What We Do

Marrow Counseling utilizes the Instinctual Trauma Response Method (ITR). The method aims to process memories stored incorrectly in the brain, causing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms including but not limited to panic attacks, flashbacks, nightmares, dissociation, derealization, isolation and avoidant symptoms, behavioral changes, negative belief systems, and more. Working within the framework of ITR, Marrow Counseling has developed unique tools to aid in working through triggers to traumatic experiences. A unique treatment plan will be devised to work to understand your individual trauma history and bring relief from PTSD symptoms.

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Marrow Counseling helps you to understand the science behind trauma. Understanding the neurology of how the brain works when under stress and trauma and the best tools and techniques that can bring relief and help the brain to process trauma appropriately and eliminate symptoms.

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Intensively processing trauma allows new neuropathways to be formed from essential parts of the brain to process trauma (the limbic system and the cortex). Naturally, under stress and trauma, our brain suppresses significant areas of the brain, such as the cortex (the logical part of the brain), to allow the limbic system (the emotional part of the brain) to kick into survival mode, and the brain and body experience a chemical response identified as an involuntary reaction. Due to the instinctual response to trauma, the memory is not stored and processed by the brain in a past tense capacity.  When a person either lives in stuck states of a trauma response from prolonged traumatic exposure or is triggered by something due to the trauma, their brain goes back to operating from the trauma response. Since the memory is not correctly stored in a past tense capacity, it can feel like the trauma is happening over again when it is not. This can cause behavioral and belief patterns from the trauma to take over. The brain believes it still needs to survive. Marrow Counseling utilizes neurological techniques that allow the emotional and logical brain to correspond correctly and process the trauma appropriately. Building new neural pathways allows for increased awareness of reaction patterns and an ability to utilize uniquely designed tools to work through and change trauma patterns in daily life. 

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Marrow Counseling also uniquely understands that trauma treatment requires more than just mental and emotional therapeutic work. Many modern scientists have proven that physiological responses to trauma need equal attention in a healing journey. For example, the vagus nerve becomes untoned when the body endures extreme stress. This nerve is an important communication pathway from the brain to the body and the body back up to the brain. If this nerve is not toned, communication between the brain and the body is not clear. In the miscommunication, physical messages of a trauma response may still be operating and sending messages to the brain that there is distress when there is not. Marrow Counseling partners with Saint Joseph Chiropractic to provide functional neurology treatment to reset the nervous system and aid in the physiological healing from trauma. Saint Joseph Chiropractic’s doctors also are trained in functional medicine. As a part of trauma treatment, it is essential to heal organs that have been affected by trauma. Long-term stress especially can take a toll on the adrenal glands, hormone development in the gut, and more. Healing these systems in the body helps the brain continue strengthening the positive neural pathways created in the emotional therapeutic work.

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See here for options for treatment.

Gottman's Theory of couples counseling is utilized to provide a clear structure and many tools for completing couples therapy. Couples treatment plans are individually crafted with care, considering and treating relational issues and trauma within relationships. Treatment can be completed intensively or in individual sessions per the couples' needs and preferences.

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Couples therapy can be sought for many reasons; there may be distance in the relationship, fidelity or trust issues, discrepancies in raising children, financial difficulty, family communication difficulty, and more. Many couples utilize couples counseling when entering different milestones of life, such as during engagement, upon having children, processing grief or loss together, and making major life decisions such as moving or changing careers. A couple's therapist can use techniques to aid in processing significant life developments and changes. These couples may not necessarily have issues in their relationship but utilize couples counseling to effectively navigate and grow positively through life milestones.

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Couples trauma therapy can be an effective way to process and understand the effects of trauma on a relationship. Many people experience traumatic events or relationships before they enter into a stable relationship. Processing the effects of trauma on the relationship helps to understand behavioral patterns and understand triggers that may be unconsciously affecting the relationship. Couples trauma therapy can also be effective in healing and understanding infidelity or broken trust issues in a relationship.

Anxiety can be a normal response to situations. However, when it becomes persistent, it can cause psychological and physiological symptoms, including panic, physiological reactions, restlessness, sweating hands and feet, sleep issues, difficulty communicating or focusing, and more. A trained therapist can help someone suffering from anxiety to learn tools to understand anxiety triggers and work through the anxiety when it presents. Learning tools and techniques to aid in reducing or controlling anxiety reactions empowers you to participate in responsibilities and situations in daily life confidently. Marrow Counseling’s therapists are trained in many different theories and techniques to manage and treat anxiety, including but not limited to cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, mindfulness therapy, and more. 

Depression can be an overwhelming experience. Some people have suffered from persistent depressive symptoms chronically over time For others, depressive symptoms come on after an event or experience in a relationship or seemingly out of nowhere. Seeking professional help for depressive symptoms can unburden a person from negative thought patterns, behaviors, decreased motivation, or lack of emotional control that may come from depression. Depression can affect all areas of a person's life, including relationships, participation in roles and responsibilities, and personal identity and belief systems. Marrow Counseling therapists are trained professionals who have experience in implementing therapeutic techniques to discover the root of depression and teach techniques and concepts that aid in bringing relief from depression.

Addiction can mean many different things. Whether it is an addiction to drugs or alcohol or other addictive things such as pornography or specific behaviors such as gambling, Marrow Counseling therapists can help one to identify addictions and develop a plan for healing. No matter where you are on your healing journey, Marrow Counseling can aid in individual and family healing and changing life patterns and relationships from addiction. Marrow Counseling utilizes appropriate referral sources when necessary to aid in the journey of healing from addiction. Understanding the brain's patterning in addiction, we are also prepared to utilize specific therapeutic techniques to find the roots and triggers of addictions and behaviors as well as heal attachment patterns that are often affected by patterns of addiction.

Grief comes with many effects. It can bring positive support and strength to have a therapist guide you through the experience of grief. Grief is not only physical loss, but it has psychological, social, emotional, physical, spiritual, and cognitive effects. It is important to work through the stages of grief to come to acceptance and commemoration when the loss is experienced. Grief shows up in the physical loss of a person in life but also in changes in relationships, transitions in life, professional changes or adjustments, or major life decisions. It is important to be able to identify the effects of grief and positively move through them to continue to participate in our identity despite changes or loss in life. Marrow Counseling therapists are prepared to walk with you in your journey and provide techniques and concepts for clarity and ease in navigating grief.

Life transitions can mean a multitude of things. Entering into new stages of life, for example, marriage or divorce, moving away from home or entering a new career. Life transitions can include milestones like navigating parenting, deciding on or changing a career path, or significant changes in an environment or living situation. Using therapeutic techniques to navigate life transitions healthily, whatever they may be, allows a person to make positive choices and growth no matter what the transition might be. Marrow Counseling therapists are happy to use their professional training to implement techniques and concepts to make life adjustments and transitions more manageable to navigate.