Counselling

Counselling

Individual Counselling

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Individual counselling is a treatment based on one-to-one conversations with a trained clinician. It occurs exclusively between a client and a mental health clinician and is completely confidential. This is one of the primary treatment and rehabilitation tools and where our trained counsellors have the most impact. We strive to make a connection and to ensure that the client is comfortable with the counsellor at the outset.

At Stillwater, we believe in solution-focused therapy, meaning we focus our discussions on solutions not generalities. Although distinct treatment modalities and individual and group counselling can complement one another, we strive to facilitate deep intrapersonal and interpersonal work. For example, a trauma survivor may feel more comfortable working with a psychotherapist in a private setting but may also benefit from processing feelings with other trauma survivors in a group setting. Both facilitate healing in different ways that are equally beneficial.

Benefits of individual counselling:

    • Privacy and confidentiality
    • Focused work on your specific issues
    • A non-judgmental, objective viewpoint about your situation or problem
    • More one-on-one time with the counsellor or psychotherapist
    • Sessions focused on you and your problems allowing you to dig deeper and progress faster
    • Practice in building trust and having a healthy relationship

Types of Treatment

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT focuses on identifying, challenging and neutralizing unhelpful thoughts or beliefs. It teaches you different ways to think, behave and respond to stressful situations. In laymen’s terms CBT means: to change the way you think changes the way you feel changes the way you behave.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): DBT focuses on enhancing your motivation and teaching you mindfulness and emotional regulation skills to help you cope with specific life challenges.

Motivational Interviewing: This approach aligns well with the stages of the change model and is used frequently in drug and alcohol rehab and addiction treatment to elicit positive behavioral changes by uncovering strong personal motivators to get well.

Specialties Available in Individual Counselling

Gender-specific: you may prefer to work with a female or male counsellor depending on your comfort level.  LGBTQ friendly.

Executive: you may prefer to work with someone who understands the demands of a high-profile profession or who has a corporate background. Some individual counselors work specifically with high profile celebrities or entrepreneurs and are trained to help this specific group of people.

Integrative: these clinicians are trained and certified to employ a broad range of integrative and holistic modalities. Integrative mental health or (IMH) was developed from blending and combining therapeutic approaches. The more inclusive paradigm of (IMH) may more adequately address your unique needs, including physical and psychological well-being, social relationships and spiritual values.

Group Therapy

Along with individual therapy, family therapy and medication management, group therapy is an indispensable element of effective substance abuse and mental health treatment. Group therapy is a broad term for any type of therapy aimed at creating symptom reduction and recovery in two or more people.

Group therapy will have a trained facilitator conducting the session. Unlike family therapy, the members in group therapy will not usually have a pre-existing relationship outside of sessions.

Group therapy has a number of advantageous elements that equal or surpass individual therapy such as the ability to:


    • Offer members education about the recovery process
    • Provide support and motivation from peers to maintain recovery goals
    • Give members the opportunity to observe issues encountered by others in recovery and observe their methods of problem-solving
    • Empower group members by encouraging them to offer assistance and feedback to other members.
    • Teach healthy coping skills to manage daily stressors without resorting to substance use.
    • Boost structure and routine in the lives of group members.
    • Build a sense of optimism, self-worth and belief in the group members.
    • Develop relationships between group members that can be used outside of sessions for support and encouragement.
    • Effectively treat many individuals simultaneously with one clinician or counsellor, allowing those clients quicker access to therapy.
    • Utilize therapeutic tools such as challenging irrational beliefs and confronting poor decision-making to modify behaviors.

Family counselling

Alcoholism and addiction are a family disease. At Stillwater we understand the effects of addiction aren’t limited to the addicted person, and the causes of substance abuse can be varied and complex, family issues can contribute to and perpetuate the disease of addiction. In fact, addiction is sometimes referred to as a “family disease” successful treatment, therefore, often incorporates the family of the person struggling with addiction. 

Family therapy refers to a group of treatment styles that target the group rather than the individual within the group. All of the styles are based on the notion that families share a connection and by modifying one component of the system, you can affect the other components. This means the health of a family can play a major role in the success of recovery.

Historically, someone in recovery for the addiction would receive treatment independently, often removed from their home, community and family, but there has been a recent shift towards a more integrated approach to treatment that not only focuses on the individual but their family environment as well.

Many times, when someone leaves treatment their family hasn’t been involved much in their treatment program. The family will learn some basic skills to better help them communicate with the loved one in treatment. Families will also learn skills on how to deal with a relapse, self-care, healthy boundaries and also be able to voice their concerns or resentments in a safe controlled environment with a qualified counsellor.