Restoring Hope - Strengthening Relationships - Promoting Healing Couple Counseling In marital and couple counseling, Insights views the relationship as the client with the expectation that each member of the couple remains responsible for examining his or her part in strengthening the relationship.  Couple counseling is a two-tiered process that involves building trust through practicing positive patterns of communication before exploration of specific areas of conflict.  When appropriate, couples have the opportunity to strengthen their connection and weaken defenses through participation in experiential and creative interventions.  Therapy also explores historical and multigenerational effects, such as the effect of past trauma or loss, which might interfere with perception and honest communication.  Couple counseling is a collaborative endeavor in which the therapist and clients share the responsibility for the outcome of treatment.  Clients should leave each session knowing where they are in the process with a renewed hope for growth and change. Addiction Counseling For clients struggling with addiction, Insights focuses on individual recovery as well as the recovery of members of the addicted person’s family  Developing a commitment to abstinence as well as focusing on underlying issues that contribute to the client’s addictive behavior maximizes the recovering person’s chance to overcome the addiction.  Insights of New Orleans specializes in addressing the effects of past trauma and abuse on the client’s compulsive behavior.  Experiential work, including Sandtray-Worldplay, frequently assists recovering clients in finding their path to healing.  Insights also focuses on the effects of addiction on child and adolescent members of the family. Experiental Sandtray Therapy Experiential Sandtray Therapy (EST) is a psychodynamic, dramatic therapeutic intervention developed by Sue McCann and inspired by Dr. Gisela DeDomenico’s Sandtray-Worldplay techniques.   EST allows for healing, developing insight, and accessing the positive aspects of self.  During this process, the client projects feelings and problems into a world created with miniature figurines that represent aspects of the builder’s experience.  This method is ideal for individuals, couples, and family members of all ages.  EST is a positive alternative to traditional “talk therapy” in that it is a non-threatening experience that is entirely client- directed.  The therapist serves as a guide to support the client through an empowering healing process.  EST can be used to strengthen parent-child and couple relationships in unique ways that often cannot be obtained through traditional forms of intervention.  Sue McCann devised this creative technique after completing intensive training with Dr. DeDomenico at her Vision-Quest into Symbolic Reality Center in Oakland, California. Filial Play Therapy Filial Play Therapy is a method of family therapy that involves parents as the primary change agents for their own children.  Filial Play Therapy can impact positive changes in children’s behaviors and in parents’ attitudes and parenting skills.  Parents work closely with the therapist to conduct play sessions with their children in a child-centered playroom that allows for projection of the child’s concerns onto selected toys and play scenarios.  Because the technique is child-directed, and feedback from the therapist is positive and encouraging, family members look forward to this method of intervention.  Dr. Rise VanFleet developed the individual model employed at Insights, and Sue McCann is a qualified Filial Therapy Trainer.  Insights of New Orleans is an affiliate of Dr. VanFleet’s Family Enhancement and Play Therapy Center in Boiling Springs, PA, and provides comprehensive Intensive Filial Therapy Training for interested professionals. Experiential Play Therapy Experiential Play Therapy is a research-based, child- directed play protocol that allows children who are survivors of stressful and traumatic events to achieve better coping abilities.  During implementation of this technique, the therapist serves as the change agent who supports the child’s projected trauma metaphors, resulting in empowerment and reduction of the child’s symptoms.  The therapy takes place in a child-centered playroom in which the child directs the play while the therapist serves as a witness and plays assigned roles. During the course of therapy, parents work with the therapist to become aware of opportunities to provide empathy and nurturing outside the clinic.  Experiential play is an exciting intervention for children as young as three.  Because the intervention is play- based and child-directed, the child client’s motivation for participation is high.  Since parents experience a decrease in the presenting child problem behaviors and receive ample support from the therapist, commitment to the technique and course of treatment remains strong.  Drs. Carol and Byron Norton at the Family Psychological Services clinic in Greeley, Colorado, developed the Experiential Play Therapy model.  Sue McCann is an Experiential Play Therapist Supervisor sponsoring a local consultation groups with the Nortons to provide opportunities for local therapists to develop skills in their technique. Click picture to enlarge Click picture to enlarge 504 832-4096