For children, teens or adults seeking traditional talk therapy, AZA United offers the Conversational Care program. This program provides individual or group psychotherapy and counseling services to individuals of any age (typically 6+) who can verbally communicate their thoughts and feelings. Clients are often individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders or their family members (e.g., parents, siblings, partners, etc.), but a diagnosis of a neurodevelopmental disorder is not required to seek services. At AZA United, psychotherapy is provided or supervised by clinicians with expertise in working with individuals with developmental delays, which can be difficult to find in general mental health therapy organizations.
Program Highlights
Common reasons for seeking Conversational Care psychotherapy include challenges with:
- Anxiety or depression
- Trauma exposure/symptoms
- Social skill delays
- Emotional dysregulation
- Communication or executive functioning deficits
- Low self-esteem
- Poor coping skills
- Difficulties tolerating stress or discomfort
Skills and coping strategies that can be developed by participating in this program may include:
- Improved parenting skills
- Processing grief
- Improved acceptance or understanding of diagnostic limitations
- Decreased caregiving stress
- Better self-care skills
Program Overview
Psychotherapy and counseling services align with best practices and utilize evidence-based treatments. Our services focus on building a strong therapeutic relationship with our clients and providing neuro-affirming, ethical, and culturally responsive care. Services begin with a thorough clinical intake interview reviewing biopsychosocial history, main symptoms of concern, potential safety concerns, and treatment goals. Treatment plans are developed collaboratively with clients to ensure therapists are addressing goals that are most important to the client and/or family. Consultation and collaboration with other providers can also be provided with appropriate releases of information.
Our approach to psychotherapy and counseling combines a number of evidence-based practices, including but not limited to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for children and adolescents, Mindfulness-Based Interventions, Research Units in Behavioral Intervention (RUBI) Parent Training, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Client-Centered Play Therapy, and Relationship-Based Therapies. We embrace a collaborative, transdisciplinary approach that includes participation from other professionals working with the family (e.g., social workers, case managers, behavioral health providers, speech and occupational therapy providers, BCBAs, teachers, etc.). Our clinical approaches allow us to offer individual, family, couples, and group psychotherapy and counseling to treat anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, trauma and stressor-related disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and relational problems.
Common concerns addressed during therapy include symptoms related to diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), intellectual developmental disorder (IDD), executive functioning deficits, communication/developmental delays, PTSD/trauma, anxiety, and depression. Please note, areas that are beyond our scope include psychotic disorders (e.g., schizophrenia), dissociative disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders, and somatic symptom disorders as well as severe behavioral challenges. Clients who present with multiple areas of concern will complete the clinical intake interview with the therapist to determine if their treatment goals are within the scope of the provider.
For children and teens receiving psychotherapy, parent sessions or check-ins can be regularly scheduled as needed to adequately address treatment goals, which may include working on parenting skills as a means of addressing a child’s symptoms. Spouses and partners may also participate in therapy with a release of information from the client. In addition, for some clients, family therapy or parent sessions are the primary intervention, so while the parent is directly receiving services, it is with the goal of improving some aspect of the identified client’s life.
AZA’s Model of Care
Therapy is a collaborative effort between the therapist and client/family. In order to achieve goals and enhance skills, our clients must practice treatment interventions in and outside of the therapy setting. It is expected that clients and families make their best effort to follow through with practicing their intervention strategies outside of sessions, which will help increase treatment effectiveness. We also expect our therapists to take a team-based approach to treatment planning and service delivery. When clients are receiving multiple services through AZA United, we expect our clinical teams to communicate and collaborate so that the client family experiences a consistent and balanced approach to treatment that is individualized to their needs. Whenever possible and appropriate, our teams will also collaborate with other service providers and schools.
