Mental Health Special Ops Team

It's been a few months since we introduced this idea to our socials. Perhaps you're wondering where the term has come from. One of the initial driving forces to the creation of Riptide Counselling Inc., was to provide cutting edge services. We invest a lot of time and energy into training and ensuring that your experience is the best we could offer you.

It certainly doesn't mean we're perfect. (A friendly reminder that we fall into the human category).

It does mean that we are committed to lifelong learning. As a quick roundup this year: Ben completed the 6 weeks of play therapy training to be a PTI, Tanis completed EMDR training, as well as EFFT training, Nicole and I completed level one of Theraplay training, and Kim and Alisha took some play therapy courses. Jael completed her two year internship here at Riptide, which specialized in learning about EFT and trauma work. The year isn't done, so stay tuned! (Our previous accomplishments are in the "About" section of the website.

That being said, we love learning not only for the sake of learning, but for providing you with our best. We pride ourselves in having our doors open to all people and all struggles. Each of us has different expertise to offer. We work as a team together and offer wrap around services to families, as well as couples and individuals of all ages. One of our passions is for offering early intervention work, rather than reactive work.

That being said, no matter what stage of intervention required, we are happy to come alongside you, your family and the larger team that may surround you with support.

For children and families this means we offer a unique approach where we require two family sessions, an individual child session and a parent session both to understand any of the complexities around the referral request, and to provide informed service.

Too often, a piece is easily missed when we move too quickly through the therapeutic process. We are committed to slowing things down, looking at them and finding new ways of defining meaning in peoples lives.

A common fear from families is what a family session will look like and whether they will have to talk about the "hard stuff" and will it be too much. Our family sessions with children are run through a play therapy lens and often the feedback is that you may not know you're doing hard work because you're having so much fun! Growth and change can be fun, even when it's tough. They aren't mutually exclusive.

For couples, we have a similar initial four session requirement which follows the EFT guidelines for couples: an initial couple session, two individual sessions (80 min) and another couple session to discuss what was learned about your relationship, yourselves and the cycle you are in. Couples is unique as the client is the relationship. Often people are hesitant to believe this could be the case, but it is true! We are not here to pick a side, we are here to guide you, give you a deeper understanding of your cycle, of your personal experience, and how to navigate emotional intensity in a relationship. When we talk about addressing communication, often we've missed the mark. For most people they knew how to communicate when they first began their relationship, however it is the emotional understanding that can get in the way.

For an individual, we request that the initial session is 80 minutes, as it allows us to understand attachment patterns and the ways in which you relate to others in your life. Without this length of session for an individual it can feel rushed and it may feel like they dumped their life story without having closure or a plan forward. That extra half hour gives us the time we need to be with you and to slow it down to a place that allows for processing and healing even as we gather the information. (This can be said about children/families and couples as well). For individual sessions we use a variety of relational therapies, which are all grounded in attachment theory.

We are well informed in the modalities we use, and we strive to provide an experience that leaves you in a different place than when you began. As we offer this to people, it is our hope that others join us in this level of therapeutic quality. We have already seen change in the community and we are thrilled to see it!

At the end of the day, we as therapists can only take someone as far as we are willing to go ourselves. Part of growth and stretching is the commitment to lifelong learning and processing.

We are committed to remaining a team of "Special Ops" and our hope is that you can experience whatever level of healing you are ready for.