Adult Therapy

Safe, confidential and private consultation is available for adults. Psychotherapy can be a profoundly rewarding and life changing experience. It can be relatively short in duration (lasting only a month or two) or require more time.

My approach is a guided process of self-discovery and personal growth. This can involve both the development of specific coping strategies for managing internal struggles (such as symptoms of anxiety or depression) as well as external or interpersonal challenges.

Every person and situation is unique. Therefore, I customize my approach in order to be as helpful as possible depending on your circumstances and goals. Most individuals find the process makes a meaningful difference in their lives.

Child and Adolescent Counseling and Therapy

Children and Adolescents can have issues that are difficult for parents to understand, or at times, even perceive. Additionally, the child or adolescent may have difficulty openly discussing issues with their parents. It can be helpful to consult with an experienced mental health professional to discover new ways of re-opening lines of communication between child and parent. Dr. Sechrest understands that meeting the needs of the modern child and family requires considering and employing a variety of theoretical models, rather than a "one-size-fits-all" model. Using integrative approaches, Dr. Sechrest can assist families in working more collaboratively to efficiently meet family goals while likely reducing the "family drama." In addition, Dr. Sechrest has worked with children and adolescents in the areas of enhancing work habits in school, behavioral issues (which can be related to school work) and other child and family issues such as life transitions, anger management, mood disorders and other possible factors of family discord.

Services include treatment for:

• ADD/ADHD
• Learning Disabilities
• Anxiety Disorders
• Mood Disorders
• Family Problems
• Social/Peer Challenges

ADHD/ADD Coaching

ADHD and ADD can have a serious adverse impact on the success of adolescents and adults. Our program is focused on assisting students from middle school through college with achieving greater success in school. Young people who struggle with attention disorders often fail to write down assignments, complete homework or hand it in on time. They may also fail to use their time wisely and can become overwhelmed when dealing with longer term assignments.

These young men and women are usually bright and capable yet organizational and time management skills undermine their success which can lead to strong feelings of discouragement, poor school performance and family discord. Parents can also become very discouraged and more than one parent has disclosed how short their temper can become in attempting to manage a child with significant attention problems.

Fortunately, there is help for this vexing and difficult problem. Based on research from leaders in the field like Hallowell and Barkley, we are using a model designed to help students plan their time, organize assignments, break down tasks, develop effective study skills and provide the support necessary for success.

Our process involves creating an initial "game plan" with goals and objectives developed with the student. Our coaching meetings require ongoing review and evaluation of goals along with parent involvement where appropriate. According to leading researchers in attention disorders, people with this type of challenge struggle with "goal directed persistence" yet have the capacity to sustain interest in tasks that are intrinsically interesting. Consequently, our model of coaching keys behaviors to facilitate achievement of longer term goals.

Finally, we customize our model for each individual in order to achieve the best results for our clients.