At Bridges of Northern Michigan, individual therapy is a shared process between therapist and client. It promotes change and improves quality of life. We help people confront barriers that interfere with emotional, mental, spiritual and relational well-being. Our clients often find individual therapy increases positive feelings such as compassion, self-esteem, love, courage, and peace. Our therapists provide individual therapy with all ages, from young children through adult.

Many married couples remember the breath-taking beginning of their relationship; when there was oneness, love, intimacy, and many positive feelings. When things begin to deteriorate and those delightful feelings seemingly evaporate, marital therapy can help. Marital Therapy at Bridges of Northern Michigan can assist partners becoming better listeners and communicators and to find new ways to support one another. The negative patterns of interaction can be replaced with patterns of compassion, care and mutual support.

Family counseling aims to promote understanding and collaboration among family members when they experience stressful situations that strain family relationships. Situations such as: financial hardship, divorce, the death of a loved one, suicide, depression, substance abuse, chronic illness, physical abuse, food issues, or everyday concerns, like communication problems, interpersonal conflict, or behavioral problems in children and adolescents. During therapy, the therapist from Bridges of Northern Michigan and the family uncover the source of the problem and the family learns to support each other and work together on minimizing or changing the conditions that contribute to the situation.

There are numerous psychological and emotional issues that are treated in group therapy, ranging from addiction and abuse to anxiety and depression. The trained, professional therapist from Bridges of Northern Michigan and group members collaboratively create a shared therapeutic experience focusing on the shared concerns of the group members. The group members work together to help alleviate suffering, pain and discomfort of the various group members.

Psychological assessments use a process of various techniques to help arrive at some hypotheses about a person and their behavior, relationships, personality and capabilities. Assessments are never focused on a single test score or number. Every person has a range of competencies that can be evaluated through a number of methods. We are there to evaluate the competencies as well as the limitations of the person, family or relationship and report on them in an objective but helpful manner. Bridges of Northern Michigan conduct the following assessments:

• Addiction
• Anger
• Attachment
• ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)
• Competency
• Psychological (+/- IQ)
• Psychosocial
• Sexual Risk
• Trauma

Through Theraplay, a type of attachment-based play therapy, we seek to support the process of a parent and a child discovering or rebuilding an open, intimate, supportive, trusting and loving relationship. We use Theraplay with parents and children who are biologically related, step-children, adopted children, foster children or other configurations. Through fun, engaging play activities, a growing, healthy attachment is supported and developed.

Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) is utilized by clinicians at Bridges of Northern Michigan to assist adults, children, adolescents, and families in overcoming the negative impact of a traumatic experience. This evidence-based method has been proven effective for treatment after multiple traumas or a single traumatic event, and our therapists trained in TF-CBT are frequently able to help people experiencing the emotional effects of trauma address and resolve these effects.

At Bridges of Northern Michigan we use Sensorimotor Psychotherapy™ to both treat symptoms of unresolved trauma and to treat attachment difficulties. None of us emerge from our childhoods unscathed. Some have experienced traumatic events and some have experienced poor or hurtful attachment with our caregivers. If these hurts occurred at a very young age they are stored more in our bodies than our brains. While traditional talk therapies utilize the words of a person as the entry point for treatment, this type of therapy depends on the bodily experiences of the individual as a gateway to awareness and improved mental health.

Steve Wheeler and Dennis Chitwood teach ASIST. ASIST is a two-day suicide intervention workshop designed for anyone. Family, friends, first responders, teachers, health care providers and other community members may be the first to talk with a person at risk of suicide. But they may have little or no training as to how to intervene. ASIST provides training to ensure that they are prepared to provide top quality suicide first aid help as part of the care they provide. ASIST is the training of choice for the US Military to help curb the suicide rate among military personnel.

Having a physically painful condition is stressful. Unfortunately, stress can contribute to a range of health problems, including high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, depression and anxiety. In addition, stress can trigger muscle tension or muscle spasms that may increase pain. Managing your emotions can directly affect the intensity of your pain. We can help you manage the stresses in your life related to your chronic pain. We can help you learn relaxation and coping techniques to keep stress levels under control.

The clinicians at Bridges of Northern Michigan have over 80 years of combined clinical experience. Their vast and varied experience has made them sought after consultants or clinical supervisors for a variety of child caring institutions, residential programs, detention facilities and adoption agencies. We consider it an honor to assist programs in attaining to the highest quality care for their clients.

We consider it part of our mission to assist young and aspiring counselors, therapists and social workers to become excellent in their fields. Since we had mentors during our formative years who helped us become effective clinicians; we see the value and enjoy the privilege of “giving back” by mentoring the newest generation of developing clinicians.