Individual Therapy
Therapy Services
Opal KC has availability to meet a variety of needs within our community for kids (2+) through adults.
Our providers use a holistic approach to therapy that melds techniques to give you the best experience and outcome possible. This includes skills from acceptance-commitment therapy, ro-dbt, somatic experiencing, body trust, EMDR, child play therapy, yoga, and more. We hope you feel authentic connection during your therapeutic experiences that allows for the healing and formation of trust.
Use this list to learn more about how we can work with YOU or your loved one.
EATING DISORDERS
Do you utilize food to navigate emotions? Are you regularly negotiating what you can or cannot eat based on how much activity you have done that day? Are you starting a new diet every couple weeks or days, finding your weight constantly in flux? Afraid of specific foods, or engaging in food rituals, to keep your body regulated. Generally unaware of your body, what you look like, or how much space you ‘take up’?
You are not alone. Our providers are all trained in the treatment of eating disorders and have collectively provided care at all levels of treatment. We work closely with HAES dietitians, doctors, and psychiatrists in the community. We will start with getting you wrapped around in support so you know, without a doubt, you don’t have to embark on this journey alone.
Once you feel supported with a team, we will work together to develop concrete skills that help you regulate emotion, engage in your relationships, and tolerate hard experiences.
Finally, we work to shift your view of health from a binary state of being, while building trust and confidence in your body, your values, your relationships, and your mind. You will find and engage in your life worth living again.
BODY IMAGE
The relationship you have with your body is the longest relationship you will be in; why not make it the best you possibly can?
The relationship you have with your body can be impacted by many experiences and stages of life; from childhood bullying, puberty and athletics to abuse + trauma, sexual + gender identities, or race. It can be complicated by pregnancy and prenatal experiences, intimate relationships, or simply the desire to “do no harm” or please others.
Our team recognizes the complexities of this relationship and our culture. We connect with you to heal wounds created through hard experiences or life transitions, defuse false beliefs about your body, untangle the power + control relationship web, all while building up a respecting and trusting dynamic between you and your body.
PREGNANCY + PERINATAL
Are you struggling with balancing your dreams and new identity as mom? Overwhelmed with changes to your body, mood, or relationships as a result of pregnancy? Are you noticing old patterns of thinking and behaving appearing related to past traumas, body image, or eating disorders?
It is common to struggle with your identity, body changes, mood, and relationships throughout pregnancy and after birth. We are here to walk alongside you as you courageously take on the task of parenthood. We will support you through body changes, food struggles, traumatic experiences brought up during or created through pregnancy and birth, regulating mood changes, and creating new ways of connecting with those around you.
Please do not attempt motherhood alone!
Anxiety + Depression
Are you suddenly overcome by the deep knot in your stomach and encapsulated with fear? Are you isolating, retreating, giving up, because it is all too much? Are you searching for calmness or control in less than desirable ways? Or maybe having intrusive thoughts about your life, your family, your body, or complete strangers?
Anxiety and depression are common experiences for most people; the depth, interference, and severity of anxiety is individual to you. You don’t need to experience life-altering anxiety to get help managing your thoughts, fears, worries, or intrusive thoughts.
We address anxiety + depression with both the cognitive thought interventions for those circling, spiraling, ruminating, thinking traps and the body for the racing heart, sweaty palms, and muscle tension. We will guide you in finding what skills and thought changes work for YOU specifically.
Gender Identity
Have you or your child been questioning your gender? Have you experienced aspects of gender dysphoria and/or do not exclusively identify with societal gender roles and stereotypes? If so, gender therapy is the appropriate service for you.
Gender therapy seeks to provide gender-affirming interventions for all individuals who feel confined by the gender assigned to them at birth. Many individuals who are questioning their gender identity may find comfort in seeing a certified Gender Therapist who is qualified to provide a deep understanding of transgender, gender fluid, and/or gender non-conforming individuals. At Opal, our certified Gender Therapist may provide hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) letters to endocrinologists who require documentation of a Gender Dysphoria diagnosis prior to onset of medical transition.
Additionally, our certified Gender Therapist may provide family therapy sessions or couples therapy sessions to assist members within the client’s support circle, so they gain a better understanding of the client’s gender issues at hand.
Please note that gender therapy services are different from therapy services that assist in processing sexual orientation. While sexual orientation IS affected by gender transition, it is independently discussed outside of the gender therapy scope when there are no gender-related issues present. Our Gender therapist can also provide this service.
LGBTQ+
RACIAL IDENTITY + RACIAL TRAUMA
Even when ethnic minorities do seek services, there is evidence that they arE more likely to drop-out and that they often receive poorer quality treatment.
At Opal, we provide specific services for minority populations who encounter racial and culturally based issues on a daily basis. Our position is not that a Caucasian therapist is unable to work with a racial minority client on their issues, but rather that a minority client might feel most comfortable being paired with a provider who also identifies as a minority.
Race-based therapy may include exploration of identity issues, immigration challenges, race-based trauma, micro-aggressions, racism/discrimination, and the race-body connection. Minorities of all ages may benefit from this service.
Trauma Processing, Integration, and Recovery
You may be wondering if you what you are experiencing is really trauma. Some signs may be, Hyperalert senses – everything is too loud, too bright, too fast, nightmares about being hurt by people you trust, feeling you can never take enough showers, and perpetually feel dirty, quick to anger or to shut down, fearful of engaging in interpersonal relationships, romantic or not, or being confused about where you are from time to time, feeling as though you’ve teleported back to terrifying experiences. Trauma impacts the mind + body , and is created by ANY experience you have without having the tools, maturity, or mental capacity to handle or process at the time it occurs. Your body stores memories of these events that may hinder your ability to engage in your life fully moving forward.
When we work together, the first priority is to create space where you feel safe and secure to be honest with all your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. A place where all the parts of you, your mind, your body, your emotions, and your experiences can exist together. From there we build resources you can use to address how your symptoms are presenting and impacting your current life. If this includes eating disorder, self-harm, or substance use, we will address those here, too. Once you feel grounded, in more control of your present life, and empowered to share your story we will work together to create a new narrative of your experience and how that interplay’s in your life story.
You need to know that your emotions surrounding your experiences are valid, and the ways you coped where protective of you. It is also imperative to know that they do not have to continue to define your character, impact your relationships, or force you along an undesirable life path.
OpalKC therapists are trained in a variety of trauma treatment approaches including IFS, narrative trauma, and EMDR.
Women’s Health
Women’s health is a unique and personal aspect of wellness and mental health and can refer to anything that impacts the mental health of women. Some of these may be specifically related to gender, some may not.
Depression . anxiety . pregnancy . postpartum . motherhood . body image . eating disorders . menopause . sexism and oppression . abuse + IPV .
We have providers who can engage with you through these unique challenges and life stages to move closer towards your wellness and wholeness goals.
Teens
Teens face many challenges that make navigating day to day life and relationships hard. The social expectations, media engagement, pressure to achieve all increase the risk for anxiety, depression, self-harm, eating disorders, and suicidal thoughts or attempts.
Are you, or your teen, struggling with identity, self-worth, mood regulation, body changes, anxiety, perfectionism, or peer changes? Yes? You do not have to walk alone.
We have a passion for walking beside adolescents and teens as they navigate the complexities of school, identity, worthiness, and self-differentiation.
