Services
Clinicians provide empirically validated academic informal assessments and treatments for children and adults who need academic services. An academic intervention is a specific program or set of steps to help a person improve in an area of need. The intervention is derived from assessment so the intervention can be tailored for the specific area or areas of weaknesses. The interventions are specified and formalized in that there may be certain number of weeks but reviewed at set intervals.
Individual therapy (sometimes called “psychotherapy” or “counseling”) is a process through which clients work one-on-one with a trained therapist—in a safe, caring, and confidential environment—to do the following: explore their feelings, beliefs, or behaviors, work through challenging or influential situations, identify aspects of their lives that they would like to change, better understand themselves and others, set personal goals, and work toward desired change. People seek therapy for a wide variety of reasons, from coping with major life challenges or trauma, to dealing with depression or anxiety, to simply desiring personal growth and greater self-knowledge.
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Family and couples counseling is counseling designed specifically for a family or a relationship. Counseling focuses on patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings for each person and the their relationships. Family and couples counseling is usually brief and is inclusive of the experiences of all people involved. People may seek family or couples counseling for a range of issues including: marital problems, family dissatisfaction, and parent-child relationship issues.
Clinicians are strongly encouraged to design and lead, or co-lead, groups of several types, including process groups intended to address specific issues such as assertion training or therapy groups to address concerns such as child parent relationship, substance abuse. A reduction in the individual caseload will be arranged for any Clinician leading a group. Caseload reduction will be done in consultation with the Clinician’s supervisor.
Play Therapy is an evidenced-based approach to therapy for children ages 3-12 years old. This approach allows children to freely express themselves in a structured playroom. As adults communicate with words, children communicate through play to express thoughts and feelings. Play therapy can help clients better process their experiences and develop effective strategies and tools to help in managing their world. Issues addressed through play therapy include behaviors caused by bullying, grief and loss, divorce, abuse, trauma, and mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, social impairment, disabilities, and conduct disorders.
“Play Therapy is a medium for expressing feelings, exploring relationships, and self-fulfillment.” Gary Landreth, Ed.D., LPC, RPT-S
Arkansas State University is an Approved Center of Play Therapy Education through the Association for Play Therapy (A-State Play Therapy Education and Research Center). More information can be found at www.a4pt.org.
The HOWL Service Center may be able to provide other services such as social skills groups, workshops, and consultation. If you are looking for these opportunities, please email howlcs@astate.edu or call 870-972-2000.
Social Skills groups may also be offered. Social skills groups are small groups (typically two to eight individuals) led by a clinician who teaches how to interact appropriately with others. The social skills groups help others learn conversational, friendship and problem-solving skills. They can also be useful in teaching individuals to control their emotions and understand other people’s perspectives. The clinician leads individuals through exercises to learn the skills needed to deal with whatever social challenge they’re facing. Most of these meetings include a chance for participants to role-play or practice social skills—and to get feedback on how they’re doing.