Dialectical Behavior Therapy
We have an ongoing Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills group for individual clients of the clinic and those of other clinics. The group meets on a weekly basis for an hour and a half. It is educational in nature and aids clients in learning and refining the emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and mindfulness skills that are essential to the reduction of extreme emotion dysregulation.
Cultivating Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a set of skills designed to aid in increasing awareness, attention, and acceptance of things that cannot always be changed. It has been taught in medical and psychological settings for 30 years as a way to successfully manage stress, anxiety, panic, depression, and the effects of stress on heart disease, chronic pain, skin problems, asthma, and other physiological concerns.
Our mindfulness groups are conducted weekly over the course of 8 weeks with 5-10 group members. Each class is approximately an hour and a half in length, one evening per week. Each class includes guided mindfulness exercises, gentle movement exercises, lecture, and group discussion. Between classes participants will be encouraged to practice the skills using CDs, homework assignments and readings.
Weight Loss and Maintenance
Have you tried multiple times and in different ways to lose weight and been unsuccessful? Or have you lost weight but then quickly gained it back? For some people, diet and exercise alone are not enough. Weight loss is an emotional, cognitive and physical process. Our 8-week weight loss group introduces a new way of thinking about weight loss. Through participation in the group you will learn how to change your relationship with your emotions, thoughts, AND your body. This group will help you gain the skills to:
- Develop insight into why you eat and why you may avoid physical activity
- Listen to and value your personal experience
- Feel good about yourself and live well
Emotional Eating
Have you tried to lose weight, but found it difficult to control your food intake? Emotional eating may be the culprit. People often report that they eat to alleviate undesirable feelings of sadness, loneliness, boredom, etc. This strategy may work for you in the short run because it helps you get rid of negative feelings and provides a quick pleasurable experience. Unfortunately, in the long run, emotional eating is a major barrier to weight loss. Our 8-week emotional eating group will help you to identify your emotional eating triggers, develop strategies for regulating emotions so you don’t rely on eating, and help you meet your weight loss goals.
Stop Smoking for Good
Most people who have tried to quit smoking have tried a dozen times. Sometimes they even quit for a while, but then the smoking returns, whether due to concerns about weight gain, returning to places they used to smoke or beverages they smoked with, unexpected stress, or other factors. For many people smoking is used to feel better; less anxious or depressed, more energetic and connected with other people. Unfortunately, controlling the smoking alone does not change the need to feel better. This group teaches people how to feel better without smoking or another addictive behavior. When people no longer need to smoke to feel better, the urges and cravings are reduced, and quitting and staying quit are easier. We use a method that research has shown works to help many people stay quit. It has not been available in Michigan until now.
The course is 8 weeks long. Each weekly class is an hour and a half. Every week the discussion addresses how trying to control feelings by smoking produces more urges to smoke and how to flip that around by fully experiencing the feelings, little by little.
Please contact the clinic today and reserve your position in one of our groups.