After a brief telephone discussion, an appointment is scheduled for an intake interview. The therapist will ask about your current difficulties, goals for treatment, current life circumstances and your background. The purpose of the intake meeting is to gain a complete understanding of your difficulties in order to determine how best to help you.

Disclaimer
YAMS operates under strict adherence to the ethical standards of the American Psychological Association. If you contact us, all information you provide us and the fact that you called is confidential. That means we would not release any information about you by any means to anyone (including your physician, spouse/partner or other family members) without your written permission.

There are exceptional circumstances where, by law, we must share information about you with people outside of the clinic. By law, we must break confidentiality if:

• You clearly pose a physical danger to yourself or someone else;
• You provide us with any information that suggests that a child is or
  has been at risk for physical or sexual abuse;
• If your YAMS record is subpoenaed by the courts.

Please note that all health care providers are bound by the same laws.

Affordable Fees

Our fees are on a sliding scale based on your annual gross income and family size. Fees range from $80 to $20 per session. To qualify for our reduced fees, you must provide proof of income (e.g., pay stub, W2). We ask that our clients pay their therapist at the end of each session by cash or check. Checks should be made out to "YAMS."

Treatment Information

Primarily, we provide individual therapy, however, we also run some therapy groups (for social anxiety, relationship issues, stress and coping) and we also see couples and families .

You may have heard about different kinds of therapy, like cognitive-behavior therapy, interpersonal therapy, and psychodynamic therapy or psychoanalysis. The kind of treatment that will work best for you depends on the nature of your difficulties and your preferences. When you meet your therapist, he/she will talk to you about different options and recommend the best fit for you.

At YAMS, we provide the following kinds of therapy, all of which have been supported by research.

Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT)
CBT focuses on how the links between our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors contribute to our personal difficulties. Sometimes our thinking patterns can color how we perceive events in our life, making us feel anxious, depressed, or angry, which leads us to behave in certain ways (e.g., withdrawing, lashing out at others). CBT is an active treatment: your therapist will play an active role by asking questions and helping you change the way you react to, think about, and perceive events in your life. You will also be an active participant in your treatment during and between sessions. CBT is a relatively short-term, focused approach.

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)
IPT focuses on how the patterns we develop in relationships with other people affect how we feel and behave. It is a short-term, focused treatment the goal of which is to help you identify and change interpersonal difficulties (e.g., frequent conflict, lack of intimacy, loneliness). Initially, you and your therapist will identify what aspects of your interpersonal relationships need exploration. Your therapist will focus the sessions and encourage you to explore and make changes in identified areas of concern.

Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)
EFT helps you resolve unpleasant emotions by working with them rather than suppressing them or thinking yourself out of them. Therapy usually begins by developing emotional awareness and identifying emotions which cause pain and difficulty. You will learn how to express and cope with difficult emotions, how to access healthy emotions, and how to use emotions to guide your behavior in a healthy manner.

For a list of available services click here