness. They then transition to a sense of significance and greater clarity interacting with the world around them.
Couples Therapy
Engagement and marriage are not commitments to be taken lightly. A healthy relationship requires sustained hard work. Yet woven through marital challenges are fragile threads of solid gold. We encourage couples to fight for the gold.
The therapists who serve couples at Intermission Therapies do a masterful job of sifting through the complexities of a difficult season in a relationship. Some couples find us in the “eleventh hour.” They are making one last effort to save a relationship that is severely wounded. They sense that their relationship is in a “coma” and recovery would require a miracle.
We see those miracles every day. We help people learn to understand their partner and to BE known. We have witnessed dividing walls tumbling down. We are therapists who are committed to helping keep relationships that have history and a ray of hope. We shift the focus from blame to the rediscovery of the strengths inherent in the relationship.
Select couples seek therapy to deepen a “stuck” relationship by learning to clearly ask for what they need. There is no magic formula…just hard work, a lot of communication, and growth of hearts. We love being invited to join a couple on their journey toward wholeness and healing.
Family Therapy
A family is like a human body. When one part hurts, the rest of the system feels pain. Some families develop patterns of avoidance to help individuals deny the pain. Some families resort to pain avoidance by participating in addictive behaviors. These are a few of the solutions that are commonly referred to as “dysfunctional.” Such dysfunctions complicate the problems. Finally, someone calls out from within the family, desperate for real solutions.
Our therapists are extensively trained in therapeutic intervention for families. A family is optimally designed to be a safe place for its members. Our work with families brings them back to that point of safety. The dysfunction is no longer needed.
It is not unusual that we initially see the person who is crying out for help for their family. If it is at all possible we hope that the whole family can participate. However, if that is not possible we help the person with whom we are working to both understand their experience with their family of origin, and examine that individual’s role in their present family.
People frequently replay the dramas of their past in an effort to change them. We assist in the work to move past this vicious circle to a life of free of ineffective or even destructive patterns.
Adolescent Therapy
Ideally, families provide a container in which an individual is safe to grow. From infanthood to adulthood the developmental process moves a person into competency. The support and encouragement of the family surrounding that person are invaluable.
The “adolescent” years are complex but incredibly important. All is designed to lead toward independence, and if something blocks an individual’s efforts to acquire their tools for independence, sparks can fly. Parents may be baffled, confused, or hurt. Their child may need to get a message to them, but the message is not always delivered gracefully or effectively.
However, each step toward freedom demands additional responsibility. A young man or woman needs to leave home with a full toolbox of skills for effective living.
Before they leave, a young family member may “act out” in order to call attention to a family dysfunction. They may need to fill in the holes in their own development that are the result of a family that is not fully functioning. They may need to create a better atmosphere for a younger sibling. The young adult cannot fully exit until reassured that the family will be able to carry on without their contributions.
We frequently find that the “identified patient” is stuck in what clinicians refer to as “triangulation.” The family patterns may need to be identified in order for the existing member to be reassured. But families are adaptive, and often, with professional intervention, a young person may go forward with a sense of blessing … and peace.
Child Therapy
Ideally, families provide a container in which an individual is safe to grow. From infanthood to adulthood the developmental process moves a person into competency. The support and encouragement of the family surrounding that person are invaluable.
The “adolescent” years are complex but incredibly important. All is designed to lead toward independence, and if something blocks an individual’s efforts to acquire their tools for independence, sparks can fly. Parents may be baffled, confused, or hurt. Their child may need to get a message to them, but the message is not always delivered gracefully or effectively.
However, each step toward freedom demands additional responsibility. A young man or woman needs to leave home with a full toolbox of skills for effective living.
Before they leave, a young family member may “act out” in order to call attention to a family dysfunction. They may need to fill in the holes in their own development that are the result of a family that is not fully functioning. They may need to create a better atmosphere for a younger sibling. The young adult cannot fully exit until reassured that the family will be able to carry on without their contributions.
We frequently find that the “identified patient” is stuck in what clinicians refer to as “triangulation.” The family patterns may need to be identified in order for the existing member to be reassured. But families are adaptive, and often, with professional intervention, a young person may go forward with a sense of blessing … and peace.
“The Second Act”
A faith-based, reduced fee counseling program. Under the supervision of our Clinical Coordinator, Randall Bennett (MA, LMFT, LCPC), Masters-prepared therapists are now available to see individuals, couples, subsets of a family, or the entire family. We see all age groups and offer flexible scheduling. We are pleased to offer these high-quality counseling services at a significantly lower rate than is typically charged. Our belief is that because of the grace we all get a ‘do over’ – a second act. If you or someone you know could benefit from our services, or to learn more about this ministry, please contact us at:
630-232-7770, Extension 106