Amber Waves Therapy

Amber Waves Therapy, PLLC

Our services

Comprehensive Mental Health Services

We offer mental health services, encompassing in-person therapy for direct connection and dedicated space, virtual therapy for increased accessibility and convenience, and psychiatry for medication management and comprehensive diagnosis, which are most effective when integrated. This collaborative approach allows for addressing both the psychological and biological aspects of mental health, enhancing treatment efficacy by combining therapeutic strategies with medication when needed, and providing personalized, holistic support through seamless communication among providers, ultimately leading to improved symptom management and overall well-being.

Individual Therapy

Navigating the complexities of life can bring about significant emotional and psychological challenges. Many individuals find themselves grappling with difficult symptoms stemming from major life transitions, chronic stress, or unresolved painful experiences. These symptoms might manifest in various ways, impacting your relationships, work, and overall sense of fulfillment. Our dedicated team is committed to helping you understand, address, and ultimately overcome these challenges. Through a supportive and guided process, we empower you to heal from the past, cultivate resilience, and develop strategies for lasting personal growth, enabling you to regain your balance and truly thrive. We offer our services to a wide range of individuals, welcoming clients aged five and up.

Couples Therapy

Couples counseling can be a profoundly beneficial resource for partners at any stage of their journey, from newly committed to long-married. It provides a dedicated space to explore and strengthen the emotional connection that forms the bedrock of a thriving relationship. Our online sessions offer a unique blend of convenience and privacy, allowing both individuals to engage from the comfort and familiarity of their own home. This eliminates geographical barriers and simplifies scheduling, as you can easily find a time that works for both of you through our intuitive platform. The goal is to foster deeper understanding, improve communication, and equip couples with the tools they need to navigate challenges, deepen intimacy, and build a more resilient and fulfilling partnership.

Family Therapy

Family dynamics, with their intricate web of emotions, individual histories, and shared experiences, can become incredibly complex at any stage of life, presenting unique challenges that impact the well-being of every member. We understand that navigating these difficult times, which might involve communication breakdowns, unresolved conflicts, or significant life transitions, can feel overwhelming. That's why our comprehensive approach focuses on empowering your family to address these hurdles head-on. We're dedicated to helping you uncover and overcome communication barriers, fostering an environment where every voice feels heard and valued, and nurturing the collective growth of your family unit. By working together, we aim to cultivate positive change, strengthen the fundamental elements of your family's communication, reinforce your internal structure, and ultimately deepen the powerful bond that holds you all together.

Group Therapy

Group therapy provides a vital antidote to the loneliness and isolation often experienced when struggling with personal issues. It creates a supportive, structured environment where a small group of individuals facing similar challenges can connect, share experiences, and realize they're not alone. This setting fosters individual growth by allowing participants to relate to others, gain new perspectives on their struggles, and find their voice through open communication and feedback from peers, ultimately building a sense of belonging and empowering them to navigate their difficulties with renewed confidence.

Psychiatry Services

Outpatient psychiatry provides essential mental health care for individuals not requiring hospitalization, focusing on comprehensive evaluations, precise diagnoses, and personalized treatment plans. Psychiatrists in this setting primarily manage medication, carefully prescribing and monitoring psychotropic drugs for conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, while also offering or referring for psychotherapy and psychoeducation. The emphasis is on continuous care through regular follow-up appointments, often in collaboration with other healthcare professionals, to help patients manage symptoms, improve daily functioning, and enhance their overall quality of life within their community.

Therapeutic methods

Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)

ART has been recognized as an effective psychotherapy for PTSD, depression, stress, and personal resilience. ART has also been classified as a promising therapy for symptoms of phobia, panic, anxiety, sleep and wake disorders, disruptive and antisocial behaviors, general functioning and well-being.

ART is firmly grounded in techniques used in well-established evidence-based treatments, including exposure through visualization, visualized in-vivo exposure, relaxation/stress inoculation facilitated by eye movements, re-scripting of negative images, Gestalt techniques, and others. (https://acceleratedresolutiontherapy.com/evidence-based/)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a practical, goal-oriented psychotherapy that helps individuals understand the interconnectedness of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. By identifying and challenging unhelpful thought patterns and developing new coping strategies, CBT equips individuals with tools to manage a wide range of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety disorders, and PTSD. It's a collaborative and time-limited approach, empowering clients to become their own therapists by applying techniques like cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation, and exposure therapy to achieve lasting change and prevent relapse.

Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR is a structured therapy that encourages the patient to focus briefly on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and PTSD symptoms. Ongoing research supports positive clinical outcomes showing EMDR therapy as a helpful treatment for disorders such as anxiety, depression, OCD, chronic pain, addictions, and other distressing life experiences (Maxfield, 2019). EMDR therapy has even been superior to Prozac in trauma treatment (Van der Kolk et al., 2007). Shapiro and Forrest (2016) share that more than 7 million people have been treated successfully by 110,000 therapists in 130 countries since 2016. (https://www.emdria.org/about-emdr-therapy/)

Narrative Therapy

Narrative Therapy, developed by Michael White and David Epston, is a respectful, non-blaming counseling approach that sees individuals as experts in their own lives, separate from their problems. Rooted in social constructionism, it helps clients externalize problems (viewing "the problem is the problem, the person is not"), thereby reducing shame and empowering them to challenge the problem's influence. Through deconstruction, clients unpack problematic stories and uncover unique outcomes—moments of strength and resistance—which are then "thickened" into preferred, re-authored narratives. This collaborative process allows individuals, couples, and families to rewrite their life stories, highlighting their strengths and preferred identities, and fostering greater agency and well-being.

Perinatal Mental Health

We provide comprehensive support for perinatal mental health concerns, from depression and anxiety during pregnancy to one year postpartum, and also assist individuals struggling with infertility. Our trained therapists offer evidence-based psychotherapies like CBT and IPT to help you cope and adapt. For more complex needs, our psychiatrists specialize in safe and effective medication management during this crucial time. We are committed to integrated care to support your mental well-being and foster strong parent-infant bonding.

Solution Focused Therapy

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) is a client-centered, future-focused approach to psychotherapy that emphasizes identifying and building upon clients' existing strengths and resources to achieve desired solutions, rather than dwelling on problems. Developed by Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, SFBT utilizes techniques like the "Miracle Question," "Exception Questions," and "Scaling Questions" to help clients envision a preferred future, recognize past successes, and take small, actionable steps towards their goals, making it a pragmatic and optimistic method applicable in various therapeutic settings.

5 Love Languages

Dr. Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages proposes that individuals primarily express and receive love through one of five distinct methods: Words of Affirmation (verbal appreciation and compliments), Quality Time (focused and undivided attention), Receiving Gifts (thoughtful tokens of affection), Acts of Service (helpful actions that ease burdens), and Physical Touch (intimate and affectionate contact). Understanding these unique "love languages" is crucial for fostering stronger relationships, as it enables partners to communicate their affection in a way that truly resonates with and is understood by the other person, bridging potential communication gaps that arise when individuals attempt to show love in their own preferred language rather than their partner's.