By Heather Widmer, LMHC, CAP

As a licensed mental health counselor, I am consistently seeking to learn the best ways to help clients through whatever hardship they may be facing. A friend and fellow colleague in the field approached me about attending a training to become certified in an evidenced based approach to counseling and I couldn’t have been more excited! I’d heard about ART for several years, having had worked with the addictions population and also with trauma, and it had always been highly recommended.

Accelerated Resolution Therapy, often referred to as ART, is a form of psychotherapy with roots in existing evidence-based therapies but shown to achieve benefits much more rapidly (usually within 1-5 sessions). Clients suffering from trauma and other mental health problems such as Anxiety, Depression, Phobias, Panic Attacks, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Addictions/ Substance Abuse , Performance Anxiety, Family Issues, Victimization/Poor Self Image, Victimization/Sexual Abuse, Relationship Issues/Infidelity, Codependency, Grief, Job Related Stress, Pain Management, Memory Enhancement and many other mental and physical conditions can experience remarkable benefits starting in the first session.

The client is always in control of the entire ART session, with the therapist guiding the process. Although some traumatic experiences such as rape, combat experiences, or loss of a loved one can be very painful to think about or visualize, the therapy rapidly moves clients beyond the place where they are stuck in these experiences toward growth and positive changes. The process is very straightforward, using relaxing eye movements and a technique called Voluntary Memory/Image Replacement to change the way in which the negative images are stored in the brain. The treatment is grounded in well-established psychotherapy techniques, and the end result is that traumas and difficult life experiences will no longer trigger strong emotions or physical reactions. Importantly, clients do not even have to talk about their traumas or difficult life experiences with the therapist to achieve recovery.

ART incorporates a combination of techniques used in many other traditional psychotherapies. ART works directly to reprogram the way in which distressing memories and images are stored in the brain so that they no longer trigger strong physical and emotional reactions. ART accomplishes this through the use of rapid eye movements similar to eye movements that occur during dreaming. Although techniques similar to these are used in other types of therapies. ART’s very specific and directive approach can achieve rapid recovery from symptoms and reactions that may have been present for many years. ART combines long respected, sound treatment practices with safe and effective methods validated by current scientific research studies conducted by the University of South Florida.

I am thrilled to add the expertise that this training and certification has provided to my current and future clients. Call today and allow me to help you on your healing journey!

(Information provided by: www.acceleratedresolutiontherapy.com)