Real help for real life
Whether you’re navigating a major life transition, difficult relationships or a painful past, we can help bring truth to light and give you the tools you need to walk through whatever you face with confidence.
Marriage & Family
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Our marriage and family services include premarital counseling, marriage counseling and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, all of which benefit not only those present for counseling sessions, but the entire family for generations to come.
Marriage counseling is perfect for couples who want to rebuild, restart or reinforce the stability of their relationship in a safe space with judgement-free, unbiased guidance.
Our premarital counseling sessions are designed for couples who want to be proactive in building a strong foundation as they start life together, and want to invest in more than just a wedding.
Finally, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy is designed for families who are experiencing growing pains or disciplinary challenges with children or major life changes (divorce, remarriage, job change, move, etc). These sessions are also well-suited for foster and adoptive families, as they focus on building secure attachments among parents and children.
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We use the Gottman Method Couples Therapy model throughout our sessions for married couples. Beginning with the assessment phase, we’ll spend the first three sessions gathering all sorts of information through individual interviews with you and your partner, questions about your history, relationship check-ups and more. Based on these assessments, we’ll tailor the following sessions to your specific needs, further exploring points of conflict and areas for growth.
Our premarital counseling sessions also follow a roadmap set by John and Julie Gottman in their book, Eight Dates: Essential Conversations for a Lifetime of Love. We’ll lead you and your future spouse through each of these conversations, practicing skills and building your foundation along the way so that you’re ready to embark on marriage with tools you can use for years to come.
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy involves weekly sessions of coaching, education and observation of play between you and your child. During Phase One–the Child Directed phase–we’ll focus on helping you build a healthy, positive relationship with your child. Phase Two–the Parent Directed phases–empowers you to effectively communicate commands and foster obedience and collaboration. Each week, you’ll be encouraged to practice daily playtime assignments at home to reinforce our work together.
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The methods and techniques we use in our marriage and family sessions are highly researched, and have been shown to be widely effective. Premarital and couples therapy seek to build friendship, trust and shared meaning among you and your spouse, all while giving you the skills and knowledge to navigate future challenges as loving partners. Similarly, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy provides you with language, processes and plans for working through difficult seasons of parenthood while maintaining positive connections with your child.
By establishing strong foundations, building communication skills and learning the unique complexities of your relationships, you can set your family up for a lifetime (and beyond) of love and success.
Grief & Trauma
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Grief and trauma can be caused by a wide range of life events, and often go hand in hand. Both of these are associated with an acute sense of loss, and can result in an inability to cope or process in a healthy way. If you’re experiencing grief or trauma on any level–in the midst of a major life change, the death of a loved one, struggles associated with a painful past–it can be extremely beneficial to enlist professional help as you walk through this season.
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More than any other type of therapy, grief and trauma therapy is extremely dependent on the individual–the specific circumstances, personality and history of the one experiencing hardship. Because of that, we approach our grief and trauma sessions with a very open mind and a focus on tailoring our treatment to you. You can expect us to walk alongside you throughout the journey of processing, and leverage a variety of techniques for understanding, talking about and coping with whatever you’re going through. There is no quick fix, timeline or formula. Healing from the inside out looks different for everyone, and takes time and space; we’ll make sure you have both.
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Feelings of loneliness are extremely common during seasons of grief and trauma, and often exacerbate the challenges of navigating periods that already feel dark and heavy. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Regular therapy can help you find the light, and the hope, that still exists. If you’re struggling to cope, we can help.
Anxiety & Depression
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To some degree, anxiety and depression are a part of the human experience for all of us. But when they start to infiltrate your everyday eating, sleeping, work, relationships and overall satisfaction in life, it is recommended that you seek support. You are not alone and you are not weak for feelings of overwhelm, stress, emotional outbursts, sadness, and loneliness that are often associated with anxiety and depression.
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Treatment plans for disorders such anxiety and depression are customized for each individual. We’ll begin with an assessment and education phase, where we determine what is impacting your mental health. We’ll determine how they’re affecting your day to day life and discuss what you hope to get out of therapy. After that, our treatment plan will focus on providing you with tools to empower you to challenge your thoughts, set boundaries, become assertive, understand the context of your anxiety/depression, and self-regulate.
In addition to this, we encourage clients who may benefit to enlist the collaboration of their primary care physician as part of treatment. When it comes to anxiety and depression, there is often a biological component that, when unaddressed, can block the usefulness of the tools we practice in therapy. Because of this, we find an integrative approach most effective.
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Awareness and understanding of anxiety and depression–especially the way in which it shows up for you specifically–are often the first and most helpful steps to overcoming them. We cannot manage what we don’t understand. As you learn to identify patterns of anxiety and depression, understand their origins, and utilize tools for managing your symptoms, you will feel a greater sense of renewal and control.
Psychological Assessments
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A psychological assessment is a structured series of tests in several areas, including cognitive or intellectual, academic, social-emotional-behavioral functioning. Psychological assessments help to clarify diagnosis and inform treatment. We offer individualized, comprehensive psychological and developmental evaluations for preschool and school-aged children and adolescents (ages 3-24 years of age).
Dr. Allison Wittum provides psychological services for disorders including:
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Specific Learning Disorders (e.g., Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, and Dysgraphia)
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Intellectual functioning
Emotional and/ or Behavioral Disorders
Developmental Delays
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The evaluation process typically consists of:
Step One: Intake Appointment
Dr. Wittum will meet with the parents to discuss concerns and obtain important background information in order to create a plan for testing.
Step Two: Testing Session(s)
Dr. Wittum will work individually with your child assessing a range of cognitive, academic, and emotional/behavioral areas in order to obtain a comprehensive view of your child’s strengths and weaknesses. The length of testing varies based on individual needs, but may range between 3-6 hours. This may be split over two different days.
Step Three: Feedback Session(s)
The feedback session will be scheduled 2-3 weeks after the assessment has been completed to review findings with the parents. Parents will receive a written psychological report outlining the results of testing, including diagnoses (if appropriate), and recommendations. If needed, we will schedule a separate follow-up meeting with the child/adolescent to discuss the results in an age-appropriate way.
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A psychological evaluation can help parents who have concerns for how their child or teen is functioning in daily life, and can provide insight around the child’s strengths and weaknesses. In addition, a psychological evaluation will help individuals in accessing resources and finding strategies that will help parents and teachers in working with the student. Each report will come with tailored recommendations to allow each individual to reach their potential.
Trainings & Workshops
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We are happy to lead workshops and seminars on a wide range of topics for your business, church or philanthropic group. From parenting tools and techniques, to mental health in the workplace, we can help you provide your group with learning opportunities that have lasting impact.
We are also equipped to provide continuing education sessions for marriage and family therapists or other mental health professionals. We have experience with teaching and providing educational resources for others, and take an approachable, upbeat tone to make training feel engaging and fun.
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Whether you’re in search of a helpful workshop for your employees or congregation, or course work that’s designed for licensed professionals, you can expect our workshops and trainings to be practical and highly interactive. We leverage real-world examples, ample time for question and answer discussions, and the most recent research to ensure our audiences walk away feeling more equipped and knowledgeable, with language, techniques and tools that will empower them in their professions and/or daily lives.
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Our workshops can be extremely helpful in normalizing conversations around mental health within your group–throughout the workplace, within your church, etc. By doing this, you can encourage a culture that embraces therapy, does away with the view that counseling is a taboo subject, and results in healthier people within your group. We can also focus our workshops around specific topics that are common within your group, so that discussions are timely, relevant and helpful to their daily lives.
Our courses and trainings allow us to share our nearly two decades of expertise in a variety of mental health-related topics with others in our field. We love teaching others how to be better helpers and more effective therapists, and it would be our honor to share our knowledge.