Our Services
Counseling Services
Gateway’s counseling program serves clients of all ages, and clinicians can see clients in their homes, the community, or in the traditional office setting. Clinicians see both children and adults and are adept at addressing both mental health and behavioral health concerns. Common issues that we work on in counseling include helping clients learn to cope with and move past traumatic experiences, managing anxiety, overcoming depression, learning anger management, and dealing with problematic interpersonal relationships. Children’s services often focus on emotional regulation, behavior management, and social skills development. Therapists are trained in evidence-based practices such as CBT, TF-CBT, ACT, play therapy, memory re-consolidation, and other recognized and sound modalities.
While it is not a prerequisite for either program, many of our clients receive both case management and counseling from Gateway providers, creating a holistic approach to care based on mutual collaboration across programs. To qualify for counseling, your clinician will complete an assessment to ensure you have a diagnosis which would qualify for this service.
**Note: We do NOT accept clients with Medicare insurance for counseling.**
Counseling Services Available
Depression
Our counselors are skilled in the treatment of depression. They understand that while people desperately want to feel better, depression itself can become entrenching and can feel never-ending. Counselors meet clients where they are, both literally and figuratively, by being available to come to clients in their homes and communities where they may be more comfortable meeting to discuss their feelings. Our counselors employ a wide variety of modalities designed to help people manage depression, including CBT, ACT, traditional talk therapy, and many more.
Behavioral Health Support
Our clinicians are experienced in working with children of all ages who may be experiencing problematic or troublesome feelings and behaviors. Some children and teens may feel more comfortable talking with a safe adult about issues they are facing at home and school, while other children may benefit from a more hands-on, experiential counseling approach in conjunction with their siblings and parents designed to support positive behaviors and emotional expression, versus physical or verbal outbursts. Especially for younger children experiencing problematic behaviors, parental involvement is encouraged and sessions may also include time spent helping parents understand things they can do at home to encourage positive interactions. Many of our counselors have backgrounds in working with children in higher-needs settings, and bring this experience to bear at their work with Gateway clients by utilizing an eclectic therapeutic toolkit of play therapy, art therapy, and experiential therapy, among other techniques.
Anxiety
Many of our clients experience anxiety on a daily basis, both from past traumas and current stressors. We meet this need at Gateway by offering counseling in locations that are an acceptable starting point for clients, including their homes, as we know that sometimes coming in to the office might feel like an insurmountable task. Our counselors have a wealth of experience in treating anxiety and will work with clients around their own particular goals for anxiety management. While some people would like to feel safe leaving their homes, and others wish to stop worrying about things beyond their control, anxiety can decrease motivation, lead to distraction and memory loss, and in general take people away from their loved ones even if they are close by. Counselors employ a variety of evidence-based techniques to help people learn about their anxiety and develop coping skills to better manage it.
Self-Image
Not feeling good about oneself is a problem that many people face, and it can keep people from feeling good and from reaching their potential. Our counseling staff employs a strengths-based approach and very frequently work with clients who struggle with low self-image and self-esteem, as this can also be generated by feelings of anxiety, depression, or as a result of past traumas. Counselors help clients to see their inner selves and to recognize maladaptive patterns of negative thinking that contribute to a low self-image. Clients are encouraged to draw on existing strengths to challenge these thoughts and feelings so that they are able to develop a sense of self that they can see as an attribute, rather than a detriment.
Trauma
Many of our clients have suffered unimaginable hardships as a result of the experiences they went through in their home countries. Others have endured trauma at the hands of loved ones, from losses, or from things they have witnessed. Regardless of the origin, trauma affects people on a grand scale and can have long-lasting impacts on their everyday lives. Our clinical staff works with trauma on a daily basis and are exceptionally well-versed in helping clients understand not only the emotional but the physiological effects of trauma. Counselors move at the client’s pace to ensure that each individual feels safe, and explore coping strategies tailored to the unique needs of each client so that they can maintain their sense of safety and calm. We utilize a variety of proven modalities to treat trauma, including memory reconsolidation, CBT, ACT, mindfulness, art therapy, and talk therapy.
Relationship Problems
Everyone has struggled with their relationship to a loved one at some point in their lives. While this may be a common human experience, it does not make it any easier to get through tough times with other people. Whether the problem is getting along with a partner or child, dissolving a relationship, or even grieving a loss of a loved one, human relationships can be messy and painful as well as rewarding. At Gateway, our therapists are equipped to help clients negotiate the complexities of their interactions with significant people in their lives. Clients can use counseling as a safe space to express their feelings, to get support around boundaries and decisions, or to process their losses. Our clinicians utilize unconditional positive regard and are bound by the highest confidentiality to ensure that clients are able to work through relationship issues in a non-judgmental atmosphere promoting their individual wellbeing.
Anger Management
Controlling one’s emotions can be difficult, and even harder when someone is angry or upset. At Gateway, our counselors are adept at working with anger management so that clients can become more able to express their feelings in productive ways. Counselors explore triggers for anger impulses and work with clients so that they can learn both what tends to cause anger and how to better control it.
Contact
- 501 Forest Ave Portland, ME 04101, USA
- Tel.: +1 207-536-1590
- Mail : info@gatewaycommunityservice.org