Our Services

Cottonwood Counseling, LLC provides counseling services to adults, adolescents, children and families. We specialize in treating trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and grief.  We provide quality outpatient mental health services with integrity, compassion, kindness, and connection.

Treatment Areas

Although our primary specialty is trauma, other areas we address include:

  • ADHD
  • Anxiety
  • Autism
  • Coping Skills
  • Depression
  • Divorce
  • Family Conflict
  • LGBTQ+ Intensive Outpatient Services
  • Teen LGBTQ+ Support Group
  • Parenting
  • Peer Relationships
  • School Issues
  • Self Esteem
  • Self Harming
  • Sexual Abuse
  • Sexuality
  • Trauma

Therapies Offered

The following are therapy methods we specialize in.

EMDR – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

EMDR Therapy allows people to heal from the symptoms and emotional distress caused by disturbing life experiences. EMDR has been extensively researched and proven to be effective for the treatment of trauma and other issues. It has been shown that EMDR can help the mind heal from psychological trauma just like the body recovers from physical trauma. Repeated studies show that by using EMDR, people can experience the benefits of psychotherapy that once took years to make a difference. 

What kind of problems can EMDR treat?

Scientific research has established EMDR as effective for PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) It has also been show to be effective in the treatment of:

  • Panic attacks
  • Performance anxiety
  • Complicated grief
  • Disturbing memories
  • Phobias
  • Pain disorders
  • Sexual symptoms
  • Stress reduction
  • Addictions
  • Sexual and/or Physical abuse
  • Emotional sensitivity

 

Play Therapy

Play Therapy is not the same as regular, everyday play. Play Therapists are licensed mental health professionals with extensive training, supervision, and education in Play Therapy. Play therapy is a developmentally appropriate modality that allows children to freely express their emotions in their language; PLAY. Play Therapists are licensed mental health professionals with extensive training, supervision, and education in Play Therapy.

Benefits of Play Therapy

Play Therapy provides the ability to process suppressed emotions through the child’s language; PLAY. Children do not always have the ability to explain what they are feeling. If children start acting out or start having undesirable behaviors, they may be struggling with expressing their emotions. This can sometimes be demonstrated by defiant behavior, emotional outbursts, separation anxiety, crying frequently, trouble sleeping, reacting out of proportion to an event, refusing to attend school, or becoming withdrawn.

Some children express their pain through somatic symptoms such as stomachaches and/or headaches. Play Therapy allows the child to safely communicate, express, and process their emotions and learn new ways to cope. Play Therapists have extensive training to interpret and respond appropriately through play.

Sand Tray Therapy

Sand tray therapy is a therapeutic intervention which can be used when words alone are not enough. Sometimes there are no words for the trauma we have experienced. Sand Tray Therapy is a powerful way to heal.

A Sand Tray Collection usually consists of a sand tray, water, and a large collection of miniature figurines. There are usually many types of figures in a typical sand tray collection. This can include human figures, families, animals, buildings, furniture, vehicles, insects, fantasy figurines, objects from nature or that represent nature, and many others. The miniatures are symbols or metaphors that represent different aspects of our life. There are symbols that characterize different emotions for different individuals. Some may view certain objects as beautiful, frightening, good, bad, happy, or sad.

Sand tray therapy can allow clients to quickly move to a deeper level and gain new insights. Many times, emotions that clients were not previously aware of are brought to the surface. It is a safe way to process emotions and learn new insights. Sand Tray Therapy is an effective therapeutic technique for teens, adults, and children that have a history of trauma or loss.

DBT – Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy. It helps clients identify and replace negative thinking with positive behavioral changes. Research has shown that DBT has successfully been used to treat people with a history of trauma and PTSD. DBT focuses on providing therapeutic skills in four key areas:

  • Mindfulness: learning to be “in the moment”
  • Distress Tolerance—learning to accept oneself and the current situation. (Including working with your therapist to learn distraction techniques, self-soothing, etc.)
  • Interpersonal Effectiveness—learning to identify needs and set healthy boundaries
  • Emotion Regulation—recognizing and coping with negative emotions (for example, expressing anger through appropriate outlets)

 

About

Cottonwood Counseling, LLC provides counseling services to adults, adolescents, children and families. We specialize in treating trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and grief.


LGBTQIA+ friendly

Contact

6330 Riverside Plaza Lane NW

Suite 260, ABQ, NM 87120

PH: 505-226-2839

Fax: 505-295-2559

E: cottonwoodcounselingabq@gmail.com

Se Habla Espanol

Insurance 

We accept Commercial insurance as well as Medicaid. We also accept clients that would like to self pay.