Outpatient Therapy and Treatment

• Individual: Your decision to make incremental positive changes now leads to beneficial outcomes later.
• Family: Nourish and develop better relationships within your family through counseling and therapy focused on communication and the role family relationships can play in each member’s mental health.
• Adolescent/Teen: Focus on developing healthy relationships with both family members and peers to grow into healthy adults.
• Marriage: Work through differences and learn how to stop repeating dysfunctional patterns to build a healthier marriage relationship.
• Prepare-Enrich™: Discover this assessment tool for both married and unmarried couples who better want to understand and improve their relationship. The assessment is reviewed with a trained facilitator in session.

• Neuropsychology: Clinical neuropsychology is a special profession that focuses on brain functioning. A clinical neuropsychologist has expertise in how behavior and skills are related to brain structures and systems. Brain function is evaluated by objectively testing memory and thinking skills.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Effective psychotherapy treatment that focuses on the link between your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. CBT seeks to help you replace unhelpful thinking and behavioral patterns with more helpful ones.
• Chemical Dependency Counseling: Therapeutic treatment to advise patients who suffer from alcoholism, drug addiction or other substance-related behavioral health issues.
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Skills-based training, such as mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotional regulation and distress tolerance to help individuals cope with stress and improve mental wellness.
• Grief: Supportive counseling and coping skill development for patients dealing with emotions and experiences related to a loss of a loved one.
• Employee Assistance Programs (EAP): Company-sponsored approach providing immediate, confidential and resources for employees with work-related issues.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): This treatment helps patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) heal from distressing life experiences and trauma. The American Psychiatric Association, the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Defense recognize EMDR as an effective form of treatment.

EMDR helps patients with extreme traumatic events, such as war or abuse, and everyday problems ranging from public speaking and phobias like fear of snakes and spiders. It also can also help patients overcome memories that create low self-esteem, feelings of powerlessness and other problems. During EMDR, you follow a specific light pattern while recalling the traumatic event.

This innovative treatment works by:

• Allowing you to access, process and resolve traumatic memories and other negative life experiences.
• Helping reframe negative beliefs and relieving emotional distress.
• Reducing vivid, unwanted, repeated recollections of traumatic events.

EMDR treatment is offered at Avera Medical Group Behavioral Health in Sioux Falls, SD. A referral from your doctor is required.

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT): An effective way to treat patients with major depression, bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder to improve symptoms. ECT can often produce positive outcomes more quickly than medication alone. It works by producing changes in brain chemistry through a medically induced and professionally monitored seizure.

Patients who receive ECT as their primary treatment generally experience 80-90% improvement in mood, motivation, interest, energy and sleep patterns. Professionals are highly trained to use electrical current to produce a closely supervised, medically induced seizure. Here’s how this quick, safe and proven treatment works.

• You begin by receiving sedation for comfort and relaxation. While you’re asleep, medical professionals constantly supervise you during the session.
• An anesthesiologist and a nurse anesthetist monitor patients to ensure safety.
• Each ECT session generally lasts around two hours, depending upon recovery time. For acute situations, your doctor likely will recommend a minimum of six sessions.
• Once you complete your sessions, your doctor may recommend follow-up visits available when you need them to continue feeling well without interrupting your life and activities.

Ask your psychiatrist if you might be a candidate for ECT and whether a referral to Avera Behavioral Health Center is right for you. ECT is offered at Avera Behavioral Health in Sioux Falls, SD. To learn more about this treatment, call 605-322-5950.

Trained mental health professionals facilitate therapy for groups with similar struggles and life experiences. A referral from your doctor is required to join a support group. These group sessions are offered at Avera Medical Group Behavioral Health Clinic on S Cliff Ave near 33rd Street in Sioux Falls:

• STEPPs, STAIRWAYS & STRIDES™
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills
• Adolescent Outpatient Group
• Postpartum (4th Trimester) Group